She's just getting started
Carter McCray has made an instant impact for Wisconsin Women's Basketball
Andy Baggot
1/8/2025
Marisa Moseley was sharing a story about Carter McCray when the Wisconsin women’s basketball coach casually rolled this thought-provoking stat onto the hardwood floor at the Nicholas-Johnson Pavilion following a recent practice.
“You know,’’ Moseley said of the sophomore transfer from Northern Kentucky, “she had 150 offensive rebounds by herself last year.’’
There are a lot of ways to measure that development, but you could start and end with this:
Whoa.
She has an instinct, a timing, to go and get rebounds. She's just a natural, kind of like that Dennis Rodman-esque type of thing where she has a knack for knowing where the ball's going to come off (the rim). She plays a lot bigger than she is, which is really cool to see.Marisa Moseley
McCray is listed at 6-foot-1, but played center last season and is listed as a post player by the Badgers due in large part to her skills and willingness to rebound.
In 31 games as a true freshman with the Norse, McCray averaged 4.8 offensive rebounds on her way to leading NKU in scoring with 15.7 points per game and rebounding overall with 11.2 per outing.
Those totals help explain why McCray was voted freshman of the year in the Horizon League, an NCAA Division I conference, while earning second-team all-league honors.
In all, McCray finished her only season at Northern Kentucky with 346 rebounds. For reference, only one player in Wisconsin history, Hall of Famer Theresa Huff, collected more in a single season (394 in 1982).
Granted, we’re talking very different levels of competition from Northern Kentucky to a Power 4 entity like the Big Ten Conference and the Badgers – despite their recent struggles – but McCray appears to be a unique, overlooked talent who’s just beginning to get her lofty bearings.
No wonder Moseley pursued McCray via the transfer portal and why the UW coach has visions of McCray becoming the yin to the yang of junior power forward Serah Williams, the double-double machine for the Badgers.
Williams, listed at 6-4, is on pace to lead Wisconsin in scoring and rebounding for the second straight season. Moseley loves the idea of having someone like McCray to ease some of the burden on Williams.
“She has an instinct, a timing, to go and get rebounds,’’ Moseley said of McCray. “She’s just a natural, kind of like that Dennis Rodman-esque type of thing where she has a knack for knowing where the ball’s going to come off (the rim). She plays a lot bigger than she is, which is really cool to see.’’
Unlike Rodman, he of the quirky persona, colorful coifs and NBA Hall of Fame resume, McCray goes quietly about her business.
But, like Rodman, McCray plays with an undeniable intensity.
“She’s not meek, she’s focused,’’ said her father, Antwon.
That Williams to McCray connection!#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/TcyuLyA9WO
— Wisconsin Women’s Basketball (@BadgerWBB) January 4, 2025
.@cmccray31 delivers under pressure??#OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/mRZzl6iqjH
— Wisconsin Women’s Basketball (@BadgerWBB) January 8, 2025
“She’s very unassuming,’’ Moseley said, “but when she gets on the court, she has a completely different persona.’’
Williams, who has 38 career double-doubles, has seen it up-close.
“Carter is really, really strong,’’ she said. “She’s able to bury people, make them look weak.’’
That no-nonsense approach has been evident for some time now said her father Antwon, a former running back at Toledo who had stints in the NFL with Pittsburgh and Denver.
“If you say, ‘Do this’ she’s going to do it to the best of her ability,’’ he said. “The more physical the game is, the harder she goes.’’
Moseley said Northern Kentucky was McCray’s lone Division I scholarship offer. After McCray’s breakout showing as a freshman, she considered Bowling Green, Georgetown, George Washington and Nevada-Las Vegas and had a trip planned to Virginia Tech that was cancelled after she committed to UW.
“I had offers from other schools, but when I came here, the coaching staff seemed really genuine (and) they had a plan for me coming in,’’ McCray said.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity to play with a really talented post player. They’re able to coach post players and make them better here.
“Having the opportunity to play alongside Serah was a major thing. It’s always great playing with some of the best players in the country and that’s what you have here.’’
Antwon said he and his wife Rachael, who played basketball at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio, were immediately smitten with UW.
“It was breathtaking,’’ he said. “It’s an amazing city that people can sleep on if you’ve never been there.’’
McCray’s job description has changed a lot from last season. Instead of being relegated to staying on the block and get rebounds, she’s being asked to set screens, move and make high-low passes, work on shooting outside jump shots and run the floor hard in transition.
“We’re asking her to do a lot of other things,’’ Moseley said. “She’s a sponge.’’
McCray said her “hard work ethic’’ is the key to her development, which includes three double-doubles.
“I’m definitely better,’’ she added. “I’m stronger because I’ve been in the weight room more. I’m trying to work on that mid-range shot and being able to read the court better.’’
Carter’s father conjured up an old football metaphor to describe his daughter.
“She’s very passionate about whatever she does,’’ he said. “If you’re like, ‘Hey, I want you to run through this wall four times and run this circle and end up in the middle, well, that’s what she’s going to do. She’s just in go mode. You turn that switch on, it’s like a machine.’’
So far this season, McCray leads the Badgers in shooting percentage (.611) and 50 offensive rebounds, while sitting second in scoring (10.0) and rebounding (6.9).
“She’s always trying to improve,’’ her father said. “She just has a hunger to get better every day.’’
McCray said Williams, a shot-blocking specialist who’s the reigning Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year, is a threat from the post in every aspect.
“She can bury you if she wants to,’’ Carter said. “She can hit that turnaround jumper. Gets rebounds. She’s really long, great on defense. She has a lot of great aspects to her game.’’
Going back to 2015-16, the only other UW player to surpass 100 offensive rebounds in a season was Marsha Howard, who totaled 113 in 2018-19.
McCray is just getting started.
“You tell her to do something,’’ Moseley said, “she’s going to do it to the best of her ability.’’
Whoa indeed.