Fresh off a 74-53 win over the Chicago State Cougars, the No. 11 Wisconsin Badgers misplaced their first recreation of the season, dropping a 67-64 contest to the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday evening.
The Badgers struggled with their effectivity all evening lengthy and struggled to protect Michigan’s duo of seven-footers, resulting in a troublesome defeat within the closing seconds, shifting them to 8-1 on the yr.
Here are three fast takeaways from Wisconsin’s 67-64 loss to the Michigan Wolverines on Tuesday.
Bigs battle
Through the primary eight video games of the season, Wisconsin had a fairly sturdy measurement benefit in most of their matchups beginning Nolan Winter at energy ahead and Steven Crowl at middle.
That labored of their favor in sure video games, whereas sure undersized opponents seemed to benefit from that matchup with smaller gamers.
However, on Tuesday, the Badgers lastly obtained a matchup of comparable measurement to them, as Michigan began the duo of Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin collectively, offering a battle between two seven-footers on either side.
Well, that matchup went in favor of Michigan on Tuesday, because the Wolverines had been in a position to have a strong pick-and-roll recreation between the 2 bigs, whereas attacking Wisconsin’s bigs on the offensive finish persistently.
Wolf starred within the first half with 9 factors and 6 rebounds as a main scorer, main the best way for Michigan, whereas Goldin had seven factors, struggling together with his effectivity, however attending to the free-throw line a number of occasions.
In the second half, although, the duo began to essentially see success with the massive man pick-and-roll. Wolf was the first ball-handler, scoring 11 factors, whereas meting out 5 assists in a productive half.
Goldin started to feast right here as properly, drawing numerous fouls on middle Steven Crowl, whereas scoring 17 factors and grabbing 4 rebounds. When Crowl fouled out, the duo attacked Winter, be it on the boards or in 1-on-1 conditions. They had been the catalyst for Michigan’s offense, protecting them within the recreation all through in Wisconsin’s best recreation of the yr.
Winter was an element early on the offensive facet, as he had six factors within the paint within the first half, whereas Crowl was unproductive, scoring simply two factors on 1/4 from the sector, together with a missed wide-open three. But, the previous struggled defensively within the second half, whereas the latter had restricted minutes as a consequence of choosing up three fouls within the interval, utterly negating his influence.
This was imagined to be a Steven Crowl recreation, as he prefers the matchups in opposition to the larger facilities the place he can have 1-on-1 alternatives. But, that didn’t materialize in a disappointing outing on Tuesday.
Tale of two halves
While the taking pictures numbers weren’t nice all through the sport, Wisconsin had a very totally different outlook offensively within the first half and the second half.
Foul bother was a problem within the opening body, as star guard John Tonje needed to sit with two fouls, taking part in in solely 13 minutes within the half. That led to a way more balanced offensive assault for the Badgers.
Four totally different gamers had six factors within the half (Tonje, John Blackwell, Max Klesmit, and Nolan Winter), whereas eight totally different gamers scored within the half, leading to 32 first-half factors for the Badgers.
In the second half, nonetheless, with the staff’s offense reeling, Wisconsin seemed to their two prime offensive gamers, leaning on Tonje and Blackwell to deal with the load. As a outcome, Tonje had 12 factors within the half, ending with 18 for the sport. Blackwell, alternatively, had 10 factors within the second, ending with 16 on Tuesday.
Both gamers obtained their scoring in numerous methods, as Tonje was the principle shot-taker for Wisconsin, which led to a pressured shot or two, but additionally a pair of threes and an ideal 4/4 from the free throw line.
Blackwell labored the boards as a substitute, capitalizing on three offensive rebounds that every led to a putback or a foul. As all the time, a majority of his factors got here within the paint, and he was extremely environment friendly within the space, taking pictures 5/7 from the sector within the half.
Max Klesmit had one other tough evening from the sector, which included a couple of misses late, taking pictures 3/14 from the sector and 1/9 from deep. The Badgers went to him on a few possessions with the sport on the road, however the senior guard had a pair of misses, together with on a possible game-tying three, taking pictures simply 1/9 within the second half.
Ultimately, the Badgers went to their trio of guards to attempt to shut this one out after a balanced, but inefficient strategy to start the sport, they usually couldn’t find yourself with the victory.
The Finish
Time and time once more this yr, the Badgers have discovered a option to end video games after gradual begins, however sadly, that wasn’t the case on Tuesday.
The Badgers really held a 32-24 lead at halftime on this one, regardless of taking pictures poorly from the sector, however actually struggled defensively within the second half, permitting the Wolverines to shoot 61.5 p.c from the sector and 44.4 p.c from deep to come back again and win.
Offensively, it was a lot of the identical for Wisconsin within the second half, as they shot simply 35.3 p.c from the sector and 17.6 p.c from deep, actually struggling to finish the sport, as they completed with a scoring drought of over 2.5 minutes.
With the back-and-forth motion within the second half, it was clear that this one was going to go all the way down to the wire. Max Klesmit had a candy turnaround jumper with the shot clock winding down to provide Wisconsin a 64-61 lead with 2:37 left.
But, that’s the place the struggles started.
Wisconsin wouldn’t rating from there, whereas Michigan obtained themselves a couple of buckets to drag off the victory.
Michigan went straight again to their huge man duo, as Danny Wolf hit Vlad Goldin for a dunk to drag the Wolverines inside one on the following possession.
Goldin obtained a layup off a John Blackwell turnover on the next possession and abruptly, Michigan had a 65-64 lead with 1:34 left.
From there, the Badgers went to Klesmit heavy. He missed a troublesome layup on the staff’s first possession out of a timeout, however Wisconsin obtained the ball again after Roddy Gayle stepped out of bounds on the sidelines. Once once more, Wisconsin went to their senior guard, who missed a top quality three-point look, giving the ball again to Michigan.
The Wolverines obtained a swap and had been in a position to capitalize as Goldin discovered himself on John Blackwell deep within the paint, leading to a straightforward layup to place Michigan up three with 22 seconds left.
Klesmit obtained a 3rd likelihood at redemption with one other three-point try, however couldn’t join, which in the end sealed the deal for Wisconsin, giving them their first lack of the season.
Wisconsin’s expertise has been an enormous issue of their explosive second halves and comebacks this yr. They simply couldn’t ship sufficient on Tuesday, leading to a troublesome defeat.
