The Wisconsin Lady Badgers absolutely dismantled Delaware in a game in which Wisconsin never felt the heat from the Blue Hens at all. That doesn't mean that head coach Robin Pingeton didn't walk away with some corrections, notes on her notepad for practice this week, and instructions for the Wisconsin assistants to tighten the screws on the offense.
The focus for Pingeton was on attacking the zone defense. She wasn't impressed with the execution of how the Badgers pulled off their zone offense, and it's something Wisconsin will need at various points this season, so it needs to be cleaned up.
"I felt like there was some really good basketball being played," Pingeton told reporters after the game. "The challenge was the consistency. We haven't worked a lot on our zone. Clearly, we need to clean some things up."
Wisconsin wasn't ultra-efficient against the zone, but they were pretty good. It's got to be the 14 turnovers that are eating at Pingeton a little bit, and the clunky moments where the ball was more stuck than effectively moved around to get inside the zone. However, Wisconsin forced 31 turnovers, and the defense for the Badgers was electric.
Robin Pingeton is looking for better efficiency against the zone defense
Pingeton still wants to get the offensive attack against the zone cleaned up. "That's on us as a staff," Pingeton said. "We've got to make sure we get some more reps, and we have so far in practice. I thought it made it a little bit more challenging for us. We'll clean that up over the next couple of days and make sure we're prepared next time we see that kind of defense."
A good coach sees a win of 90-48 and knows that there's still room to grow. She was proud of her team and had lots of great things to say, and loved how the players were very unselfish, but the whole point of the non-conference is to get ready for the Big Ten. There will be some zone defenses in the conference, and Pingeton knows it will be even better than what the Badgers saw tonight with Delaware.
The two Iowa transfers continue to be the stars for Pingeton. Teagan Mallegni has turned into one of the best players in the conference by becoming a Badger. She had another terrific game with 24 points on 9-for-14 shooting, making 4-for-8 from deep. She also added four rebounds and two assists.
Addie Deal also looked exceptional with 19 points, three assists, one rebound, and two steals. Those two led the way, but Pingeton's squad had scoring from nine total players.
It's a great start to the season for Wisconsin women's basketball, with the last three being won in convincing fashion. Now the Badgers will play Green Bay (who just lost) and hope to continue that momentum in this young season. It will be the first road game of the season for Wisconsin, even though plenty of Badger fans will make the trip to support this already fun Badger team.
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