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Wisconsin Badgers WBB Gets Blasted by Ohio State 87-49 on the Road

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6 months ago

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Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball
Feb 1, 2024; Columbus, OH, USA; Wisconsin Badgers head coach Marisa Moseley complains to officials during the second half of the NCAA women’s basketball game against the Ohio State Buckeyes at Value City Arena. Ohio State won 87-49.

The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team went on the road and hung with Ohio State for two quarters but, sadly, basketball games are four quarters long and the Buckeyes turned on the afterburners in the second half and left UW in the dust.

Serah Williams starred for the Badgers again, but OSU was just too much for Wisconsin to handle. Here is the full recap:

Wisconsin Badgers Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (10-10 overall, 3-7 Big Ten): 49

No. 8 Ohio State Buckeyes (18-3 overall, 9-1 Big Ten): 87

Four Factors

eFG%: 36.5
Turnover%: 40.9
Off. Rebound%: 44.4
FTA/FGA: 25.0

Key Stats

FG%: 32.7 (17-of-52)
Opp. FG%: 50.0 (33-of-66)
3P%: 22.2 (4-of-18)
Opp. 3P%: 38.1 (8-of-21)
FT%: 84.6 (11-of-13)
Opp. FT%: 81.3 (13-of-16)
Points Per Possession: 0.742
Opponent Points Per Possession: 1.299
Rebounds: 40 (16 offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 31 (11 offensive)
Turnovers: 27
Forced Turnovers: eight

Wisconsin Badgers Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: six points (2-of-3 FG, 1-of-1 3P), six rebounds (three offensive), three assists, -35
  • Serah Williams: 16 points (6-of-13 FG), 11 rebounds (four offensive), one assist, two blocks, one steal, -36
  • Halle Douglass: three points (1-of-3 FG, 1-of-3 3P), four rebounds (two offensive), three assists, -12
  • Ana Guillen: four points (2-of-3 FG), four rebounds (three offensive), +1 (only five minutes played)

Ohio State Team Leaders

  • Jacy Sheldon: 17 points (6-of-12 FG, 1-of-4 3P), three rebounds (one offensive), five assists, three steals, +33
  • Cotie McMahon: 15 points (5-of-13 FG, 1-of-3 3P), 10 rebounds (three offensive), four assists, one steal, one block, +29

Three-ish Thoughts on Wisconsin Women’s Basketball

  1. In what was maybe The Surest Thing That Was Ever Going To Happen, the Badgers struggled immensely with turnovers in this game. Ohio State’s defense can be described as “swarming” on a bad day and, well, it wasn’t a bad day for them against Wisconsin. UW ended up turning the ball over a whopping 27 times, somehow not their worst mark of the season, and also recorded their second worst turnover percentage of the season.

    No one who played more than five minutes for Wisconsin (except for Tessa Grady) was immune from the turnover bug and Ronnie Porter (seven) and Serah Williams (five) were the most sick (this metaphor has gone off the rails) on the team. Brooke Schramek and Halle Douglass each had four turnovers, D’Yanis Jimenez had three, and then the final handful of them were split between Natalie Leuzinger and Sania Copeland.

    Just a rough, rough game on the front. Players like Jacy Sheldon and Celeste Taylor are All-Defensive Team candidates, but the whole team got in on the action. Of the 13 players that saw the floor for the Buckeyes in the blowout, 10 of them had at least one steal. Two of the three players who didn’t get a steal only played two minutes each too and all of those UW turnovers led to 23 fast break points for Ohio State.

    It has been a constant refrain for years now, but it is worth saying once again: this team will never reach their potential until they value the basketball more. Not much more to it than that!

  2. Even in defeat, Serah Williams still played at an All-B1G caliber level. She notched her seventh consecutive, and ninth overall, double-double of the season and her pair of blocks moved her into a tie for sixth place on the UW career list. Not much more to say about her either. She’s a stud and Wisconsin should be doing everything in their power to build a team around for the next two years to try and get a postseason berth.
  3. I thought that Wisconsin looked competitive in the first half and really surprised the Buckeyes with their defensive intensity and ability on the boards. That has been one of the big differences between this year and the last two, the Badgers have been more competitive, for longer amounts of the game, against the better teams on their schedule. Wisconsin WON the first quarter in this game. That’s progress!


    Now, obviously, games are not one quarter long and the Buckeyes came out in the second half with a newfound respect for Wisconsin and…proceeded to score the most points they’d scored in any quarter in program history. UW hasn’t always elicited that kind of response from Big Ten teams. This is the epitome of “moral victory” but that’s the best you’re going to get out of a game like this.

  4. Wisconsin’s efforts on the boards were good and they ended up out-rebounding OSU by nine on the game. UW hauled down 16 offensive rebounds and ended up with 23 second-chance points, compared to Ohio State’s 10. Now, a lot of that is due to how many shots Wisconsin missed in the first place, but at least they were fighting for the ball after those misses and not just ceding possession to the Buckeyes.
  5. Ohio State’s ball movement is really fun to watch. They had 24 assists on 33 made baskets and players like Sheldon and Rikki Harris are always looking for the extra pass or an open teammate with a better look at the basket.

Final Thought

This is just another game this season that you have to squint really hard at in order to see anything positive. Much like their two matchups with Iowa earlier in the year, simply looking at the final score won’t tell you anything other than “welp, same ol’ Wisconsin getting blown out!” However minimal it may appear, there WAS improvement in this game.

The Badgers are getting closer to regularly competing with the top of the conference, but there is still a long way to go before they are there. With eight games remaining in the regular season, half at home and half on the road, Wisconsin needs two wins to exceed last year’s total. While there aren’t any games that are “for sure” victories on the schedule, outside of the home game against Indiana I don’t think any of the games are “for sure” losses either.

A revenge opportunity against Northwestern is up next and it would be great if the Badgers went into Welsh-Ryan arena and came home with a win.

Next Game: Sunday, Feb. 4; at Northwestern Wildcats; 2:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Welsh-Ryan Arena; Evanston, Ill.

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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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