Wisconsin Badgers: Women’s hoops win, men’s lose, CB decommits

BLOOMINGTON, UNITED STATES - 2023/01/15: Wisconsin Badgers forward Serah Williams (25) plays against Indiana Hoosiers forward Lilly Meister (52) during an NCAA women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.Indiana beat Wisconsin 93-56. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
BLOOMINGTON, UNITED STATES - 2023/01/15: Wisconsin Badgers forward Serah Williams (25) plays against Indiana Hoosiers forward Lilly Meister (52) during an NCAA women's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington.Indiana beat Wisconsin 93-56. (Photo by Jeremy Hogan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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Wisconsin Lady Badgers rough up Valparaiso 59-44

In a battle of 3-team losing streaks, Wisconsin Lady Badgers stopped their bleeding by soundly defeating Valparaiso Lady Beacons 59-44. The win brings their season record to 7-14.

Freshman forward Serah Williams paced UW with 18 points and seven rebounds. Going into the contest, she ranked 4th in the Big Ten in blocks, averaging 1.5 blocks per game. Last night’s effort of four will certainly help boost that stat.

Senior guard Julie Pospisilova was the only other Badger in double-digits, with 10 points. She also contributed 7 boards and 3 assists. Her four steals is a season-high for her (her career high was 6, set her sophomore year against Western Illinois).

Every starting Lady Badger had at least five rebounds. As a team, they had 35 compared to Valparaiso’s 32. Maybe the men’s team could take some notes.

Their next game is Sunday at home against Northwestern. Gametime is 1 P.M. (CST).

Wisconsin Badgers’ road woes continue

Playing their second road game in 48 hours, UW ran into a Maryland squad that had revenge on its mind. Earlier in the season, the Badgers had handed the Terps their first loss of the season. They got that revenge in the form of a 73-55 victory.

This loss sees them slip to a 12-7 overall record and a sub .500 conference record at 4-5. While there is still a lot of basketball to go, the Badgers are going to have to climb out of 9th place in the Big Ten if they want to attend the “Big Dance” in March and not just the junior NIT.

Freshman phenom Connor Essegian had his best game as a starter, scoring 19 points 6-12 from the field and 4-6 from downtown. Wahl and Crowl provided the majority of the other scoring, as they each had 13 and 11 points, respectively.

Carter Gilmore played significant minutes off the bench and scored six points.

Down by only 4 points heading into the locker room for halftime, they came out flat and proceeded to be outscored 41-27 in the second stanza.

Mercifully the road trip has come to an end and Saturday sees UW return to the Kohl Arena to take on Illinois. They met just 3 weeks before, in the first full game without Wahl and Illinois took advantage of that to thump Illinois 79-69

2024 3-star CB decommits from Wisconsin Badgers

Austin Alexander, a 3-star out of Marian Catholic in Chicago Heights, Illinois, re-opened his recruiting after he de-committed from UW.

Just last weekend, Alexander had been in Madison for Wisconsin’s Junior Day. He expressed a fondness for Coach Fickell and seemed generally happy.

2 days later, he decided to explore his options again as USC, Northern Illinois, Iowa State, and Nebraska have all offered him a scholarship.

C.J. Williams leaves USC to come here, Alexander de-commits to possibly go there. I think the Badgers got the best of that possible deal.