mgoblogging

And we're back.  Wisconsin 64 Michigan 54.

I still do not think Ethan Happ is that great.  He takes all his shots right under the basket and he missed a fair number of them (10/22).  Last year the key to beating them was to counter his 2's with 3's.  I suppose the Badgers know that too and their perimeter defense worked.

They won and the streak is over.

There was the offensive disappearance of a few players (I'll get to that in a bit) but the main surprise was on the defensive side.  The game preview by Brian Cook at Mgoblog correctly stated that Wisconsin scorers are not good at creating their own shots.  Michigan not only did not double or harass Happ, they allowed him to pass off to open shooters.  Wisconsin did not get a lot of points like that--Happ scored almost half--but Trice, Davison, and others did score this way.

It was quite surprising to Charles Matthews and Iggy Brazdeikis disappear like that.  And Jordan Poole did not deliver as the go-to guy in this one either.  Simpson did not have his best game, but Zavier and Jon Teske played well.

One correction to the player bullets below in this blog:  Eli Brooks is turnover-prone.  The rest of the team had a bunch of them in this game too.

Michigan's bench is very thin and that showed in this one also.  Wisconsin was and is beatable but the streak had to end sometime.  Hopefully the loss will provide growth opportunities for the tough Big Ten schedule to come.

In this game we learned Teske and Simpson are solid.  If the other three starters--Matthews, Poole, and Iggy--do not come through Michigan is vulnerable.   Also, foul shooting in tight games is still an issue.

Put another way, Simpson and Teske looked ready to suck it up and win near the end, but the rest of the team was not on board with that.

Michigan had a couple big-name but not-great out of conference opponents but otherwise the schedule has been easy and almost entirely at home.  Is Michigan a #1 seed in the tournament?  The remainder of the B1G season will determine that.  Right now the Wolverines are in third place at 6-1.