The Wisconsin basketball team has discovered who the looming conference tournament battle will come against in the first round of play.
After losing to the Iowa Hawkeyes in a game that saw the women’s team fight, the Badgers will have to turn around and again play the Hawkeyes to open the conference tournament. The Badgers will travel to Indiana to take on Iowa in the first game of the Big Ten Conference Tournament for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team.
Wisconsin Women’s Basketball Take on Iowa Hawkeyes to Open Big Ten Conference Tournament
The Badgers will enter the tournament as the 14th-seed with a conference record of 4-14 on the season while the Hawkeyes will enter as the 11th-seed. Wisconsin is just 2-9 away from home this season when playing in rival environments, but the Badgers hold a 2-1 neutral site record on the season. Should the Wisconsin women’s basketball team defeat the Hawkeyes, the next game on the schedule would come against the sixth-seeded Michigan State Spartans.
The Wisconsin basketball team struggled against the Hawkeyes during the last regular season, but could pull-off a win in Indianapolis with the correct preparation over the course of the last few days.
How can the Wisconsin Badgers Defeat the Hawkeyes During Huge Second Meeting?
The Wisconsin basketball team has one chance at potentially ending the season on a positive note and that will begin with making it past the Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa is a talented team that shared some similar struggles with Wisconsin against the rest of the Big Ten Conference competition this season, earning them the 11th-seed in the tournament.
The Hawkeyes are led by a combination of Lucy Olsen and Hannah Stuelke, who both regularly roam the paint and produce the majority of their production down low for the team. Olsen is a bit more dangerous of a shooter, with an experienced shot from outside and great mechanics that allow for a quick release of the basketball, while Stuelke is a fearless rebounder in the paint.
In order for the Wisconsin basketball team to win during the next clash, the Badgers will have to find a way to slow both players down in the paint at the same time, which will become a very difficult task. Olsen struggled in the paint when Serah Williams, who had the lone block for Wisconsin during the last game, provided the defensive help but that opens way for Stuelke to do damage against the rest of the defense.
Carter McCray is the next best defender that Wisconsin has in terms of matching up against the 6-foot-2-inch frame of Stuelke, and McCray will need to work with Williams during the next game to ensure the paint is protected. The Hawkeyes scored 44-points in the paint last game, and then attacked the Badgers late in the game with a barrage of long-range shots after Wisconsin was able to make the adjustment defensively in the paint.
Along with stopping Stuelke and Olsen, the Wisconsin basketball team will have to find a way to continually adjust against the Hawkeyes, which has been a problem this season is some of the conference losses the Badgers have suffered.
The game against Iowa was rather close through three quarters of play, and it was not until made an adjustment on offense that the game really began to fall in the laps of the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin was not able to answer quick enough, and ultimately that led to the loss for the Badgers in a game that looked far different during the first half of play. In order to advance in the conference tournament and keep the season alive, Wisconsin will need to make adjustments on the go and play great basketball.
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