Wisconsin wiped away a 14-point, first-half deficit and held on to beat previously undefeated No. 2 Michigan 91-88 in Ann Arbor on Saturday afternoon.
The Badgers (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) came in ranked 242nd nationally in 3-point percentage (32.61%) but made 15-of-33 attempts from beyond the arc, good for a 45.45% clip on the road against Michigan (14-1, 4-1) after the Wolverines had blown out most of their competition this season.
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In fact, the Wolverines entered with 10 wins by 20-plus points, including six by 40 or more. Last week, they became the first team since 1996-97 to take down three ranked opponents by at least 30 points in a single season, according to The Field of 68.
But this week, which started with Michigan nearly leapfrogging Arizona for the top spot in the AP Poll, the Wolverines brushed with defeat at Penn State, where they resisted a second-half Nittany Lions push to escape with a 74-72 victory.
Four days later, Michigan once again saw a double-digit advantage dwindle. This time, its lead completely vanished, and Dusty May’s crew was the one desperately searching for late-game heroics.
It nearly got some from 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara, who cleaned up Roddy Gayle Jr.’s missed layup with a putback dunk over Wisconsin freshman big man Aleksas Bieliauskas. It would have tied the game with 35.2 seconds remaining, but Mara was called for basket interference.
The play was reviewed, as debate ensued about whether the ball was still hanging over the cylinder when Mara touched it. Ultimately, the call stood, and Wisconsin maintained its two-point advantage.
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After a Michigan trap, the Badgers reset with a timeout. Then senior Andrew Rohde hurled a three-quarter court pass to fellow guard Braeden Carrington, who elevated for a football-like contested catch and secured it even as he was fouled by Michigan guard Elliot Cadeau.
[Get more Badgers men’s hoops news: Wisconsin team feed]
Carrington made both free throws to make it a 90-86 game.
Eventually, the Wolverines countered with two shots of their own from the charity stripe with 15.6 ticks remaining.
Michigan fouled Carrington once more. He was short on his first free-throw attempt yet sank the second. That split set up a potential game-tying 3, but Gayle was off the mark in the contest’s waning moments.
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Wisconsin’s win was its first versus an AP top-two opponent since Jan. 9, 2019, almost seven years to the day of another Badgers upset victory over a second-ranked Wolverines squad.
The Badgers, who finished the first half on a 20-7 run and shot 10 of 17 from deep in the second half, were led by John Blackwell’s 26 points. Bieliauskas, a 6-foot-10 freshman from Lithuania, had made one of his last 11 triples before Saturday’s game. He hit 5-of-10 3s while scoring 17 points against the Wolverines.
Four Michigan players scored in double figures, with Cadeau’s 19 points headlining. But a Wolverines team that started the afternoon second in the country in points per game missed eight of its final nine field-goal attempts, falling short for the first time in what’s been a historic Michigan season.
