The Badgers (3-3) expanded on a positive 1-1 showing in a pair of extremely close games on their road trip to San Diego last weekend, pulling out a gritty 64-51 win over Wake Forest (5-2) Wednesday in the Big Ten/ACC challenge.
Even as early as the opening tip-off, though, it was clear that this game would not be as crisp as head coach Bobbie Kelsey would have liked.
Defensively, the Badgers gave up 21 offensive rebounds to the Demon Deacons. This poor defensive rebounding ultimately allowed Wake Forest to take a total of 70 shots on the night, 21 more than UW.
Still, the Badgers counteracted their lack of glass protection with strong, active team defense when the Deacons had the ball in their hands. The Badgers seemed to always have a hand in the opposition's face, whether they were driving the lane or settling for outside jumpers, there was almost always a Badger coming over to contest. As a result, Wake Forest only shot 28 percent from the field and 17 percent from behind the arc.
After the Badgers lost to Drake Nov. 18, Kelsey was disappointed with the Badgers' team effort on defense, saying, “when you’re not paying attention, you don’t know what you’re doing. When you don’t talk, you don’t know what you’re doing. They took full advantage of that.”
To Kelsey’s pleasure, the Badgers' defensive attention and effort showed improvement, and was a huge contributing factor in the win.
UW’s offensive production was not always smooth either. Early in the preseason, Kelsey made it clear cutting down on turnovers was a huge point of emphasis for this year’s Badgers. Despite that clear expectation, the Badgers turned the ball over a total of 16 times.
Still, the Badgers’ poor ball handling was offset by their balanced scoring effort. Four different Badgers finished with more than 10 points, including senior guards Nicole Bauman, Dakota Whyte and Tessa Cichy, who scored 14, 13 and 10 points, respectively. More impressively, sophomore guard Cayla McMorris, who started her third consecutive game in place of Whyte, scored 16 on 6-of-12 shooting and 3-of-6 from behind the arc.
Even though Wake Forest found a way to cut different Badger leads of as many as 13, 10 and nine points to as little as one, the Badgers' team effort allowed them to maintain the lead throughout the entirety of the game. The Badgers' balanced attack provided a sustained energy that Wake Forest could not compete with, allowing them to pull away and bring their record back to .500.
