Throughout the season, the No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team has punished its foes behind consistent shotmaking and an aggressive switching defense en route to a 14-0 record. But Saturday against Wisconsin, the Wolverines’ undefeated streak finally came to an end.
And all it took was the Badgers (11-5 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) attacking the one weakness the Michigan (14-1, 4-1) defense has shown thus far. By exploiting favorable matchups throughout the day, Wisconsin put a tally in Michigan’s loss column for the first time this season, 91-88.
“(Wisconsin) came in here and they took a test early,” Wolverines coach Dusty May said. “They responded and went into halftime with some positive momentum and came out in the second half and knocked us on our heels a little bit. They exposed some things with our plan, with our team that we thought were going to be issues this year. We just didn’t think we would see so many of them on the same night.”
Michigan’s offense was humming early as it worked deep in the paint to generate offense behind its frontcourt. They found consistent success with baseline drives and rolls to the rim, which over time, opened up perimeter looks.
But as the Wolverines’ blistering pace brought them out to an early lead, the Badgers had an answer: guard John Blackwell. With Michigan up 14, its largest lead of the first half, Blackwell went on a personal 7-0 run to keep Wisconsin close. His shotmaking was contagious as fellow guard Nick Boyd’s shots started to drop in the last few minutes and the Badgers’ defense stifled the Wolverines in the paint.
“I thought that (Blackwell’s run) changed the complexion of the game. And then from that point on, they controlled tempo, thought they kind of scrapped their continuity motion, and ran the clock down, got to a high ball screen or a matchup, and took advantage of it. We’ve got to find some more solutions on the fly when things aren’t working.”
Michigan was the closest it’s been to trailing at the half inside Crisler Center all season. Wisconsin capitalized on that in the second.
The Wolverines’ switch-heavy defensive sets have made opponents struggle all season, but the Badgers once again found an answer: get an advantageous matchup with one of Michigan’s bigs defending Boyd. Drives inside forced help and was enough for forward Aleksas Bieliauskas to drain four 3-pointers in just four minutes. Soon enough, Boyd found and cashed in his own looks.
“It’s our defense, and it’s a combination of our plan and our execution,” May said. “But once again, they played well. I thought their ability to get wherever they wanted to off the bounce in some matchups that we usually don’t have that happen against, it caused us to change our rotations. It caused us to change our coverages.”
But the Wolverines stuck around behind junior guard Elliot Cadeau. Sitting for a large chunk of the first half due to foul troubles, Michigan’s offense later woke up with him running the point. Typically regarded for his playmaking, Cadeau did all the scoring himself. In his 17 second-half minutes, Cadeau scored 19 points on near-perfect shooting, essentially keeping the game close on his own.
As the clock ticked on and both teams dropped in basket after basket, the Wolverines and Wisconsin each looked for a decisive blow. And the Badgers got it with just over two minutes to go.
Guard Braeden Carrington corralled an offensive board and kicked it out to guard Andrew Rohde. In a fluid motion, Rohde drained it to stretch Wisconsin’s lead to four, silencing the crowd and icing the game in the process. While Michigan had a few chances to get it back even, it couldn’t.
The team that has dominated teams at home all season looked human Saturday as the Badgers hunted advantageous matchups. And just like that, the Wolverines’ undefeated streak came to an end.
