Saturday Night Rewind: Wisconsin Swept By Minnesota State

These recaps have become increasingly more difficult to write as the 2012-13 season carries on.

Wisconsin continued to dig their own grave even deeper on Saturday night, as they fell to lowly Minnesota State 4-2 for the second consecutive night. The loss brought the Badgers' season record to 1-7-2, and extended their winless streak to seven games.

Once again Wisconsin got off to a slow start, looking hapless for much of the first period. The Badgers would increase their intensity in the second and third periods, but didn't have the offensive punch to match the Mavericks.

After the game Wisconsin head coach Mike Eaves talked about turning the Badgers' ship in the right direction.

"When you get in these funks, it is like turning a freight liner in the middle of the ocean," Eaves said. "You don't turn it on a dime. You have to bring it around in a circle."

"With the effort that the boys made tonight, they started to make that thing turn."

While it's a nice analogy, it's certainly not what the fans want to hear.

With Wisconsin's 1-7-2 record through the first ten games of the season, it' going to take an all-time epic run in the final 26 games for this team to put themselves in a position to have a shot at an at-large birth in the NCAA tournament.

As it stands right now Wisconsin sits 56th (out of 59) in the RPI, and 55th in the KRACH ranking. At this point, UW doesn't have time to slowly turn their freight liner around in a circle in the middle of the ocean. They need wins, and they need them NOW.

Obviously Wisconsin has been without some key pieces recently, and will get at least one of them back this week. Blue-chip freshman Nic Kerdiles is finally eligible for game action, and will be in the lineup next weekend when UW travels to Denver to take on the league leading Pioneers.

Eaves made a plea to the fans after the game to stick with this team.

"Stay with us. This group has not quit. They work hard," Eaves said. "We'll get healthier and we will have some difference makers in our lineup and they'll like watching this team so stay with us."