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Wisconsin Badgers WBB Falls to MSU on Senior Day, Still Clinch Big Ten Tournament Bye

The Wisconsin Badgers WBB team came up short in the regular season finale

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Wisconsin Badgers Women’s Basketball
Photo Credit: BadgerNotes Staff Writer Kedrick Stumbris

On the final day of the regular season, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team got blown out by the Michigan State Spartans at the Kohl Center on Sunday afternoon. It was tied after the first quarter but then the MSU offense woke up and slowly but surely pulled away from the Badgers.

Here is the full Senior Day recap:

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Comes Up Short in Regular Season Finale

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (13-15 overall, 6-12 Big Ten): 52
RV Michigan State Spartans (22-7 overall, 12-6 Big Ten): 78

Four Factors

eFG%: 43.5
Turnover%: 36.2
Off. Rebound%: 34.4
FTA/FGA: 9.3

Key Stats

FG%: 37.0 (20-of-54)
Opp. FG%: 49.1 (27-of-55)
3P%: 30.4 (7-of-23)
Opp. 3P%: 35.3 (6-of-17)
FT%: 100.0 (5-of-5)
Opp. FT%: 90.0 (18-of-20)
Points Per Possession: 0.754
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.083
Rebounds: 32 (11 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 28 (seven offensive)
Turnovers: 25
Forced Turnovers: 14


Team Leaders

  • D’Yanis Jimenez: five points (2-of-2 FG, 1-of-1 3P), two assists, -7
  • Serah Williams: 17 points (8-of-16 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 15 rebounds (six offensive), one assist, two blocks, -26 (15th straight double-double)
  • Brooke Schramek: seven points (2-of-4 FG, 1-of-2 3P), two rebounds, two assists, four blocks, one steal, -13
  • Natalie Leuzinger: 11 points (3-of-4 FG, 3-of-4 3P), three rebounds (two offensive), one assist, one steal, -20

Michigan State Team Leaders

  • Julia Ayrault: 19 points (6-of-13 FG, 0-of-2 3P), nine rebounds (three offensive), one block, two steals, +21
  • Moira Joiner: 20 points (6-of-11 FG, 4-of-7 3P), two rebounds, three assists, one steal, +22

Three-ish Thoughts on the Badgers Loss to Michigan State

1. D’Yanis Jimenez, who left the last game with an ankle injury, played eight minutes on Sunday, but Sania Copeland, who also left the last game with an ankle injury, did not appear at all and was seen on the bench in a walking boot. The Big Ten availability report was not updated by tip-off of the game, but I checked later and it listed Copeland and Tessa Towers as “out” for the game and Jimenez was “questionable.”

No matter who they play in the Big Ten Tournament, the Badgers will need Copeland and Jimenez at (or at least near) full strength to win a postseason game.

2. I don’t know why anyone WOULDN’T press Wisconsin with the way they’ve handled it the last two games and, to be quite honest, all season. The Badgers committed 25 turnovers against MSU, their third straight game of 20+ turnovers, and many of them were due to the Spartans pressuring them after made baskets. 


There were also a ton of poor cross-court passes that became turnovers, for the second straight game mind you, and Wisconsin just couldn’t stop shooting themselves in the foot. Ronnie Porter had six turnovers, Natalie Leuzinger had five, D’Yanis Jimenez had three in eight minutes, Serah Williams and Halle Douglass each had three too, and Brooke Schramek had two.

Michigan State scored 29 points off of Wisconsin turnovers and, while they weren’t all directly from turnovers, MSU also scored 20 fast break points. When compared to Wisconsin’s, uh, zero fast break points that’s a big discrepancy. I know the Badgers are a young team, I know this, but insane amounts of turnovers have been a hallmark of all three Marisa Moseley teams and at a certain point that’s where the blame has to stop.

3. A fun recent trend for Wisconsin has been their ability to go into the locker room at halftime, make adjustments, and come out a different team in the third quarter. I think they did that again versus Michigan State, but the Spartans simply had an immediate answer any time Wisconsin even THOUGHT about going on a run.

About two minutes into the period, Tessa Grady made a three-pointer, the Badgers got a stop, and then Serah Williams made a nice, little shot in the paint. All of a sudden Wisconsin was only down 10 and they had a bit of momentum on their side. UW got another stop right after that, but then Douglass turned it over and MSU responded with a Moira Joiner three that kicked off a lightning-fast 8-0 Spartans run.

