MADISON – Team-building efforts like the one taking place with the Wisconsin women’s basketball program require a lot of blind faith.
A lot of work is required even though tangible results can be lacking.
That is the space the Badgers worked in for a significant portion of the season. They went almost two months without a win before scoring road victories over Oregon State and Miami in the first and second rounds of the Women’s Basketball Invitation Tournament.
The boost in spirits was hard to ignore.
“I saw it as a coach that they stayed true to that process,” Badgers coach Robin Pingeton said. “You just want them to feel the rewards and the benefits of doing it again and again and again, and so I was so happy for them. I was proud of them. For them to see the results finally come true for them, I think was really gratifying.”
How productive was the past week for the Badgers?
Consider that UW, a loser of seven straight on the road, won games on both coasts, defeating Oregon 62-58 on March 19 and Miami 72-65 on March 22.
With those victories, Wisconsin (15-17) earned a home game for the quarterfinals. It faces Harvard (20-11) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, March 26. The winner moves on to the WBIT Final Four on Monday, March 30, in Wichita, Kansas.
“It’s certainly not the tournament that we wanted to be in, but we’re really grateful for the opportunity,” Pingeton said. “I think tournaments like this are hard to replicate when it’s survive and advance, and so I just think that experience alone [helps].
“But bigger than the ball I just think, you know, sometimes you go through life and things can be hard and difficult. But adversity strikes and the importance of staying true to the process, even though the outcomes don’t always show the result that you want.”
Here are three factors key to the Badgers’ postseason run:
UW is doing the job defensively
Wisconsin has set the tone defensively from the start.
It held Oregon State to 25% shooting (4 for 16) in the first quarter and 32.1% in the first half. The Badgers were even better against Miami, limiting the Hurricanes to 2-for-7 shooting in the first quarter and 16.7% shooting in the first half.
“I just think you can’t replace experience,” Pingeton said, “and we faced some really, really talented players in the Big Ten, and figuring out what’s going well and what you need to improve on and just really taking more pride in your one-on-one accountability on ball defense, I think they really took some ownership of that.
“I think they did a great job following the game plan, being assignment correct. And we knew going on the road, it was going to be critical that we imposed our will on the defensive end.”
UW successful when playing with a lead
The Badgers often played from behind during the Big Ten season. That hasn’t been the case in the postseason. UW has led throughout the second half of both games.’
UW must get everyone involved
The Badgers are getting contributions across the board, and it’s not just scoring.
- Graduate Destiny Howell had a career-high seven assists in addition to scoring 23 points against Miami.
- Junior Kyrah Daniels grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds in addition to her 14 points against the Hurricanes.
- Senior Ronnie Porter is averaging 6.5 assists per game in the postseason.
- Freshman Dorja Zaja posted a career-high 18 points against Oregon.
- Senior Gift Uchenna finished with 13 points and 11 board versus Miami for her fourth double-double of the season.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: How Wisconsin women’s basketball advanced to WBIT quarterfinals
About the Author
