Preview: No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball prepares for matchup against Wisconsin

Coming off a dominant win over Rutgers, No. 11 Maryland women’s basketball (14-4, 5-2 Big Ten) returns to the road to take on Wisconsin (6-12, 2-5 Big Ten) on Thursday.

The Badgers have struggled thus far, losing 10 of 11 following a 3-1 start. Two of those losses were to Green Bay and Illinois State, both low level Division one schools.

Yet, Wisconsin is playing much better basketball of late, winning two of its last three Big Ten games. The Badgers defeated Minnesota and Michigan State, before falling to No. 6 Indiana at Assembly Hall.

Meanwhile, Maryland is coming off an up and down week. First, the Terps lost to Indiana on the road in a highly anticipated top ten showdown. They responded in a big way on Sunday, defeating Rutgers by 24 in College Park.

Brinae Alexander was the story in that one, as the senior guard/forward finished with 20 points, going 6-8 from beyond the arc. She reached 1,000 career points in that one, which was widely celebrated by teammates and coaches.

“A thousand points means a lot to me,” Alexander said. “It’s my fifth year in college and it just shows me the trust my teammates have in me. It feels great to accomplish that here. The bench was screaming at me to shoot it, so I just did and it went in.”

Senior guard Diamond Miller added 17 points and five steals in the matchup, and senior guard Abby Meyers chipped in with 14 points of her own. Miller and Meyers are the top-two Maryland scorers, averaging 18.6 and 14.2 points per game, respectively.

But the story of the day was the Maryland defense, as it forced 11 first quarter turnovers and held Rutgers to just 28 first half points. The ability to force turnovers has been Maryland’s calling card all season, and it continued on Sunday.

That’s bad news for Wisconsin, who comes into Thursday’s ranking 11th in the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio. The Badgers turn it over 17.2 times per game, a weakness that Maryland will look to exploit.

Offensively, the Badgers struggle to shoot from beyond the arc, shooting at a 32% clip from beyond the arc. Additionally, they rank tenth in the Big Ten in overall field goal percentage (42.6%).

One thing Wisconsin does have is a balanced scoring attack. Five Badgers average in double digits on the season, led by senior guard Julie Popisilovia. The Czech Republic Native is averaging just over 13 points per game this season, along with leading the team in assists per game (4.1).

A star that is slowly emerging in the Badgers starting lineup is freshman forward Serah Williams. In Wisconsin’s victory over Michigan State, the 6-foot-4 Williams scored 31 points on 13-16 shooting.

“They have a really good freshman who is playing well right now,” Alexander said.

Wisconsin’s biggest struggles lay on the defensive side of the ball. The Badgers rank last in the Big Ten in scoring defense, allowing 73.8 points per game. Additionally, the Badgers rank last in opponent field goal percentage (42.4%), and second-worst in opponent three-point percentage (33.8%).

Maryland ranks in the top half of the conference in points per game (78.7) and three-point percentage (37.5%).

“To have so many scorers it allows us to spread the court, it makes people come out and guard us with our great guard play,” coach Brenda Frese said.

Struggling to stop the three is not the only issue that plagues the Badger defense. Wisconsin also ranks last in the conference in team rebounding (33.8 per game), as it struggles to limit second chance opportunities.

Still, Maryland is not overlooking Wisconsin.

“Anytime you go on the road it takes a mentality on how you need to play against a much improved Wisconsin team,” Frese said.

Tip-off is set at 7:30 p.m. at the Kohl Center in Madison.