Wisconsin’s Kyrah Daniels reframes ongoing injury recovery as ‘blessing’

ROSEMONT, Ill. – Wisconsin women’s basketball has needed to be patient from a medical standpoint as the Badgers prepare for the 2026-27 season.

Kyrah Daniels – one of Wisconsin‘s key returning players – is still recovering from an injury she suffered in the Badgers’ WBIT semifinal loss to Columbia on March 30.

“She’s getting there,” Wisconsin coach Robin Pingeton said at the Big Ten’s annual basketball media days. “She’s not back on the court yet, but we do expect her to be back relatively soon.”

Any missed time from a key player would be an obvious disappointment for the Badgers, but the challenging circumstances have not deterred Daniels from maintaining a positive mindset at this point in the preseason.

“Nobody wants to get hurt, but it’s been such a blessing to be able to take a step back and kind of work on the things I need to work on, especially mentally,” Daniels said. “I think physically, I also want to get better. But mentally, it’s been a really good opportunity to be even a leader, see stuff on the sideline that you don’t get to see when you’re playing and things like that.”

That positivity is not lost upon Pingeton either.

“The ability to reframe ‘unfortunate injury’ into something that could be really positive and to just continue to help her grow, I think, is really important,” Pingeton said. “And I think she’s really embraced that.”

Daniels is coming off a 2025-26 season where she averaged 12.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.2 steals in 30.4 minutes per game. She is the top returning player in each of those categories in 2026-27.

While Pingeton has seen Daniels “chomping at the bit” to return to the court, the second-year UW coach has preached patience with her recovery.

“With an injury like that, you want to be really cautious that you don’t push the limits too quickly,” Pingeton said. “And first and foremost, we want her to be healthy, and then we want her to be back on the court. … I think our doctors, our trainers have done a phenomenal job with her.”

Wisconsin has a nonconference schedule that could nicely accommodate that patience, too, playing only two power-conference teams before Big Ten play begins. (Those power-conference matchups against Auburn and Syracuse are part of a holiday tournament in Puerto Rico.)

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The injury recovery is just one aspect of an eventful offseason for Daniels ahead of her fourth season of college basketball. Daniels briefly entered the transfer portal after the 2025-26 season before withdrawing and returning to the Badgers.

It was one of many offseason wins for Pingeton and the Badgers. The additions of NEC player of the year Kadidia Toure, SoCon player of the year Caia Elisaldez and ex-Iowa players Addie Deal and Teagan Mallegni were some of the others.

“We’re in a crazy time of college sports right now, and so it’s so interesting – all the pulls and opinions and pressures,” Daniels said, looking back at her entry and withdrawal from the portal. “But I think the biggest thing is the clarity of how exciting it is to be a part of Wisconsin women’s basketball and what we’re building.”

She credited Pingeton for her willingness to “have hard conversations” and “dig in and get to the root of things.”

“I think that is a testament to who Coach P is and the leader that she is that she would be willing to have a really good, honest conversation with me about what it looks like,” Daniels said.

Pingeton’s conversations in the spring – easy and hard, whether it be with Daniels or others – have preceded optimism in the fall for what the Badgers can accomplish in 2026-27.

“We’ve got to stay healthy – get healthy and stay healthy,” Pingeton said. “But I’m really excited about our depth. I think we’ve got a lot of versatility, and I think we’ve got a lot of buy-in in regards to continuing to move the needle for this program.”

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin’s Kyrah Daniels reframes ongoing injury recovery as ‘blessing’