Michigan Basketball: Wisconsin wins 3-point battle, beats Wolverines

The big lineup hurt Michigan basketball early but the difference at the 3-point line is what led Wisconsin to a win over the Wolverines Thursday.

There will be lots of talk about the big lineup used early by Michigan basketball against Wisconsin, but it was the way the Badgers dominated the 3-point line that proved to be the difference.

When it was all said and done, Wisconsin connected 11 times from beyond the arc, shooting 48 percent from beyond the arc in an 81-74 road win Thursday night at the Crisler Center.

Early on, with Eli Brooks out with a broken nose, Michigan basketball struggled to defend using a lineup of Zavier Simpson, Franz Wagner, Isaiah Livers, Jon Teske and Brandon Johns.

Wagner looked out of place and it definitely hurt the Wolverines on defense as Wisconsin jumped out to a double-digit lead early.

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What was even more effective was the way Wisconsin played defense. The Badgers wanted to turn Simpson into a scorer and they did that. He carried the Wolverines in the first half and kept them within striking distance, with the score 43-33 at the break.

But Simpson scoring 32 points isn’t the way Michigan basketball has won games. Against Purdue last Saturday, the Wolverines got four points from their point guard and the offense looked much smoother.

That’s because Simpson was able to create open looks for Wagner, Livers and Johns, as well as Teske who were able to knock them down.

Wisconsin did what Michigan normally does and it forced the Wolverines to take tough 2-pointers. Michigan basketball finished the game with just 10 3-point attempts and it made only three of them. Wagner and Livers, two of the best deep shooters in the Big Ten combined for just three attempts.

It was a brilliant strategy by Greg Gard and the Badgers and it worked to perfection. It was probably made easier by the fact that Brooks was out with a broken nose, but thankfully, he will be back against Ohio State Sunday. D’Mitrik Trice was also the best player on the floor with 28 points. Micah Potter also had 18.

Michigan needs him because with a tough road game ahead, the five-game winning streak the Wolverines had coming into the game could quickly turn into a two-game losing skid.