Recap: Michigan falls in road tilt at Wisconsin

Michigan basketball (14-11, 8-7 Big Ten) couldn’t add to its NCAA Tournament resume on Sunday, falling 77-63 at Wisconsin in Madison.

Sophomore center Hunter Dickinson led the Wolverines with 21 points on the afternoon, while senior guard Eli Brooks had 14 points of his own. Wisconsin star guard Johnny Davis had 25 points on the afternoon.

Michigan’s offense sputtered far too often throughout the night with a 4-for-24 (16.7%) mark from three-point range and multiple scoring droughts that cratered their efforts.

First half

The opening 20 minutes of this game were a classic Big Ten rock fight. Neither team was able to muster a ton of offense to start things off.

Michigan got the scoring started with the first four points of the half thanks to layups from point guard DeVante’ Jones and Dickinson. The sophomore center’s big half started early with 10 of his 15 first-half points in the first 10:20 of game action. The game was tied at 14-14 at the 9:40 mark of the half.

The Badgers would follow up the first 10 minutes of play with a 9-2 run to go up 23-16 at the 6:32 mark, their largest lead at the half. Michigan responded with a 7-0 run of its own on layups from Kobe Bufkin and Jones, followed by a pair of Terrance Williams free throws. Jones split one of two attempts at the line to tie the game at 23 with 3:37 remaining.

Wisconsin would go up 27-23 with layups from Steven Crowl and Tyler Wahl with 2:26 to go in the half. Caleb Houstan hit the first three-pointer from either team at the 2:04 mar en route to a 6-0 Michigan run. Dickinson had an and-one moment on Badgers’ guard Brad Davison and hit the free throw, helping Michigan take 29-27 lead with 1:17 left.

Jahcobi Neath hit four free throws for Wisconsin in the final minute of the half, followed by a pair from Dickinson with five seconds remaining. Michigan and Wisconsin went into the locker room tied at 31.

The two teams combined for 1-for-16 behind the three-point line in the first 20 minutes of play. Michigan held a hefty advantage in the rebounding battle with a 23-13 advantage.

Second half

Michigan came out of the locker room looking like a team ready to make a statement. A Dickinson dunk and five-straight points from Eli Brooks helped the Wolverines to a 7-2 spurt out of the gate, which prompted a quick Wisconsin timeout. The offensive success was short-lived.

The Badgers responded to Michigan’s surge with a 14-1 run of its own, pulling ahead and extending the lead to 47-39 with 13:25 remaining in the half. The Wolverines scored only a single point in nearly six minutes before a jumper from Brooks. Michigan trailed 47-41 at the under-12 media timeout.

Wisconsin’s run continued, however. Another 9-0 followed from star guard Johnny Davis to help push the lead to 56-41 at the 8:52 mark. Caleb Houstan hit a three-pointer at 7:31 and Terrance Williams hit a layup to narrow the deficit to 56-46.

Another jumper from Davis and a three-pointer from Brad Davison put Wisconsin back up 15 at 61-46. Brooks hit a three-pointer to narrow Michigan’s deficit to 61-49 at the 5:22 mark.

It did not get any prettier for Michigan down the stretch. The Badgers kept their foot on the gas and led by 19 with under a minute to go at 76-57. The Wolverines got four-straight points from DeVante’ Jones and a basket from jace Howard to close out the game, but would ultimately dropped a 77-63 decision.

The Michigan-Wisconsin confrontation

There was some bad blood at the end of the game between the two teams. Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard called a timeout with a big lead in the final seconds. Michigan’s Juwan Howard fouled on the next possession in a response to the gamesmanship move. During the final handshake, both coaches got into a verbal spat with Howard eventually throwing a shove at someone and the two teams getting into it. There will be fallout from that situation.

Michigan basketball at Wisconsin box score

Next up for Michigan is a home game against Rutgers on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.