The No. 11 Wisconsin men’s basketball team couldn’t keep their spark alive Tuesday night to beat the Michigan Wolverine in a hard battle, falling 67-64.
The game featured two teams with pairs of seven-footers, and down the stretch, Michigan’s duo of giants emerged victorious.
During a back-and-forth second half that featured nine lead changes, the Badgers ultimately couldn’t contain Michigan’s partnership of forward Danny Wolf and center Vladislav Goldin. The loss marks the first for Wisconsin, now 8-1 (0-1 Big Ten). The Wolverines improved to 7-1 (1-0 Big Ten).
Wolf and Goldin accounted for 44 of the Wolverines’ 67 points, paving the way to a victory and frustrating Wisconsin head coach Greg Gard and an arena full of Badgers fans.
With one Wisconsin seven-footer, forward Steven Crowl, caught up in foul trouble and eventually fouling out with just over three minutes left in the game, the duo’s constant attacking with ball screens was too much for the other forward Nolan Winter and the Badgers defense to handle. Over the game’s final two minutes and 23 seconds, Goldin scored the final six points, finishing with a game-high 24.
"We just weren't physical enough, weren't intent on the ball screen with what we were doing,” Winter said after the game. “It's on both of us as bigs, and we know that. We've already talked, and we know we have to be better, and Steve [Crowl] knows he has to stay out of foul trouble because we need him and the presence that he brings us.”
Meanwhile, Wisconsin’s offense crumpled as Goldin hit big shots down the stretch. While trailing late in the game, the Badgers got decent looks from guard Max Klesmit on three separate possessions, but the senior failed to cash in on each attempt, capping off a tough evening offensively. Klesmit shot 3-14 from the field, including 1-9 from three, and finished with eight points.
“Max has made those shots before,” Gard said after the game. “He’s in a slump right now, we’re gonna help him get out of it.”
On a testy night offensively, the guard play of John Tonje and John Blackwell led Wisconsin. Tonje finished with 18 points on 5-12 shooting, three rebounds and three assists while Blackwell scored 16 points on 6-12 shooting and accumulated a team-high nine rebounds. Winter, Klesmit and guard Kamari McGee added eight points each. The Badgers shot 22-64 from the field and a mere 6-27 from three.
In the first half, Wisconsin received a well-distributed scoring performance from Winter, Tonje, Klesmit and Blackwell, each scoring six points en route to a 32-26 halftime lead. Even as Tonje’s first-half minutes were limited due to foul trouble, Wisconsin’s offense looked formidable without their leader. After Tonje subbed out of the game with 6:26 remaining in the half, the Badgers rattled off an impressive 10-0 run, capped off by a pair of assisted dunks from Winter that put them ahead 29-20.
At that point, the Badgers had done a decent job containing Wolf and Goldin and had played mostly well-connected, in-sync defense. While Wolf and Goldin accounted for 16 of the Wolverines’ 26 first-half points, the Badgers did a phenomenal job locking down the perimeter. Michigan shot only 7-33 from the field and 2-16 from three in the first half, finishing the half on a 7:42 field goal drought with 11 straight misses.
But in the second half, Michigan’s offense began to pick up, relying more on Goldin and Wolf, giving Wisconsin’s defense plenty of issues. In the half’s first five minutes, Goldin got hot fast, quickly scoring ten points to guide Michigan to a 42-41 lead. Mixed in was a three-pointer from Wolf that demonstrated his ability score in a variety of ways.
With the game tight, and Michigan’s offense heating up, Blackwell began to lead Wisconsin’s offense. On three consecutive possessions, Blackwell delivered big-time buckets, putting back a couple of second-chance layups before hitting a smooth pull-up jumper with 12:19 left to make the score 47-44 Wisconsin.
For the next few minutes, the Badgers and Wolverines continued to trade baskets, Tonje hitting free throws and a three to re-take the lead at 55-54 on a physical and-one bucket and a made free throw from McGee with 7:11 remaining.
But 19 seconds later, Crowl picked up his fourth foul and was immediately replaced by Winter. With the game tied at 55, Winter then lost the ball on offense, resulting in a turnover, got caught in no-man’s land on defense on a Wolf lay-up and was then blocked by Michigan guard Roddy Gayle Jr. after passing up a wide-open wing three.
Then, after Wolf and Blackwell traded multiple buckets and Gayle Jr. made a lay-up, McGee hit another huge shot — this time a three — to give Wisconsin a 62-61 lead with 4:14 remaining.
But Wisconsin would only convert on one more field goal all night, a Klesmit turn-around jumper to give the Badgers a three-point advantage with 2:37 remaining. With Crowl fouled out, Goldin went to work in the paint and flipped the tide in favor of the Wolverines.
Wisconsin had multiple chances in the game’s final moments but failed to convert.
In a game that could have gone either way, Wisconsin fell. After the loss, Wisconsin seemed frustrated but not shaken and will now have to soak in its first true adversity of the season before their toughest test of the season thus far. The Badgers head to Milwaukee on Dec. 7 to take on in-state rival No. 5 Marquette.
“I think we are going to respond great,” Blackwell said after the loss. “I think we have a great group of vets who have been through this. I mean, you're not going to win every game. We're going to be just fine. We're going to build off this loss, take it on the chin and just keep moving forward."
