The UW women’s basketball team (7-8, 1-4) will look to eclipse last season’s win total when the Michigan Wolverines (9-9, 2-3) visit the Kohl Center Thursday. UW won just seven contests last season and finished with an uncommonly mediocre 7-21 record.
Head Coach Lisa Stone and the Badgers will be looking to rebound against the Wolverines after a disappointing 66-46 loss at Iowa Sunday. In a game that was supposed to be a happy homecoming for Iowa natives Stone and point guard Stephanie Rich, the smiles quickly faded and the reunions ended as the Hawkeyes jumped all over the Badgers early and cruised to an easy win. Wisconsin was forced to swallow another tough road loss.
“The kids want to get better,” Stone said. “It was unfortunate, but now we come back home, and we seem to have more confidence at home. We just have to find a way to have that edge on the road and step up the communication in particular when we are playing on the road in the Big Ten.”
Wisconsin has been playing well at home recently and will look for its third-straight win at the Kohl Center; it would be its second-straight win over a Big Ten opponent. Thus far, the Badgers have a decent 4-3 mark on their home court, but they have been competitive in three home losses, losing by an average of only 5 points.
The Wolverines enter the game on a two-game losing streak, and, like the Badgers, they recently endured an embarrassing road loss. Last Sunday, interstate rival Michigan State thrashed Michigan 67-33.
Michigan has had a respectable season, recording wins against Indiana and Northwestern while falling to conference leaders Penn State and Minnesota.
This season Wisconsin and Michigan have been the only Big Ten teams forced to adjust to new styles of coaching. The coaches have also had it rough trying to conjure up a new winning formula reminiscent of their past success. Like Stone, Michigan’s first-year head coach Cheryl Burnett comes to the Big Ten with an impressive resume. In her 15 years as head coach at Southwest Missouri State, Burnett led her teams to 11 postseason appearances, including two Final Fours.
“Cheryl Burnett has been a pioneer in women’s basketball for years,” Stone said. “I coached against Cheryl when she was at Southwest Missouri State. She’s had great players and is a tremendous motivator.”
The Badgers and Wolverines continue to search for consistency in a Big Ten season that is still relatively young. Both have struggled to put points on the board at critical moments in the game. Wisconsin is 10th is scoring offense in the Big Ten with 58.3 points per game. Michigan isn’t much better, putting up just 61.4 points per game.
“We are trying to find offensive answers,” Stone said. “[We’ve done] some good things. The defense has been there. We had 23 offensive boards last night but capitalized on half of those. You maintain your positive approach, you keep stroking them, you keep practicing, you keep believing in them and those things will happen.”
Wisconsin will once again have a height advantage over its opponent, but Michigan may be hard to intimidate down low. Senior center Jennifer Smith leads the Wolverine attack with 21.2 points per game and currently is the third leading scorer in the Big Ten.
“Jennifer Smith is their senior post player,” said Stone. “We have two senior post players at [6-foot-7] and [6-foot-5]. That’ll be a challenge to guard this person.”
When Smith is not scoring, the Wolverines will look to junior forward Tabitha Pool and senior guard Stephanie Gandy, who add 12.9 and 11.6 points per game, respectively. Pool is not afraid to crash the boards, ranking fifth in the conference with 8.1 rebounds per game.
Overall, Michigan is quite young, boasting only two seniors in Gandy and Smith, but Burnett relies on her experienced players. Gandy, Pool and Smith make up over 73 percent of the Wolverines total offense.
Michigan is one of the few Big Ten teams that Wisconsin has dominated in recent years. The Badgers own a 29-14 record over the Wolverines in the series and a 16-4 advantage in Madison. Michigan has managed only two wins over the Badgers since the 1991 season and hasn’t won in Madison since 1990.
For both Stone and Burnett, this season represents a new beginning and a clean slate. Stone hopes a win will rejuvenate her club and give it the confidence it needs to improve on its current ninth-place standing in the Big Ten.
“If I had some magic medicine that I could inject into the team before the game for confidence, I think there would be a big difference, because we have to be nearly perfect,” said Coach Stone. “That is what we have to strive for every game.”
