Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned from win at Wisconsin
Michigan basketball beat Wisconsin Sunday on the road and here are three things we learned from the Wolverines victory.
The Michigan basketball team played its first game on Sunday in 22 days, due to COVID-19 protocols and while it was hard to know how the Wolverines would respond, the end result shouldn’t have been a huge shock.
Michigan spotted Wisconsin a 14-point lead on the road as rust was clearly a factor in the first half of play for the Wolverines and even in the second half, U-M trailed by 11 points.
But one (clearly) dirty elbow by Brad Davison, which wasn’t called, turned everything on its head.
Mike Smith went and got an and-one on the other end, on a play Juwan Howard purposely called for him and from there, the defense smothered the Badgers until it was over.
Here's Juwan Howard on the play involving Brad Davison catching Mike Smith with an elbow early in the second half.
— Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) February 14, 2021
At the time, Wisconsin led by 11 with 18:19 remaining. pic.twitter.com/lsHSjUBkWR
It was an epic performance and here’s a last look at three things we learned:
Mentally tough
It goes without saying, but this team is incredibly tough, not just physically, but mentally too. Just about everything was stacked against the Wolverines on Sunday afternoon, but they didn’t seek excuses, they just kept battling and their toughness won out.
This wasn’t a game won by finesse. It was a Big Ten battle and Michigan won the game with defense. It seemed like every bucket on the other end took great effort. Offensive rebounding was essential, but slowly and surely, Michigan established control in the second half.
The elbow might have been a turning point, however, the energy felt different right away when Michigan took the floor for the second half.
Over the years, I’ve seen Wisconsin beat Michigan many, many times at the Kohl Center and at the half, I’ll admit, I was ready to write off the Wolverines and chalk it all up to rust.
And no one would have blinked twice had Michigan lost this game. Wisconsin is a really good team and playing on the road, after not playing in 22 days is hard enough. But even without its best stuff, this Michigan basketball team won the second half 40-20 and that was all about toughness.