After a thrilling win over Texas, the Wisconsin Badgers are back in action on December 18th in Missouri to take on the Kentucky Wildcats.
Kentucky is one of the strongest teams in the country with a current 25 match win streak going and just two losses suffered all season. Nebraska and Pittsburgh both secured a win over the Wildcats, but the Cornhuskers were not able to do so without a fight.
The Wildcats have not lost a match since doing so against Pittsburgh but many teams including Louisville, Florida, Oklahoma, and Texas have come close to doing so. Since entering the NCAA Tournament, the Wildcats have dropped just one set to UCLA. The Longhorns had been in a very similar situation prior to facing Wisconsin but the Badgers were able to surpass the momentum Texas had coming into the match.
Wisconsin will have a chance to shut down the hot team once again as the Wildcats look to extend a very lengthy win streak.
Wisconsin Badgers Defense Must Step Up Against Talented Wildcats’ Outside Hitters
The Badgers previously played against the Longhorns last round who notably had a potent attack and plenty of talent of offense. Wisconsin managed to slow down the Longhorns while recording 66 assists, which ties a season-high for the team. Texas had just 48 kills to the 67 kills that Wisconsin managed to secure during the win.
Kentucky is a similar team in many ways, especially up at the net where both teams have struggled being blocked. Texas allowed 252.5 total opponent blocks this season while Kentucky has allowed 241.5. Wisconsin, on the other hand, has only allowed 189.5 total opponent blocks this season.
The Wildcats are currently allowing nearly eight blocks per game with 16.5 blocks allowed in the losses to Nebraska and Pittsburgh. Slowing down the Wildcats means stopping the attempts of outside hitters Eva Hudson and Brooklyn DeLeye, who are the two leading scorers for the team.
Hudson is a transfer from Purdue with a deep history of playing against Wisconsin. The outside hitter scored 17 kills in a 3-0 loss to the Badgers last season and in 2023 Hudson scored 52 points against Wisconsin while going 1-1. Hudson has struggled to stay consistent during her career but is currently on track to record career-lows in errors and total attempts.
Stopping Hudson is something the Badgers have done multiple times in the past, but the real issue could be defending DeLeye. The junior is averaging 4.2 kills per set while breaking into her second consecutive 500-kill season for the Wildcats. DeLeye has 74 points in four NCAA Tournament games while limiting her attacking errors.
How can the Wisconsin Badgers Defeat Kentucky?
While Kentucky has been a powerhouse this season and arguably one of the strongest teams in the country, Wisconsin was just in the same position last round.
For the Badgers, nothing changes from the preparation down to the execution against the Wildcats. Wisconsin did a great job at limiting how effective top scorer Torrey Stafford was in leading the offense. If Wisconsin can do the same with DeLeye and Hudson, a similar result should play out in the favor of the Badgers.
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