After a dominating 66-41 win over Drake this past Sunday, the Wisconsin women’s basketball team will take the hour-and-a-half trip across I-94 to do battle against instate rival UW-Milwaukee on Thursday. Following Thursday’s game in Milwaukee, the Badgers will return home to face Northern Illinois on Sunday.

Milwaukee will open its regular season against the Badgers (1-0) on Thursday. The two teams have played 26 times with Wisconsin owning a 23-3 overall record. The Badgers won last year’s meeting 74-56.

There is plenty of familiarity between the two teams, especially with Milwaukee head coach Kyle Rechlicz, who served as an assistant at UW before becoming the head coach at Milwaukee. Rechlicz also played collegiate basketball at UW from 1998 to 2002.

Rechlicz has turned Milwaukee into an up-tempo running team that loves to shoot from the perimeter. The Panthers ranked fourth nationally last season, averaging just under nine three-pointers made per game and returning 70 percent of its scoring as well. Milwaukee had four of the top 15 three-point shooters in the Horizon League conference last season. Their up-tempo offense, when it’s clicking, can be a force, as seen when they scored 116 points in a game last season. Badgers’ head coach Bobbie Kelsey wants to fix their defense from last Sunday, which, if not improved, could allow Milwaukee to score in bunches.

“Transition defense — we didn’t do that well on Sunday,” Kelsey said. “Milwaukee does shoot transition threes. The defense starts when the other team gets the ball. That’s what’s going to hurt us, if we can’t get back and turn around.”

Although she scored just five points Sunday, junior forward Jacki Gulczynski understands scoring isn’t necessarily her role on the team. With redshirt junior forward Michala Johnson drawing attention from opponents’ defenses, Gulczynski has been trying to do whatever she can to contribute in the frontcourt opposite Johnson.

“We have so many options and so many weapons,” Gulczynski said. “So for me not to score, it doesn’t bother me. Whatever way I can contribute to the team, whether that’s rebounds, points, hustle plays … the points will come.”

Another player who will look to build on Sunday’s performance is sophomore guard Dakota Whyte. Whyte set a career high with 18 points on Sunday and wants to carry that over into the game against Milwaukee. She is always looking forward to playing an in-state school such as Milwaukee, as it gives the team more motivation to win with the eyes of the state on them.

“Absolutely we want to win,” Whyte said. “Instate rivals are big in Wisconsin so we want to stay the top school in Wisconsin as the Badgers. I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with it and I’m excited.”

After Thursday’s in-state game, the Badgers will return home to the friendly confines of the Kohl Center for their third game of the season against the Huskies of Northern Illinois, who were just 7-23 last season. Northern Illinois (1-1) is coming off a win over Mississippi Valley State on Tuesday after being crushed by Green Bay last Friday, 77-48.

The Huskies are led by Amanda Corral, who was their leading scorer and rebounder last season, averaging 12.7 points and five rebounds per game. Northern Illinois is headed by another former Badger coach, Kathi Bennett, who served as an assistant coach at UW from 2008 to 2010.

Both the Panthers and Huskies will have the tall task of stopping Johnson in the post. Coming off career highs in points and rebounds, 16 each, Johnson and the rest of the Badger team know what to expect when she gets the ball down low. After scoring the first six points in the game on Sunday, Drake immediately sent a double, sometimes triple team down low to stop Johnson. Kelsey and Gulczynski feel they have prepared themselves to deal with this expected defense.

“We worked on other ways that [Johnson] can look for some other things besides feeling like she has to turn and shoot,” Kelsey said. “The other players know where they should be going to help her. We’re not waiting for her to get doubled. We just know it’s going to happen.”

“When she gets double-teamed, we’re just going to have to hit shots,” Gulczynski said. “Whether that’s me, [Taylor Wurtz or Morgan Paige], as long as we’re hitting open shots, it doesn’t matter who’s getting it.”