Looking to end a four-game losing streak, the UW women’s basketball team (8-13, 2-9) will take on Iowa (12-9, 6-4) tonight at the Kohl Center.
The game will feature two teams that are currently moving in opposite directions. The Hawkeyes have won five of their last six games, while the Badgers have earned just one win in their last seven contests.
Iowa has won the last four meetings with Wisconsin, and the Hawkeyes lead the all-time series 28-18. Earlier in the season, Iowa trounced the Badgers 66-46 in Iowa City. However, tonight’s battle will take place in Madison, where the Badgers hold a 5-5 record this season.
“We’re at home now, and we want to play for our home crowd,” guard Ashley Josephson said. “We want to get a ‘W’ for them. We just have to go out there and play our game and we’ll see what happens.”
Averaging 73.6 points per game, Iowa boasts the second-ranked offense in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes’ high-powered attack features two of the top 10 scorers in the conference, center Jamie Cavey and forward Jennie Lillis. Iowa’s leading scorer, Cavey, ranks 6th in the Big Ten with an average of 17.6 points per game; Lillis ranks 8th with 15.4 points per contest.
The Hawkeyes’ potent offense leads the conference in 3-point shooting (.377) and features the second-ranked 3-point shooter in the Big Ten, guard Kristi Faulkner, who shoots a remarkable 45.7 percent from 3-point range.
“They’re a great basketball team,” UW head coach Lisa Stone said. “They have their ‘big three’ like a lot of teams we play. Jamie Cavey, Jennie Lillis, Kristi Faulkner are tremendous players. They’ve turned their program into a great season this year.”
Since Iowa has a prolific perimeter game with Faulkner as well as a dominant inside game with Cavey and Lillis, the Badgers can not rely on a zone to shut down the Hawkeyes. Against Michigan State’s zone-defensive scheme, Iowa exploded for 78 points and knocked down 10-30 from beyond the 3-point arc.
“They went against one of the best zone defenses in Michigan State and made 10-30, so we’re going to have to play them man-to-man and we’re going to have to get out to shooters and stay disciplined defensively to help against a drive as well,” Stone said.
While the Hawkeyes have had success offensively this season, their defense has struggled. Iowa’s defense, which has allowed 72 points per game this season, currently ranks last in the Big Ten.
The Hawkeyes’ ineffective defense may provide an opportunity for the Badgers to end their offensive struggles. Wisconsin’s offense has averaged just 56.9 points per game, the second-lowest mark in the Big Ten.
In Wisconsin’s 66-46 loss in Iowa City, the Badger offense sputtered, managing 10.9 points less than their modest season average.
“They took it at us at their place, and we had trouble scoring,” Stone said. “We need to do a much better job of that this time. Hopefully, we’ll find some easy opportunities early in the game and have that build some confidence.”
Facing a team that features the conference’s second-ranked offense and lowest-ranked defense, many coaches would gear up for an offensive shootout. However, Stone has stressed her team’s need to control the tempo and keep the score down.
“A low scoring game bodes well for us,” Stone said. “It means that we’re playing defense and we’re doing a good job against their potent offense. They have so many players capable of shooting threes and running off that triangle offense that it is imperative that we keep it a low-scoring game.”
Though they will look to slow the game down and limit scoring, the Badgers will rely on continued production from guard Ashley Josephson to keep pace with Iowa’s high-octane offense. Josephson, who leads the Badgers in scoring with 12.5 points per game, averaged 18.5 points during Wisconsin’s recent two-game road trip.
After dropping a pair of games by an average of 22.5 points on the road, the Badgers return to the Kohl Center hoping to put their struggles behind them.
“Going into the end of the season, we’ve got five games left and coach [Stone] said that we’re starting a new season,” Josephson said. “We want to win these five games, get our confidence going into the conference tournament and we’ll go on from there.”