Wisconsin

Wisconsin relying on its traditional winning formula during its recent surge

Published

2 months ago

October 23, 2024

Wisconsin relying on its traditional winning formula during its recent surge

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin finally is starting to play like Wisconsin again.

After going 9-8 in their first 17 games under second-year coach Luke Fickell, the Badgers have dismantled their last three opponents by a combined score of 117-16. They’re benefiting from a dominant defense and physical rushing attack, the hallmarks of Wisconsin’s best teams.

“Obviously Wisconsin’s always had a great tradition of defense, offensive line play and everything,” center Jake Renfro said. “I feel like we’re definitely bringing that back to life now.”

It’s tough to tell just how far Wisconsin has come because those three lopsided victories came against Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern. Those three teams have a combined 2-10 record in Big Ten competition.

The true test comes Saturday night when Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) hosts No. 3 Penn State (6-0, 3-0). The Badgers have lost their last five meetings with Penn State and are 2-13 in their last 15 matchups with ranked foes.

Wisconsin is 0-4 against Top 25 teams under Fickell, including a 42-10 loss to then-No. 4 Alabama and a 38-21 setback at then-No. 13 Southern California in back-to-back games earlier this season.

Renfro considers the USC game a turning point.

“It was just like an internal something that clicked within us,” Renfro said. “Hey, we’re not playing to what we need to do. We took it personally as an offensive line. We blamed that game on us.”

It would be presumptuous to say Wisconsin has recaptured its identity based on three lopsided wins over Big Ten also-rans, but it’s worth noting the Badgers had struggled in these types of games not too long ago.

Wisconsin was a 2 1/2-point underdog heading into its 42-7 victory at Rutgers. The Badgers are coming off a 23-3 victory at Northwestern, which won 24-10 at Wisconsin last year.

Part of the improvement is due to a resurgent defense.

Wisconsin ranked 11th or better among all Football Bowl Subdivision teams in total defense seven times in an eight-year stretch from 2015-22, but the Badgers slipped to 39th last season and couldn’t slow down Alabama or USC last month.

During this three-game winning streak, Wisconsin has allowed just one touchdown. Safety Hunter Wohler says the defense has figured out how to deliver whenever adversity arrives.

“The way our defense has responded to an offensive turnover, bad field position, just anything that can go wrong, our defense has just answered in a great way,” Wohler said.

Wisconsin’s offense has made sure its defense doesn’t face those situations very often.

The Badgers collected just 23.5 points per game while going 7-6 last year, which marked their lowest single-season scoring average since 2004. They had just 24 points per game while starting out 2-2 this season.

But they’re averaging 39 points per game during this winning streak. They’ve done that despite losing starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke to a torn ACL against Alabama.

Wisconsin is running the ball more often behind its veteran offensive line.

Offensive coordinator Phil Longo had a background in Air Raid-style stacks, and Wisconsin passed on 50.8% of its snaps. That was the first time the Badgers had attempted more passes than runs since at least 1946, which is as far back as Wisconsin’s records on the subject go.

Wisconsin is running the ball 58.2% of the time this season. Over its last three games, Wisconsin has built big leads and has run it on over 60% of its snaps.

For the first part of the season, Tawee Walker shared carries with Chez Mellusi, who stepped away from the program three weeks ago. Walker has been the clear No. 1 back ever since, and the Oklahoma transfer has responded by rushing for 418 yards and six touchdowns on 66 carries over his last three games.

“We’re starting to recognize that Tawee in particular is a guy who’s much better with more than 18-20 carries,” Fickell said.

Walker says he owes his success to Wisconsin’s experienced offensive line. Jack Nelson, Joe Huber, Renfro, Joe Brunner and Riley Mahlman have combined for 138 career starts. They’ve allowed quarterback Braedyn Locke to get sacked only three times over Wisconsin’s last three games.

“They’re playing aggressive and going at the defense 100% of the time,” Walker said. “I’m just following behind them and matching their energy.”

