In the week since Minnesota took a sizable chunk out of the collective backside of the Ohio State women’s basketball team, silence has reigned in areas outside of the practice gym.

As it happened, a 76-65 upset loss to the Gophers rubbed up against the bye week in the Big Ten schedule for the 11th-ranked Buckeyes (20-2, 7-2). The extra time to concentrate on the team was a godsend, according to coach Jim Foster.

“The bye came at a good time for us for a lot of reasons,” he said. “We needed it. We’re young and we had lapsed into a couple of things that we needed to work on. They (watched) some film every day. And then we would work on the things that we needed to work on.”

Foster has stressed all season that his post players are young and his starting guards — senior Samantha Prahalis and juniors Tayler Hill and Amber Stokes — are not. Yet, the veteran guards watched a lot of film and winced at what they saw.

“The way we’re playing, it’s up to the guards,” Foster said. “Ball reversals are essential for our post game to get involved. When we take quick shots, (the post players) are not engaged. And it was our fault.

“I think that the guards completely and 100 percent understand that. Sometimes no matter what you say, they don’t comprehend it. They watched it. They saw it. They understand it. They believe it. And they see how good we are when we do reverse it.”

The chance to prove all of the above arrives tonight against Wisconsin (8-14, 4-8) at Value City Arena. The Buckeyes defeated the Badgers 77-61 in the conference opener on Nov. 30.

Despite its record, Wisconsin has turned a corner of late and has defeated Minnesota and Michigan, the other team to defeat Ohio State this season, over the past three games.

The Badgers aren’t alone in their improved play among second-division teams. Iowa handed league-leading Purdue its first conference loss of the season on Feb. 4. Michigan State stunned preseason favorite Penn State on the same day that the Gophers stopped the Buckeyes.

“As to be expected,” Foster said. “Some injuries and some disappointments have some of the teams that were up (at the top) going the other way. That’s normal in a conference schedule.”

The Buckeyes haven’t forgotten Minnesota.

“It sticks with you until your next game, I guess,” Hill said. “I think we’ve been more mentally involved in practice. And that’s a big thing for us in a game — to stay more mentally involved in the game.”

Hill also remembers that Ohio State led Wisconsin 38-37 at halftime in the first meeting this season.

“They played hard,” she said. “So we have to match that. We need to play defense all around on the three-point line, going to the bucket and boxing out for rebounds.”

Slow starts at Indiana and Minnesota are a concern.

“We haven’t been reversing the ball,” Hill said. “We’ve been getting into a rush mode. It starts with the guards, all of us. We shouldn’t be that way.”

jmassie@dispatch.com