Michigan Basketball: 3 Things we learned in Wolverines loss to Wisconsin

The big lineup wasn’t so successful

In certain situations and against some teams, playing Jon Teske, Brandon Johns, Livers, Wagner and Simpson might work, but it didn’t Thursday night.

On paper, it seems like four big guys who can shoot surrounding Simpson would work, but the lack of ball-handling was an issue and so was the defensive liability. It got better as the game wore on as guys started to figure it out, especially early in the second half when that group was able to string together some stops, but for the most part, Wisconsin knew how to exploit it.

The other thing is that whether it’s Livers or Wagner, both are miscast at the two. Neither is really quick enough to beat a guard to the basket and that put a lot of pressure on Simpson to get penetration.

Then, when the Badgers weren’t really helping off, it limited the open 3-point attempts. And with the way Teske has struggled to score inside, posting up didn’t lead to many open looks either.

Juwan Howard said he didn’t want to play David DeJulius as much early because he worried about him and Simpson getting into trouble, which does make some sense. Without one of those guys to handle the ball, things really could have been ugly.

Still, an adjustment could have helped but with a limited bench, particularly in the backcourt with just Adrien Nunez and Cole Bajema, Howard didn’t have many options.