Pair of Young Guards Step Up in the Wisconsin Badgers WBB Win Over Gophers

MINNEAPOLIS – Winning basketball games is never easy in the best of circumstances and doing it on the road, in a rivalry game, is damn near impossible, especially when your starting point guard gets into foul trouble early in the first quarter. However, for two straight seasons Marisa Moseley’s Wisconsin Badgers have gone into The Barn, lost their starting point guard for extended periods of time early in the game, and emerged victorious.

Last season, the Badgers found themselves down seven points early in the first quarter at Minnesota and Moseley called a timeout to regroup. She subbed out grad transfer point guard Avery LaBarbera, who had been struggling to start the game, and inserted walk-on true freshman Ronnie Porter to provide a spark. Porter played the rest of the period and the Badgers entered the second quarter up by two points.

Fast forward to this season and the Wisconsin Badgers found themselves in a similar situation. Porter, now the starting point guard in her second season, picked up a pair of early fouls and was subbed out by Moseley. In her stead, true freshman D’Yanis Jimenez checked in to help run the offense, even though that isn’t her primary skillset.

Pair of Wisconsin Badgers Guards Step Up in Border Battle Victory

“It was really important for [Jimenez] to hold it down at the point guard position. I know she’s more of a scorer, but she did a good job of balancing scoring and making the right decisions,” star Wisconsin big Serah Williams said to me after the game.

.@DYanisJimenez1 to the rim!💨 pic.twitter.com/wkWAzUCrgP

— Wisconsin Women’s Basketball (@BadgerWBB) February 21, 2024

I loved the play call (see above) Moseley made after the timeout to get Jimenez going downhill towards the basket immediately so she fell into the flow of the game. Like Williams noted, Jimenez is “more of a scorer” so letting her take one right to the tin probably got her locked in right away.

Jimenez ended the game with 10 points, four rebounds, one block, two steals, and, perhaps most importantly, zero turnovers in 20 minutes of game time. To play out of position for half of the game, in a more ball-dominant role, and not turn the ball over once? Moseley must’ve been ecstatic when she saw the stats after the game.

“Your freshman year can sometimes be up and down but for [Jimenez] to be able to come in in an environment on the road when we really needed her and to be able to make those, I think that’s a huge confidence booster for her and for our team to know that you have another ball handler on the floor that can also step up and get us a couple buckets. That was huge and gave us some good leeway there,” Moseley opined when we talked postgame.

Jimenez wasn’t the only young guard that showed out for Wisconsin against the Gophers. Sophomore defensive stopper Sania Copeland had an excellent game too. Coming into the Minnesota game, Copeland had gone five straight games (0-of-14) without making a three and had only seen one go down (1-of-22) in her last seven. Her defensive chops and passing (16 assists over those seven games) were more than enough to keep her in the lineup, but adding a scoring punch would really push her game to next level.

Well, it seems like she has found her stroke again after a 3-of-6 shooting display from beyond the arc against Minnesota. “She hit key shots. I think for her to get that confidence back for herself too, it’s just gonna help the team moving forward,” said Williams of her classmate.

.@CopelandSania from DEEP🤯 pic.twitter.com/XBsHwo76h6

— Wisconsin Women’s Basketball (@BadgerWBB) February 21, 2024

While I wasn’t courtside, you could still tell from up in the press area that a 10-ton weight had been lifted off of Copeland’s shoulders after seeing that first three-pointer go in. It just makes the basket look bigger as Moseley noted to me. The basket was looking as vast as the ocean for Copeland on Tuesday night and she ended up with 12 points (4-of-7 FG), three boards, one assist, and two steals.

.@copelandsania bringing the HEAT🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/mIPNgiMKjZ

— Wisconsin Women’s Basketball (@BadgerWBB) February 21, 2024

I really enjoyed watching her play defense in person because she is a true menace on that side of the court. She is always in the correct position and she probably could’ve had two or three more steals if the ball bounced her way on deflections. It must be incredibly annoying to play against her and I say that with the utmost respect.

It is a well-known trope in basketball that shooters need to “shoot their way out of a slump” but Copeland was also receiving encouragement from her coach on her overall game, so as not to part too sharp a focus on her shooting struggles.

“We actually just met last night, not about her shot, just about things in general. Like, where are you at with executing 2-on-1s or whatever it is and trying to help her understand where I think she can improve and boost her confidence a bit. Sometimes you just need a little bit of a pep talk and it’s really not anything that I do or she does, but it’s just kind of re-centering [herself] that helped her,” said Moseley.

The Wisconsin Badgers young core is doing a lot of “on-the-job training” this season, but it is already paying off in the win column as the Badgers sit one game above .500 here at the end of February. The trajectory of this team is upwards and players like Copeland and Jimenez are going to help the Badgers to new heights.

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