On Thursday, the third-seeded Wisconsin Badgers return home to the Kohl Center to take on the Harvard Crimson in the WBIT quarterfinals at 6:30 P.M. CT, airing on ESPN+.
The Badgers are coming off another impressive road victory last Sunday down in Coral Gables, defeating the Miami Hurricanes 72-65. It was a cold-shooting first half for both teams, with Wisconsin shooting 29% and Miami shooting 17%. After halftime, the Badgers, holding a 23-15 lead, heated up in a big way from distance, connecting on all seven three-point attempts to take a 52-37 lead. A late Miami rally was not enough, as Wisconsin escaped with the victory.
What should Wisconsin Badgers fans know about the Harvard Crimson?
The Crimson are led by Carrie Moore in her fourth season as the head coach at Harvard. Moore's squad comes to Wisconsin with a 20-11 overall record and two dominant wins over Navy and Eastern Kentucky in the WBIT. The latter of which was a 63-34 thrashing last Sunday, in which the Crimson held EKU to a mere two points in the first quarter.
Harvard is paced by first-team All-Ivy League guard Karlee White, who leads the team with 14.9 points per game and connects on 44.8% of her three-point attempts. Alongside White in the backcourt is Ivy League Freshman of the Year Olivia Jones, who averages 6.0 points per game and shares the team rebounding lead with Gabby Anderson, each averaging 6.4 rebounds per game.
In the frontcourt, second-team All-Ivy League forward Abigail Wright leads the team with 191 rebounds this season. Wright earned her fourth double-double of the year against EKU, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds. She is one of two players to have started all 31 games for the Crimson. The other, forward Katie Krupa, led Harvard with 15 points in last Sunday’s win.
As a team, the Crimson averaged 65.5 points per game, third in the Ivy League. However, Harvard boasts the top defense in their conference, allowing 56.4 points per game.