That combination of a physical offense and dynamic defense has Wisconsin feeling good about itself again. As their schedule gets more demanding, the Badgers have a chance to prove how far they’ve come.

“It was definitely a little rough ride last year,” Renfro said. “It didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But I think we’re showing the world that we’re back, we’re improved. And we’re not even to our ceiling yet. There’s still so much room for improvement.”

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Wisconsin

Southeast Wisconsin weather: Flurries and cold temperatures

Published

4 hours ago

January 1, 2025

Press Room

Southeast Wisconsin weather: Flurries and cold temperatures

New Year… but same old January in Wisconsin! Lots of cold is in the forecast not only for this week, but next week too!

Flurries and even some scattered snow showers are possible today, mainly in the morning. Some of those flurries are developing because of the power plant in Portage. A quick dusting of snow will be possible. We likely already saw our high temperature of 32 degrees early this morning, afternoon temperatures will be in the upper 20s to near 30 degrees. Breezy winds from the northwest will bring back wind chills making it feel like the teens.

A weak clipper passes to our south Thursday afternoon bringing a few snow showers south of us towards northern Illinois. We’ll hold on to near-average temperatures for Thursday with highs near 30 degrees before another drop in temperatures arrives for the rest of the week and into the weekend. Highs get stuck in the 20s with lows in the single digits and teens. Wind chills will be single digits Thursday and Friday morning then going below zero for Saturday morning.

We’re still watching that system for Sunday night into Monday. The track of the low continues to sink south, which could leave us just dry and cold. There are some early indications that a lake-effect band could set up south of Milwaukee into Racine and Kenosha with winds turning northeast for a period of time. There’s plenty of time for better details to come.

WEDNESDAY: Snow Shower/Flurries, Mostly CloudyHigh: 32
Wind: WNW 10-20 mph

TONIGHT: Partly Cloudy
Low: 20
Wind: NW 10-15 mph

THURSDAY: Mostly Cloudy, PM Slight Snow Chance South
High: 30

FRIDAY: Mostly Sunny, Breezy
High: 24

SATURDAY: Mostly Sunny
High: 23

SUNDAY: Mostly Cloudy
High: 26

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Wisconsin

Wisconsin women’s basketball searches for answers after slow start leads to loss to Minnesota

Published

12 hours ago

December 31, 2024

Press Room

Wisconsin women’s basketball searches for answers after slow start leads to loss to Minnesota

MADISON – This game of catch up isn’t working for the Wisconsin women’s basketball team.

For the second straight game, a slow start laid the foundation to a Big Ten loss. Tuesday in a New Year’s Eve late afternoon matinee at the Kohl Center the Badgers didn’t have a basket in the first quarter when they fell behind by as many as 21 points.

The result was an uphill climb for the final 30 minutes and in the end a 59-50 loss to Minnesota.

The recipe for defeat included 14 turnovers, seven in each half. Wisconsin also got out-worked on the boards and continued to struggle to get opportunities from three-point range.

As a result the Badgers (10-4 overall, 1-2 in the Big Ten) are searching for answers after getting off to the program’s best 12-game start in 15 years.

“It really starts in practice, everyone coming in hungry,” junior guard Ronnie Porter said. “Our last two games weren’t our best two games. Obviously you’ve seen from the beginning of the season until now a lot has changed and what we were good at we’re not doing now and it’s given us the results we’ve gotten these last two games.”

Wisconsin’s four-game winning streak over the Gophers snapped

Serah Williams, a 6-foot-4 junior forward, finished with 16 points on 7-for-15 shooting and grabbed 11 rebounds. Porter posted 13 points on 4-for-12 shooting, grabbing eight rebounds and dishing out four assists.

Minnesota (14-1, 2-1 Big Ten) never trailed. Three Gophers reached double figures including former Kettle Moraine standout Grace Grocholski, a 5-10 sophomore guard who finished with 12 points, went 2 for 5 from three-point range, and grabbed five rebounds.

