After a stretch plagued by on-court struggles and off-court tensions, the University of Wisconsin women’s basketball team needed a fresh start and head coach Robin Pingeton has provided exactly that.
Wisconsin has not posted a winning-record in women’s basketball since the 2010-11 season when they went 16-15, but through eight games, the Badgers sit at 6-2 and have shown plenty of reasons for fans to be encouraged.
By hiring Pingeton, Wisconsin is now led by a head coach with NCAA Tournament experience, a height the program hasn’t reached since the 2009-10 season. While March is still a long way away, Pingeton’s 5-1 start to the season is the best by any coach in program history.
For a program that has struggled mightily for an extended period of time, faring well against the other universities in the state is a good place to start for a first-year head coach, and Pingeton did exactly that.
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In the second game of the season, and the first road game under Pingeton, Wisconsin played at Marquette. A strong effort on the road fell just short as the Badgers surrendered a 65-62 defeat. The response, however, was positive.
The following game, the Badgers played UW-Milwaukee and bounced back in a big way with a 75-46 victory at the Kohl Center.
Less than a week after the game against Milwaukee, Wisconsin wrapped up its games against in-state foes with a home game against UW-Green Bay, which they have not beaten since 2016.
In a spirited effort, led by graduate student Destiny Howell’s 23 points, the Badgers took down the Phoenix 76-72, claiming a statement victory early in Pingeton’s tenure.
Not faltering against inferior opponents is a quality possessed by good college basketball teams, and so far, Wisconsin has taken care of business against smaller programs. The Badgers have four wins by double-digits against mid-major opponents in addition to the victories over Milwaukee and Green Bay.
In their first opportunity against a ranked team, Wisconsin fell 65-56 to No. 13 Ole Miss at the Daytona Beach Classic. Trailing by three at halftime, a rough third quarter put the Badgers in a hole they couldn’t dig out of. They made a run in the fourth quarter to bring the game within one possession, but ultimately fell short.
While Wisconsin couldn’t upset the Rebels in Florida, they’ll have an opportunity to take on a ranked opponent in the comforts of their own home, when No. 20 Michigan State visits the Kohl Center on Sunday, Dec. 7.
The contest against the Spartans will be the first conference matchup for the Badgers as the program looks to ascend from the bottom of the conference with the aforementioned 2010-11 season also being the last time it had a winning record against Big Ten opponents.
Following the Big Ten opener, Wisconsin will have two more non-conference opportunities at the Kohl Center against San Diego and IU Indianapolis, before the Big Ten season gets fully underway. The Badgers travel to No. 7 Maryland, which placed fourth in the conference last season, Dec. 29.
The early road game against a top-10 team previews a Big Ten slate which is relatively unkind to Wisconsin. The Badgers, in addition to the game at Maryland, also play the top-three teams from a season ago — USC, UCLA and Ohio State — on the road only.
Michigan, which is currently No. 6 in the country, is also a part of Wisconsin’s road-only matchups, further toughening the schedule.
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In addition to the game against Michigan State, as of Thanksgiving weekend rankings, games against No. 22 Washington and No. 11 Iowa in the final month of the season will give the Badgers opportunities to take the next step and take down a ranked opponent.
Despite recent struggles in the conference, numerous fresh faces in the lineup may be what Wisconsin needs to show improvements against the Big Ten.
As is the case with many teams led by first-year head coaches, most of the Badgers’ rotation consists of players in their first season with the program, but to this point, the newcomers have led the charge.
Through eight games, Wisconsin is averaging 74.1 points, an improvement from last season’s 65.5 points.
Howell, who transferred from Howard, leads the team in scoring at 12.9 points per game. Kyrah Daniels, a junior transfer from Missouri State, is just behind her at 12.6 points per game.
Daniels is also averaging 2.9 assists per game, only behind only the returning senior Ronnie Porter, who is dishing out 4.4 assists per game.
Porter is one of just two returners seeing regular minutes, with sophomore Jovana Spasovski also having seen the court in every game thus far.
Leading the way on the glass is another transfer with Gift Uchenna, by way of Southern Illinois, pulling down a team-best 6.4 rebounds per game.
The frontcourt is anchored defensively, however, by a freshman. Dorja Zaja from Zagreb, Croatia, is leading the team with two blocks per game in her first season in Madison.
On the perimeter, the defense has also been improved this season, partially thanks to North Carolina State transfer Laci Steele. The junior guard has wreaked havoc on opposing backcourts, averaging 1.5 steals per game, just behind Porter who is averaging a team-high 1.6 steals.
Contributions are coming from across the board for Pingeton and no two games have looked the same rotation-wise. Continuity is often beneficial in the modern landscape of college basketball, but for Wisconsin, a clean slate with a handful of new faces may be what helps the Badgers right the ship.
There is a lot of basketball to be played yet this season, and it’s possible for things to go south quickly for any team in the new-look Big Ten. But, for a program which has enjoyed virtually no success in recent years, a strong start to the season with plenty of signs of improvement ahead of the conference schedule has Badger fans encouraged by Pingeton’s leadership.