Football:
For the fifth time in school history, the Badgers squared off against Arizona State. This time around, each team entered the contest with an 8-4 record on the season in an attempt to add the Las Vegas Bowl to their resume.
The Badgers were hot right out the gate, getting off to a 14-3 start in the first quarter thanks to John Chenal’s eight-yard touchdown run followed by a seven-yard touchdown strike from Graham Mertz to Jake Ferguson.
In the second quarter, Collin Larsh converted two field goal attempts to give the Badgers a 20-6 lead heading into halftime. After intermission, there would go on to be just one more score in the game between both squads produced by Arizona State’s Daniyel Ngata in the third quarter.
On offense, Mertz threw an efficient 11/15 passes for 137 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Braelon Allen had his work cut out for him finishing the contest with 159 yards on 29 carries. Lastly, the Badgers had three pass-catchers collect at least 30 receiving yards by virtue of Ferguson, Markus Allen and Chimere Dike.
Wisconsin ends the 2021 season with a 20-13 victory over the Sun Devils in the Las Vegas Bowl and an overall record of 9-4 on the season.
Men’s Basketball:
The Badgers have been red hot with substantial victories over No. 3 Purdue, No. 16 Ohio State, Iowa, Maryland and Northwestern.
The sophomore guard Johnny Davis is having a breakout season accounting for plenty of Wisconsin’s success by averaging 22.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. Davis is atop the leaderboard for Naismith College Player of the Year after lighting up Northwestern for 27 points while shooting 80% from three.
Senior guard Brad Davison has been another key contributor for the Badgers this season averaging 15.4 points and displaying his veteran leadership night in and night out. Wisconsin has climbed from unranked all the way up to No. 11 in the recent college basketball rankings thanks to a 15-3 record on the season thus far.
Men’s Basketball: The Badgers are more than just the Johnny Davis show
Women’s Hockey:
The defending national champions have been dominant all season long (18-3-3) ranking as the top squad in the nation for weeks. But, they have gone 2-2-1 over the winter break with hiccups against Minnesota.
Though losing is a rarity for this prestigious women’s hockey team, there certainly is no cause for concern just yet. This team is led by sophomore forward Casey O’Brien who has accumulated an impressive 21 goals and 18 assists on the season thus far.
Other major contributors to Wisconsin’s success this season include senior forward Daryl Watts (16 goals and 19 assists) along with sophomore forward Makenna Webster (15 goals and 20 assists).
Up next for the Badgers includes an expedition through the state of Minnesota consisting of matches with St. Cloud State, St. Thomas, Duluth and Minnesota State Mankato.
Men’s Hockey:
Over the last month, the men’s hockey team has managed to go 3-3-2 with a pair of victories against Michigan State and one against Yale in the Kwik Trip Holiday Face-Off bringing the yearly record to 8-15-3.
Leading the way for the Badgers over winter break is sophomore forward Mathieu De St. Phalle, accumulating four goals within the last month and a team-leading seven on the year.
Other key contributors for this season include sophomore forward Carson Bantle and senior forward Brock Caufield. Each compiled six goals on the year and a combined five over an eight-game stretch. As far as team leaders in assist totals, senior forward Tarek Baker and freshman defenseman Corson Ceulemans pave the way with 12 each through the first 26 games.
Following the matchup with the Michigan Wolverines on the weekend of Jan. 28, Wisconsin will travel to Columbus to square off against the Buckeyes Feb. 4 and 5.
Wrestling:
The Badger wrestling team has found success all throughout the season going 7-1 and finding themselves ranked No. 8 in the recent NCAA rankings.
Since Dec. 29, Wisconsin placed third in the Illinois Matmen Open and collected key victories during a grueling stretch of ranked opponents including No. 12 Northwestern, No. 16 Rutgers and No. 14 Minnesota.
Wrestling: Badgers off to a strong start with the Big Ten schedule underway
Women’s Basketball:
Marisa Moseley’s team has not lived up to expectations as they have gone 5-13 to this point and 2-4 since Jan. 5 picking up conference wins against Rutgers and Penn State.
In the recent victory versus Penn State, 5-foot-8 guard Katie Nelson put together 24 points on a superb shooting night going 7-10 from the floor including 4-6 from three and 6-6 on free throws while also adding six rebounds, three assists and three steals on a game-high 40 minutes played.
Coincidently, Nelson wasn’t the only Badger to reach the 20+ point mark in the contest as the 6-foot junior guard Julie Pospíšilovà continued her consistent scoring (14.6 ppg) with 23 points in 39 minutes played.
