The Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball team's action-packed Big Ten Tournament run came to a screeching end Sunday afternoon in the championship game. Wisconsin led for much of the game but couldn’t fend off a late Michigan Wolverine run, falling late, 59-53.
The Badgers played magnificent defense all afternoon, but they never quite found the offensive rhythm that had propelled them to the final game of the tournament. Wisconsin struggled from 3, and star John Tonje, who the team had heavily relied on in their first three tournament games, made only one field goal.
With the loss, head coach Greg Gard is still without a Big Ten Tournament Championship, as it’s Wisconsin's third-straight loss in the Big Ten Tournament Championship game dating back to 2017. In defeating the Badgers, Michigan claimed their fourth Big Ten Tournament Championship and third since they defeated Wisconsin in 2017.
Wisconsin earned the No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament following the game and will play 14-seeded Montana State in the first round of the tournament on Thursday in Denver.
Despite Sunday’s loss, over the course of the Big Ten Tournament, Wisconsin bounced back from their disappointing finish to the regular season and regained any lost momentum. They won three impressive games and will head into the NCAA Tournament a more confident team.
Without Tonje’s heroics, Wisconsin’s offense scuffled. The Badgers shot a ghastly 22% from the field (15-68), converting only seven of the 39 3-pointers they attempted.
Tonje, Wisconsin’s valiant leader, averaged 25.3 points in their previous three games. Against UCLA, he shot an incredible 90% from the field and didn’t miss a 3-pointer en route to 26 points. And in Saturday’s victory over top-seeded Michigan State, Tonje provided Wisconsin’s spark scoring 32 points. But against Michigan, Tonje converted on only one of his 14 field goals and missed all five 3s he took, scoring only nine points, seven of them coming at the free-throw line.
John Blackwell led the way, scoring 18 points, shooting 6-17, with five rebounds. Max Klesmit added 12 points, shooting 4-14 from the field and 2-10 from beyond the arc, with two rebounds and three assists.
Center Vladislov Goldin and point guard Tre Donaldson each scored 11 points to lead Michigan. In December’s matchup, Wisconsin struggled against Michigan’s seven-foot duo of Goldin and Danny Wolf, but they handled the tandem better on Sunday. Wolf scored eight points on 3-8 shooting, while Goldin converted on 4-12. The Badgers held Michigan under 60 points, the first time the Wolverines had been kept below that mark all season.
The game started in a fast-paced, disorganized maze, with Wisconsin and Michigan offenses pushing the pace in a wild manner, to unsuccessful results.
With Goldin and Wolf occupying the inside, Wisconsin clearly went looking for 3s, as seven of their first eight hoists came from beyond the arc. There, they found good looks but connected on only two of their first 12, from Klesmit and Winter.
Between the 17:05 and 12:21 marks, Wisconsin and Michigan failed to record a field goal, missing a combined 14 straight shots. Wisconsin then found somewhat of a rhythm, relying more on their inside game, going on a 12-4 run and taking a 19-16 lead, with 5:39 remaining.
By the end of the half, the two teams had shot a combined 17-52, and 7-41 from 3, with Wisconsin leading 23-21. Blackwell scored 11 first-half points, leading all scorers through finding success inside the 3-point line.
Wisconsin scored the first six points of the second half, all inside the paint on drives and a put-back, and had a 29-21 point lead with 16:37 remaining. A 3-pointer by Carter Gilmore less than a minute later gave Wisconsin a 32-24, and it seemed like Wisconsin may have found some offensive juice.
Tonje got on the board for the first time with two made free throws at 15:22, and then two more a minute later. When Kamari McGee then converted on two free throws at the 13:11 mark, Wisconsin had its largest lead of the day, 38-27.
Michigan quickly answered, getting to within four in less than two minutes, while Wisconsin had lost what little mojo its offense had found. When Blackwell connected on a 3 with 8:13 left, it had been their first field goal in over seven-and-a-half minutes. Still, Wisconsin had a 43-36 lead and an experienced lineup to protect it.
But Michigan has a knack for pulling through in close games, with a 14-4 record in games decided by four points or less coming into this one to prove it. Sure enough, the Wolverines mustered up some offense, with Will Tschetter hitting a 3 and Wolf scoring on two straight possessions to tie the game at 45 with 5:50 remaining.
With a Donaldson triple at 1:54, the Wolverines took a 53-51 lead. Klesmit tied it with free throws 20 seconds later, but Wisconsin did not score again.
On Michigan’s next possession, there were three official reviews on out-of-bounds calls, with Michigan receiving the ball each time. Wisconsin played almost perfect defense, denying the Wolverines multiple times, but eventually folded, fouling Goldin, which resulted in two made free throws.
Wisconsin failed to score on their next possession, as Tonje missed a mid-range turnaround jumper. The Badgers got the ball back after Goldin lost the rebound out of bounds but were unable to find a good shot, with Blackwell ultimately missing a drive to the hoop.
From there, Michigan hit four more free throws to ice the game and clinch the Big Ten Tournament Championship.
