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Wisconsin sweeps Minnesota, sits along atop the Big Ten

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Wisconsin coach Kelly Sheffield

With the top spot in the Big Ten Conference on the line, number seven Wisconsin swept number six Minnesota in a battle for the top spot in the league on Sunday.

The Badgers swept the Gophers, 25-18, 25-15, 25-20, to earn its third straight sweep, its third win over a top-10 team in its last four matches, and its first Border Battle win since 2014 – also when it won its last Big Ten Championship.

The Badgers held Minnesota to a .188 hitting percentage (31 kills – 12 errors – 101 attempts).  Senior libero Tiffany Clark totaled a match-high 14 digs, and Madison Duello and Danielle Hart finished with three blocks each, holding down the front line.

Offensively, junior Dana Rettke finished with a match-high 16 kills, hitting an even .500 (16-2-28) on the day.  Molly Haggerty added 12 kills for the Badgers. [Read more…]

Johnson secures 500th coaching victory in Columbus

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Mark Johnson – (Photo by David Stluka)

The top-ranked Wisconsin women’s hockey team is on quite a roll, improving to 6-0 on the season after sweeping 8th ranked Ohio State 7-3 in Columbus on Saturday night.

The win is the 500th for head coach Mark Johnson with the Badgers.  Johnson became the first NCAA national Collegiate women’s ice hockey coach to reach 500 victories.

The Badgers (6-0-0, 2-0-0-0 WCHA) found themselves in an unfamiliar position early on as the Buckeyes (4-2-0, 2-2-0-0) scored an even-strength goal, the first even-strength goal UW has given up in more than nine games, to take a 1-0 lead.

However, Wisconsin would take a 2-1 lead into the first break thanks to a pair of power-play goals. [Read more…]

Badgers rout Merrimack to split opening weekend

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The Wisconsin Badger men’s hockey team pulled out their first win of the season, rolling to a 11-5 win over Merrimack in North Andover, Massachusetts on Saturday night.

After falling 5-3 to Boston College on Friday night, Wisconsin racked up double-digit goals with three Badgers netting two goals each.

Freshman Cole Caufield scored twice, after netting two goals on Friday as well.  Alex Turcott and K’Andre Miller also scored a pair of Badger goals.

Wisconsin started show in the first, but picked up the pace with a six-goal second period.  The other Badger goal scorers included Tyler Inamoto, Dylan Holloway, Mick Messner, Roman Ahcan and Ty Pelton-Byce.

Fifteen different Badgers scored points in Saturday’s win.  Cole Caufield, Ahcan and Turcotte each had three.

The last time Wisconsin scored 11 or more goals came against Northern Michigan in 1992.

The Badgers return Madison for their home opener next weekend.  The Badgers will face two-time defending National Champion Minnesota-Duluth in a two-game series starting Friday night at the Kohl Center.

 

Badgers blank Michigan State for 4th shutout of the season

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The Michigan State Spartans tried to close the door on Wisconsin’s Heisman Trophy candidate Jonathan Taylor on Saturday.  While they held him to a season-low 80 yards on 26 carries, the Badgers found other ways to pull out a 38-0 victory at Camp Randall Stadium.  Taylor did score two rushing touchdowns, and continues to lead the nation in scoring.  He has 14 rushing touchdowns and eight receiving touchdowns on the season.

It’s also the 13th time in his career, that Taylor has rushed for multiple touchdowns in a game.

The Badgers did rush for 222 yards for the game.  Wide receiver Kendric Pryor scored on a 66-yard run.  Kakia Watson added 34 yards and Aron Cruickshank added 28.

Badger quarterback Jack Coan completed 18 of 21 for 180 yards and a touchdown and the Badgers defense did the rest, pulling out their 6th straight win to start the season.  Coan completed passes to eight difference receivers, with tight end Jake Ferguson and wide out Danny Davis leading the way with four catches each. [Read more…]

Potter waiver denied by NCAA appeals committee

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The Wisconsin Badgers were hoping to count on 6’10 junior forward Micah Potter to start the season.  That hope went up in smoke when the waiver was denied by the NCAA appeals committee.

Potter sat out last season after transferring from Ohio State in December.  The NCAA decision means he’ll have to sit three semesters and won’t be eligible to play until Dec. 21 against UW-Milwaukee.

“I’m disappointed in the decision from the NCAA,” Potter said.  “I tried to stay at Ohio State through a coaching change, but ultimately felt it was in my best interest to find a new opportunity.  In doing so, I have already sat out a full season of competition.  I don’t understand why I am being punished additionally for doing what is encouraged of a student-athlete.  The penalty of a third semester to what I have already sat out seems unjust.

“My understanding is the intent of the transfer rule is to help students acclimate academically at their new school and I’m proud to say that I have done that.  After earning a 3.5 grade point average at Ohio State, I have earned a 3.3 GPA from the spring semester and summer at Wisconsin.”