UW scored back-to-back layups after that to slowly try and whittle MSU’s lead down to something more manageable heading into the fourth quarter, but the Spartans ended the quarter on an 11-3 run and there was basically a zero percent chance that UW was going to erase a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The Spartans needed this win to secure a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament and, after the first quarter, they played like it. Wisconsin proceeded to score three points in the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter and, well, you can be certain that wasn’t enough to even put a scare into MSU.

4. Shoutout to Wisconsin’s four-woman senior class who played their final home game (barring any sort of postseason games) at the Kohl Center on Sunday. Natalie Leuzinger, Brooke Schramek, and Halle Douglass were all recruited under a different coach but chose to stick it out in Madison and I truly believe that any future success this program has under Marisa Moseley will be because of the groundwork the three of them helped lay.

Special shoutout to Sacia Vanderpool who graduated in three years (!!!) with a kinesiology degree and scored her first points of the season late in the fourth quarter against Michigan State.


It is unclear to me, but a simple, country blogger, what the full eligibility situation is for all four of these women, but I THINK that any of them could play one more year in college if they so choose. Eligibility-wise, Vanderpool is only a sophomore (and since she has graduated she could also leave as a grad transfer) and I’m pretty sure that Leuzinger, Schramek, and Douglass all still have a COVID year left.

5. Serah Williams ended the game with 17 points and 15 rebounds which marks her 15th consecutive double-double which ties Iowa’s Megan Gustafson’s all-time Big Ten record. The standout sophomore can break the record on Thursday in the Big Ten Tournament against Penn State.


6. RANDOM THOUGHTS FROM A MOSTLY BAD GAME: Schramek was really nice in rim protection during the first (and fourth) quarter; MSU’s Moira Joiner was HOOPING (5-of-5 FG, 3-of-3 3P, 2-of-2 FT; 15 points) in the second quarter, sheeeesh; I loved Leuzinger getting into it with MSU’s DeeDee Hagemann in the third quarter, resulting in offsetting technical fouls, and then Serah Williams stepping in to protect her teammate…that’s the sign of a team that genuinely likes each other; this might’ve been Ronnie Porter’s worst game of the season (1-of-10 FG, six turnovers); UW has struggled to get to the free throw line recently and it has been killing their offensive efficiency; the Badgers did a good job on the offensive glass. 


Final Thought

I can’t imagine this was the way the Wisconsin Badgers wanted to end the regular season. After back-to-back road wins against Rutgers and Minnesota, the Badgers entered the stretch run basically needing one win in their final three games to secure a first round bye in the Big Ten Tournament for the second straight season. Their best chance to get that win was in the first game of the three, a home contest against Purdue.

The Badgers lost by 24 and it wasn’t even that close. They went on the road against Maryland, lost two key players to injury during the game, and lost by 16 in a game that was actually closer than that. Finally, they lost to MSU at home on Senior Day after playing one good quarter and three not good ones. HOWEVER, thanks to Michigan hanging on to beat Purdue on Sunday night, the Badgers STILL got a first round bye.


I’ve been arguing with myself about whether or not playing Penn State instead of one of the four worst teams in the Big Ten is actually good since the Wisconsin Badgers really need a win, any win, to bolster their fading NIT chances, but it certainly speaks to progress within the program. UW used to be a mortal lock to play on the opening day of the BTT and now they haven’t for two straight years. That’s how a trend is started, baby!

We’ll definitely be discussing this more once the season is actually over, but I think we can pretty safely qualify this year as a success for the Badgers. Now that it’s March everyone’s slate is wiped clean too, so who knows what can happen? Maybe Wisconsin goes on a little run at the Target Center?? Stranger things have happened!

Next Game: Thursday, Mar. 7; vs. Penn State, Big Ten Tournament; 5:30 p.m. CT; BTN; Target Center; Minneapolis, Minn.

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Drew Hamm is a seasoned sports journalist with an extensive background in covering the Wisconsin Badgers. He has previously held positions as the site manager at Bucky's 5th Quarter and founder of Badgers Ball Knower. Currently, he contributes as a staff writer for BadgerNotes.com.

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