What to watch in Big Ten play as Wisconsin women’s basketball tries to build off best start in 15 years

MADISON – The Wisconsin women’s basketball team achieved a minor milestone last week that spoke to the state of Badgers hoops one-third of the way through the season.

They received votes in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Yes, Wisconsin was playing so well that it inspired at least a few voters to include the team in their top 25 polls. UW received 15 points in the Dec. 17 poll, which put the Badgers 31^st overall.

The attention was fleeting − the Badgers received no votes in this week’s poll – but the team’s success continued with a 69-59 victory over Albany on Dec. 20 to close out the non-conference portion of the schedule.

Wisconsin (10-2) is off to its best 12-game start since the 2009-10 season, the last time the Badgers made the NCAA Tournament.

The next challenge is to transfer that success to the Big Ten, which has seven teams ranked in the coaches or Associated Press polls and two others that are receiving votes.

The conference season resumes at 1 p.m. Saturday at Indiana (9-3, 1-0 Big Ten).

Here are four keys for the Badgers to continue their winning ways against the Big Ten.

Serah Williams must continue to shine

A first-team all-Big Ten player and the conference’s reigning defensive player of the year, junior forward Serah Williams is averaging career highs for points (20), rebounds (12.3), assists (2.8) and blocks (2.83). She ranked second in the nation in rebounds per game and is fifth in blocks per game.

The combination of her increase in assists and decrease in turnovers (by one per game) has left her with about a 1-to-1 assist-turnover ratio after being in the negative in that category during her first two seasons.

She must continue to be the player that is counted on to produce consistently.

Continue to make good decisions with the ball

Williams isn’t the only Badger doing a better job of eliminating turnovers. It is a trend that is running through the entire team.

UW has nine players averaging 10 minutes per game. Three of those players have positive assist-turnover ratios − Williams, junior point guard Ronnie Porter and graduate guard Halle Douglass − while senior Natalie Leuzinger and graduate Tess Myers are close to 1-to-1 while logging heavy minutes.

Douglass ranks fifth in the Big Ten at 3.2-to-1 and Porter is sixth at 3.18-to-1.

UW is averaging 13.6  turnovers per game, almost five fewer than last season. That’s five additional chances to score and fewer chances for opponents to get the easy breakaway points that sometimes come from turnovers.

Carter McCray makes smooth transition to league play

Moving from the Horizon League to the Big Ten is a major jump, but sophomore Carter McCray’s transition has been smooth so far. The 6-foot-1 center who played at Northern Kentucky last season is second on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg) and rebounding (7,7 rpg) and her .683 shooting percentage is by far the highest on the team.

There will be bigger bodies to compete against in Big Ten play, but she enters the resumption of league play on a roll. In the last five games she is averaging 16 points and eight rebounds and hitting 79% (34 of 43) of her shots.

Continue to make plays in late-game situations

Wisconsin has been good in the clutch this season. The Badgers are 3-1 in games decided by five points or less and six of their wins have come by 10 points or less.

In the victory over Albany last week, UW outscored the Great Danes by nine in the final 4 ½ minutes. In a 66-64 win over Rutgers on Dec. 8, the Badgers lost an 11-point lead at the start of the fourth quarter and trailed by three with 94 seconds to play before regrouping to get the win.

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In between the Rutgers and Albany games was a double-overtime victory over Butler on the road.

The first step for Wisconsin will be to have the lead or be within striking distance down the stretch of games. But then its ability to make winning plays at the end of games will have to continue to show itself.

The Badgers may be an improved team, but there probably aren’t a lot of blowout wins in its future in the Big Ten.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 4 things to watch as Wisconsin women’s basketball resumes Big Ten play