Potter is expected to play a big role for the Badgers this season.  He played in 59 games at Ohio State with 16 starts.  He averaged 4.1 points and 2.4 rebounds as a sophomore.

 

Hockey Badgers picked to finish third in the Big Ten

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Penn State was tabbed the favorite in the 2019-20 Big Ten hockey preseason coaches’ poll.

Last season, Penn State made their second Big Ten Tournament championship game appearance in three years.  The Nittany Lions completed the year leading the nation in almost every offensive category, setting team records for goals (177), assists (301), points (478) and goals per game (4.54).  Penn State either broke or tied 37 team, individual, career, single-season or single-game records throughout the course of the 2018-19 season and return 20 letter-winners this year.

Notre Dame was selected second in the preseason poll, with the Wisconsin Badgers picked to finish third.

Two Badgers found their way on the Preseason All-Big Ten Hockey First Team.  Defensemen Wyatt Kalynuk and K’Andre Miller are part of the six-player first team.

Wisconsin freshman Cole Caufield was voted to All-Big Ten Honorable Mention.

 

Badger men’s basketball picked sixth in Big Ten preseason poll

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D’Mitrik Trice File Photo – by David Stluka

The University of Wisconsin has been picked to finish sixth in a poll of Big Ten media members released on Monday.

The Badgers were picked to finish sixth last season as well but finished fourth.

This season, the Badgers will be tasked with replacing Big Ten first team selection Ethan Happ, as well as forwards Khalil Iverson and Charlie Thomas.

The Badgers do return six of their top eight scorers from last season, led by guard D’Mitrik Trice (11.6 ppg) and Brad Davison (10.5).

Michigan State was picked to finish first by the Big Ten media, followed by Marland, Ohio State, Purdue and number-five Michigan.  Following Wisconsin at number six is Illinois, Iowa, Penn Sate, Indiana, Minnesota, Rutgers, Nebraska and Northwestern.

Michigan State’s Cassius Winston is the preseason Player of the Year and Ohio State’s D.J. Carton was voted as the Big Ten Freshman of the Year.

The five member All-Big Ten first team follows:

Cassius Winston – Michigan State
Lamar Stevens – Penn State
Ayo Dosunmu – Illinois
Anthony Cowan – Maryland
Kaleb Wesson – Ohio State

Wisconsin’s Orr named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week

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Chris Orr (Photo by David Stluka).

Wisconsin senior linebacker Chris Orr was named the Big Ten Conference Defensive Player of the Week on Monday.

Orr recorded nine tackles (5 solo), two sacks and a forced fumble in the Badgers 24-15 win over the Northwestern Wildcats at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday.

Orr anchored a defense that allowed just 255 yards, recorded 14 tackles for loss, 5 sacks and two defensive touchdowns.

This is Orr’s first career Defensive Player of the Week honor.

 

Badgers land pair of recruits for 2021 class

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Greg Gard

The Wisconsin men’s basketball program secured commitments from a pair of players for the 2021 recruiting class over the weekend.

Greg Gard received oral commitments from 6’1 point guard Chucky Hepburn from Bellevue West High School in Nebraksa and 6’7 forward Matthew Mors from Yankton High School in South Dakota.  Both players paid a visit to the UW campus this past weekend.

Hepburn chose Wisconsin over Nebraska, Creighton and Minnesota, while Mors chose the Badgers over Iowa, Iowa State, Nebraska, Creighton, Colorado and TCU.

Mors and Hepburn join power forward Chris Hodges of Schaumburg, Illinois in Wisconsin’s 2021 class.

Hepburn was a first-team all-state pick last season, averaging 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 3.4 steals a game.

Mors moved up to the high school varsity team as a seventh grader.  He averaged more than 20 points a game as an eighth-grader and was a second-team all-state pick.  He helped his school win a state title as a freshman and was named the Gatorade Player of the year in the state as a sophomore.

Badger defense saves the day against Northwestern

By

Zach Baun

The Wisconsin Badgers scored a touchdown on their opening drive for the fourth straight game, then saw their offense disappear for the remainder of the game.  Yet UW, thanks to their defense, pulled out a 24-15 win over the Northwestern Wildcats to improve to 4-0 on the season and 2-0 in the Big Ten.

The offense went 54-yards on 10-plays to go up 7-0.  Over the next 12 possessions, the Badgers managed one field goal.

The Northwestern defense made Jonathan Taylor work for everything.  He finished with 119 yards on 26 carries with the games opening touchdown.  It’s just the first 100-yard rushing day for Taylor against the Wildcats in three tries.  He has now going over 100 yards 26 times in 31 games.  Taylor also moved into fourth place on the Badgers career rushing list with 4,730 yards, moving past Anthony Davis (4,676).

The Wildcats spent much of the game in a zone defense, making life difficult on Badger quarterback Jack Coan. [Read more…]