Following their semifinal win over Michigan State on Saturday, the Badgers look to earn their first Big Ten Tournament title in 10 years.
Last season, Wisconsin made it all the way to the championship but fell to Illinois. The Badgers will have an opportunity on Sunday to make up for last year’s loss.
Wisconsin managed to hold off No. 1 seeded Michigan State behind a great defensive play from John Tonje to earn the 77-74 victory. The Badgers will be playing their fourth game in a four-day span, but they can see the light at the end of the tunnel and will be off until at least Thursday no matter the next result.
Like the last two rounds, Wisconsin will face an opponent they only played once during the regular season and have not yet beaten. The two teams will meet for the first time since December when they squared off in Madison for their Big Ten openers. The Badgers will try to make up for that close home loss to the Wolverines in the championship game on Sunday.
Michigan advanced to the championship game after a last second victory over Maryland when Tre Donaldson hit the go-ahead layup with 0.1 seconds left. Donaldson leads the team in assists per game and is one of four players on the team that consistently knocks down 3s.
But Michigan’s strength is not shooting the ball, and like Michigan State, most of their success comes inside the paint. Their interior skill comes from their two best players, Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf, who are both 7-foot and will be a tough matchup for Wisconsin.
While the Badgers have two players in Steven Crowl and Nolan Winter who match up against their size, it will need to be a team effort to stop both players.
Goldin is one of the most efficient players in the country, shooting at 63.5% from the floor, good for eighth in the country. He has worked the 3 into his game this year, but he will mainly get his looks right at the rim where he finishes with ease.
Wolf is more of a ball-handling big and is extremely skilled for his size. He is a great passer and can hurt the Badgers if they send a double team, making him a difficult defensive match-up. Wolf is just behind Donaldson in assist numbers and possesses a unique skill set that the Badgers have not faced since their first matchup against the Wolverines.
Michigan is an excellent rebounding team, which makes sense for a roster that has two 7-foot players. Wolf leads the team with 9.8 boards per game, which puts him at 13th in the nation. Goldin averages 6.8 rebounds per game, and the rest of the work on the glass is done by committee.
To have a chance at getting the victory the Badgers will need to do their best in limiting the scoring of Michigan’s two centers. In their previous matchup against Wisconsin Goldin had a game-high 24 points and Wolf put up 20 points, but nobody else on the team scored in double figures.
The Badgers should have an advantage from the free-throw line and 3-point line, and they will need to rely on their shooting to come out on top. Wisconsin has been hitting their shots in Indianapolis, and they cannot afford to have an off day in the most important game of the tournament.
An area that Wisconsin should capitalize on is Michigan’s poor ball security as the Wolverines lead the Big Ten in turnovers with 14.1 per game. On the other hand, the Badgers do not commit a lot of turnovers, sitting at 9.9 per game, which is the second-best figure in the conference. While Wisconsin does not get a lot of steals either, they might not need to do a lot of work to force turnovers against Michigan.
With a win the Badgers can do something they haven’t done in a decade: win the Big Ten Tournament. They came so close last season, and this year they will hope to not suffer the same fate. It’s unlikely that they’ll earn a No. 2 seed on Selection Sunday even with a win, but a conference tournament title could spark a March run for the Badgers.
