Wisconsin opened up Big Ten play against a Top 25 team in Nebraska, but as been the case of late the Badgers couldn't take care of the ball or get things going early as they dropped the conference opener 70-52 on the road to the Huskers.
UW had 20 turnovers on the night and allowed Lindsey Moore to go off to the tune of a game high 26 points. Wisconsin also allowed the Huskers to open up the game on a 5-0 run, a hole that Bucky couldn't get out of all game long, getting as close as two points away at 24-22, but getting no closer in the loss.
After getting close the Huskers went on a 13-4 run to close out the first half up 37-26 and would never look back the rest of the game.
With the loss the Badgers dropped to 8-6 overall and 0-1 in Big Ten play while the Huskers moved to 11-3 and 1-0 on the year respectively.
Not all was ugly for the Badgers in the loss though as they got an unexpected pop from Cassie Rochel in the scoring department as she recorded a double double with 15 points, 10 rebounds. Those numbers were both team highs and despite the fact that Wisconsin got three double digit scores led by Rochel, Jacki Gulcyznski (13), and Tiera Stephen (10).
Just how big of a deal were the 20 turnovers Wisconsin had in the game? Well, Nebraska scored 27 points off of the turnovers, holding a nine point advantage in that category.
One thing that will really hurt the Badgers is the lack of production from their bench and a lot of that has to do with missing players to injury, especially star Taylor Wurtz (who is out for the season with back surgery), and having a short bench because of it. Wisconsin will lean on just 9 players available to them the rest of the way and that could well kill them in Big Ten play.
In this game they got a whole 4 points off the bench, but weren't totally killed by that because Nebraska only had 8 points off the bench of their own. However, when you rely on rotations and need players to at least give you 7-8 points off the bench or beyond the two players that can consistently score in double digits and you don't get it, you'll get crushed. That's exactly what's happening to Wisconsin right now.
Things don't get any easier with Wisconsin's next game on Sunday, as they open up home Big Ten play with Border Battle rivals Minnesota in a contest that will tip off at 2pm Central. There will be a chalk talk with UW coaches prior to the game at the Nicolas-Johnson Pavilion.
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