Minnesota has played without standout Mara Braun (foot) but even without the 6-foot junior guard the Gophers had plenty of size inside and length across its lineup to make it difficult for Wisconsin to move the ball, get off passes cleanly and clean the boards as well as it would like.

“Honestly I think the biggest thing for us is we’ve killed people on the boards. We had four offensive rebounds (today)” Badgers coach Marisa Moseley said. “For us that is not our game. We’ve got to be able to go get second- and third-chance opportunities, getting to the free throw line.

“Starting down 19 points (after one quarter), you’re not going to win many games like that. I’ll take responsibility. We’ve got to have better starts,”

At Indiana, the Badgers trailed by as many as 15 points in the first quarter before an 11-0 run allowed them to cut the lead to four. The Hoosiers led by 19 at the half.

Tuesday Minnesota enjoyed runs of 10 and 13 straight points in the first quarter. Wisconsin settled into the game in the second quarter, but never enough to pull closer than 13 points. The halftime deficit was 17.

UW had a few chances in the fourth quarter to pull to within 10 but the outcome was never in jeopardy down the stretch.

Cutting turnovers, increasing three-pointers key to improving

As Wisconsin tries to get back on track, two areas will be key.

* Turnovers. Williams finished with six to lead the Badgers for the second straight game. Porter had four for the second straight contest.

Williams has been getting smothered in the paint, which has caused her to attempt a lot of passes through traffic.

“I just think I’ve got to be more patient with it and see the thing develop,” she said.

* Three-point shooting: At one point this season the Badgers had a run of four straight games with at least 20 three-point attempts. Thursday marked fourth straight game they didn’t reach that mark.

UW had 12 attempts against Indiana, six less than its season average, and was on track for that total in the first half Tuesday before going 3 for 11 in the second half when they were playing catch up.

“We know how good we are and how good we can be,” Porter said. “These games just show us what we need to work on. We play in one of the best conferences in the country so it’s just about how we respond and be as one while respond.”

Upcoming Big Ten schedule filled with challenges

Porter isn’t kidding about the Big Ten.

Up next is a trip to west coast to face Oregon on Saturday and Washington on Tuesday. After that comes two games against opponents ranked in the USA Today coaches poll – vs. No. 7 Maryland Jan. 11 and No. 9 Ohio State Jan. 16 – before back-to-back road games at Nebraska Jan. 20 and Minnesota Jan. 26.

“You can’t ride that rollar coaster and be so high then get so low,” Moseley said. “We’ve got to find that midpoint to say, how do we dissect this and how do we get better.

“We’ve got three months to figure this thing out. I told them that’s a lot of time and for us to continue to grow. We’ve made big leaps, but we obviously still have a long way to go to really become the team we want to become.”

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Wisconsin

Will mail be delivered on New Year’s Day in Wisconsin?

Published

21 hours ago

December 31, 2024

Press Room

Will mail be delivered on New Year’s Day in Wisconsin?

Since New Year’s Day is the first of nearly a dozen federal holidays in 2025, some services — like mail delivery and Milwaukee’s public libraries — won’t be available.

But, despite the closures of some banks and the post office, many local stores will still be open.

Here’s what to know:

Are post offices open on New Year’s Day?

U.S. Postal Service (USPS) post offices will be closed and mail will not be delivered on New Year’s Day, the USPS told USA TODAY. The USPS will resume regular operations on Thursday, Jan. 2.

Are shipping services, like UPS and FedEx, available on New Year’s Day?

According to the UPS website, pickup and delivery services will not be available on New Year’s Day and store locations may also be closed.

FedEx pickup and delivery services will also be unavailable and locations will also be closed, according to the company’s website.

Are banks open on New Year’s Day?

Branches of Capital One, Bank of America, PNC, Truist and CitiBank, among others, will be closed, the banks confirmed to USA TODAY.

Are federal and local government offices open on New Year’s Day?

Since New Year’s Day is a federal holiday, federal offices will be closed, according to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Wisconsin state government and Milwaukee city offices will also be closed.