mfw the evil Kohl Center vibes kick in [Patrick Barron]
Entering the contest, Michigan’s defense had been on a dreadful run of form, but the Wolverines played an ugly half of basketball to trail 26-21 at the break; Michigan’s offense was completely out of sorts outside of some nice play from Zak Irvin, but they managed to hold Wisconsin well under a point per possession as a Badger offense seemingly too committed to pounding the ball inside didn’t move the ball well. It was the best half of defense Michigan had played in some time.
An extended 17-2 stretch (which was fueled by some great effort defensively) gave Michigan a 38-30 lead in the second half, but a sequence of early fouls put Wisconsin in the bonus early and the Badgers were able to assert themselves on the offensive end – their run to take the lead was keyed by an offensive rebound on a missed free throw that led to a three.
Michigan’s defense gave up 42 points in the second half, though a decent amount of those points came as the Wolverines intentionally fouled to extend the game. Bronson Koenig had some big threes for the Badgers after the game was tied at 49 with five minutes left; Duncan Robinson – who contributed some offensively – left him wide open off an elevator screen on one, and Derrick Waltonwas juked into leaving him open in the corner on another. Moritz Wagner, who dealt with foul trouble in the second half, and the Michigan offense couldn’t respond. DJ Wilson also was limited by fouls and held scoreless after a red-hot start to Big Ten play.
All of the quintessential Kohl Center elements were present: some brick-heavy low-scoring basketball in the first half, some dubious whistles (that resulted in a few make-up calls for Michigan, to be fair) in the second, and an inexorable Wisconsin run late to seize the game and put it out of reach by hitting enough of their free throws – a pair of Nigel Hayes misses notwithstanding – down the stretch.
Michigan’s defense looked much better, despite the talented Badger big man combo of Ethan Happ and Hayes, but ultimately they gave up 1.09 PPP – and their offense wasn’t quite efficient enough to get the win (the Wolverines were just 12-30 from inside the arc). The loss drops them to 2-4 in Big Ten play, though if they can replicate their success on the defensive side of the floor, a turnaround could be in the offing. At the very least, they need to beat an Illinois team – that recently routed them – on Saturday, as they're quickly running out of time.