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Wisconsin Badgers WBB Sweeps Season Series With Dominant Win Over Rutgers

The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team earned a season sweep of Rutgers on Saturday.

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Wisconsin Badgers women's basketball
Members of the University of Wisconsin women's basketball team celebrate their 78-70 victory over No. 12 Michigan Sunday Feb. 26, 2023 at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wis.

On Saturday afternoon, the Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team went on the road and beat Rutgers by 18 points. UW led wire-to-wire and Serah Williams had yet another double-double. With win No. 12, Wisconsin has their most in a season since the 2018-19 season.

Here is the full recap:

Wisconsin Badgers WBB Dominates Against Rutgers

Final Score

Wisconsin Badgers (12-12 overall, 5-9 Big Ten): 61
Rutgers Scarlet Knights (8-20 overall, 2-13 Big Ten): 43

Four Factors

eFG%: 45.7
Turnover%: 21.7
Off. Rebound%: 26.5
FTA/FGA: 20.7

Key Stats

FG%: 41.4 (24-of-58)
Opp. FG%: 32.1 (17-of-53)
3P%: 27.8 (5-of-18)
Opp. 3P%: 28.6 (4-of-14)
FT%: 66.7 (8-of-12)
Opp. FT%: 45.5 (5-of-11)
Points Per Possession: 0.884
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.652
Rebounds: 39 (nine offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 34 (nine offensive)
Turnovers: 15
Forced Turnovers: 19


Team Leaders

  • Ronnie Porter: 11 points (4-of-11 FG, 1-of-3 3P), six rebounds, seven assists, three steals, +20
  • Serah Williams: 17 points (6-of-10 FG, 0-of-1 3P), 18 rebounds (two offensive), five blocks, two steals, +13
  • Brooke Schramek: 14 points (6-of-12 FG, 1-of-5 3P), six rebounds, two assists, two blocks, +16
  • Natalie Leuzinger: 13 points (5-of-7 FG, 3-of-4 3P), two assists, +24

Rutgers Team Leaders

  • Destiny Adams: 18 points (7-of-17 FG), 10 rebounds (four offensive), one steal, -9
  • Antonia Bates: three points (1-of-3 FG, 0-of-1 3P), seven rebounds (one offensive), two assists, one block, three steals, -12

Three-ish Thoughts on the Badgers Win Over Rutgers

1. While Wisconsin is playing at a quicker pace this year than in Marisa Moseley’s first year (and almost exactly equal to last year) they don’t always get a ton of points in transition. Coming into the game against Rutgers, the Badgers were averaging 8.2 points per game on the break while their opponents were scoring 10.6 per game. 


However, on Saturday afternoon the Badgers scored early, easy baskets in transition and put Rutgers in a double-digit hole that they never climbed out of. Three of UW’s first five baskets were on the fast break and after Natalie Leuzinger banged home a three in transition, the Badgers were up 12-0 and the rout was on. UW ended the game with 15 fastbreak points, almost double their season average, and used those buckets to build their big lead.

2. The Wisconsin offense was pretty good in the first quarter, but it was the defense that really shone. The Badgers harangued RU into tough shots and the Scarlet Knights only shot 25% (4-of-16) in the opening period and 32.1% (17-of-53) on the game. Rutgers only made 11 of their 26 layup attempts and scored a ghastly 0.652 points per possession.


Serah Williams was a Rim Protector, capitalization intentional, and the duo of Ronnie Porter and Sania Copeland made things difficult for Rutgers on the perimeter, combining for five steals and multiple Opponent Flusterings (a stat I just made up but I feel like is self-explanatory). This game was another data point in the Forcing More Turnovers Than You Commit Is Good And Leads To Wins graph I’ve been compiling and it’s really fun to watch the Badgers play defense as a team when they’re all on the same page like they were on Saturday.

3. In a game where the Wisconsin Badgers literally never trailed and ended up winning by 18 points it’s somewhat difficult to find things that need to be addressed, but there still were a few things I noticed. For one, Serah Williams needs to be more aware of her open teammates when she is swarmed in the post. On two occasions in the first quarter, Williams missed wide open teammates and instead forced up a contested shot.

Passing is the next step in Williams’ development towards becoming an All-American. She has shown flashes of distributing ability but she needs to be more consistent in recognizing where the double/triple-team is coming from and subsequently where her open teammate(s) will be.

Again, this is a bit of picking nits since Williams had her 11th straight double-double, which featured a career-high 18 rebounds, and five blocked shots, but if she wants to keep raising her game she’ll need to make improvements on the margins.

4. In the state that made backdoor cuts famous via Pete Carril’s Princeton offense, the Badgers utilized them well all game to punish a lackadaisical Rutgers defense. It was a little bit of old-school hoops that looked great and produced results. Kudos to the UW coaching staff for making that a focus before the game.


5. While her shooting slump seems to be getting worse (zero field goals made in three of her last four games; 3-of-19 overall from the field), Sania Copelan’s defense and ball movement have been excellent. She had six dimes against Rutgers and was a pest all afternoon on defense. Honestly, any offense she provides for the team moving forward is just gravy because she is doing so much elsewhere.

6. RANDOM THOUGHTS: The Badgers scored their first ever season-sweep of Rutgers with the win; Natalie Leuzinger was an absolute sniper from three and crushed RU’s spirit early with her shooting; D’Yanis Jimenez struggled shooting the ball but I really liked her energy and propensity for diving on the floor for loose balls.

Final Thought

The arrow on Wisconsin’s graph continues to be pointing up and to the right. After beating Rutgers, Wisconsin is now 12-12 on the year and has five Big Ten wins. Those 12 wins are the most in Moseley’s tenure and the most since the 2019-2020 season and the five conference wins is tied for the most under Moseley and is the most UW has had since they won six B1G games in 2018-2019.


UW’s defensive rating is the best they’ve had since 2018-19 which is great to see because teams that AREN’T bought in don’t play good defense. The Badgers are bought in AND locked in and you can see, if you squint, them competing for an NCAA Tournament bid next year.

Wisconsin heads north to The Barn for a Border Battle showdown with the Gophers on Tuesday and I will, hopefully, be in attendance to cover it. Minnesota has been struggling since Mara Braun went down with an injury, but they ended their six-game losing streak on Saturday with a dominant win over Northwestern and they need to beat the Badgers to boost their postseason resume. Should be a really good game!

Next Game: Tuesday, Feb. 20; at Minnesota Golden Gophers; 6:00 p.m. CT; BTN; Williams Arena; 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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