Michigan Basketball Gets Defense Back vs. Wisconsin, Falls Short

Michigan basketball played its best defensive game of the Big Ten season against Wisconsin, but the Wolverines couldn’t hold it together for a full 40 minutes.

For about 35 minutes on Tuesday in the Kohl Center, it looked like Michigan basketball had finally found itself against a very good Wisconsin team.

Then, amid players fouling out and the Badgers getting a 12-0 run late in the second half, the Wolverines found themselves in a hole that was just a little too deep to climb out of. No mistake: Michigan played its best basketball of the Big Ten season against Wisconsin, but it wasn’t quite enough in the end, losing 68-64.

The Wolverines’ defense deserves praise after this one, regardless of the end result. Wisconsin sports the No. 3 offensive efficiency rating in the conference, and for the most part, Michigan contained the Badgers about as well as could be expected.

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The interior defense between Moritz Wagner and D.J. Wilson was effective, even though the Badgers routinely found what they wanted in the paint in the first half.

Derrick Walton Jr. did a good job most of the night keeping track of Bronson Koenig and limiting his touches. Koenig finished with 16 points, but he was very quiet for much of the game.

Xavier Simpson’s defense continued to shine too. He played well when stepping in for Walton and had a role in a couple Wisconsin turnovers.

The defense could have been perfect and it wouldn’t have changed the fact that Wisconsin had matchup advantages. The Badgers took advantage of those. But for Michigan’s defense to step up like that on the road against a quality offense was hopefully a sign of good things to come.

Michigan wasn’t as great on offense as we got used to seeing recently, but it did enough to get by. There were a few droughts that came late in the first half and in the latter stages of the second half. Those ultimately killed the Wolverines’ chances.

One thing that looked funny was Michigan not having its usual continuity when it needed a go-to scorer late. It’s usually Zak Irvin with some Walton sprinkles, but in this one it was Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Wagner who tried their hands at the late-game heroics. It didn’t really work.

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Despite the negatives, it’s not a stretch to say this was a promising performance from the Wolverines, save your thoughts on the idea of “moral victories.” At the end of the day, though, Michigan is now 2-4 in the Big Ten.

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