The MSU women’s basketball team is looking for retribution following a loss to Wisconsin three weeks ago.
The Badgers defeated the Spartans 86-78 in double overtime Jan. 10 in East Lansing.
“I really felt they stole that game from us,” head coach Joanne P. McCallie said. “I felt in a lot of ways that game was really ours. I hope the team can take it this way - let’s get back at them.”
The Spartans (13-7 overall, 3-6 Big Ten) are looking to take momentum from Sunday’s 75-58 win against Northwestern into Madison, Wis., against the No. 15 Badgers.
Wisconsin (16-4, 7-3) is currently on a three-game skid.
Sophomore forward Julie Pagel said MSU can expect the Badgers to be hungry for a win.
“They know we are going to be coming, because we lost in double overtime,” Pagel said. “So it’s going to be a good battle both ways.”
Wisconsin is led by preseason Big Ten Player of the Year Jessie Stomski. The 6-foot-3 forward leads the Badgers in points and rebounds at 19 and 8.7, respectively.
The Badgers also suit up forward Tamara Moore, a preseason All-Big Ten First Team selection. She contributes 17.3 points per game.
Stomski, Moore and senior Kyle Black, each scored at least 21 points when the teams last met. The tri-captains also posted more than 44 minutes apiece in the last contest.
“We know that to stop their penetration, we’ll need to play heads-up defense and work together,” Pagel said. “We’ll also have to push them to the hand they aren’t comfortable with.”
The Spartans played solid defense against Northwestern on Sunday, forcing 25 Wildcat turnovers. MSU will look to do the same against the Badgers, who average 19 turnovers per game.
“As much as it’s important for us to force them to turn the ball over, we need to keep our turnovers under control,” Pagel said. “As long as we can stay on offense and force them to play defense for 30 seconds and get some offensive boards, we’ll be in good shape.”
MSU also has struggled controlling the ball most of the season. The Spartans turned the ball over 18 times against the Wildcats and 21 times in their previous meeting with the Badgers.
McCallie said the team will need to control the ball better against the Badgers this time around.
“I watched film all last night,” McCallie said Monday. “I can tell you we’re a much better team than we were then. Some of the turnovers we had in that game were part of the learning curve.
“We need to take the next step and start to really take care of the ball. If you take care of the ball against Wisconsin, you put yourself in position to beat them.”
