Michigan did the one thing it couldn’t afford to Thursday night — got off to a bad a start against Wisconsin. The Badgers grabbed an early 8-2 edge, got comfortable offensively with U-M junior guard Eli Brooks on the bench with a broken nose and pulled out a key, 81-74 road win.
Senior point guard Zavier Simpson kept Michigan close, scoring U-M’s first five points. His early total included a long triple, a good sign for the Wolverines when nobody else could get anything going ... he'd never cool down, finishing with a career-high 31 points.
But the Wolverines had trouble defending much of the night. The Badgers made eight of their first nine shots, including three triples (two by Michael potter, a mismatch for U-M’s big men). They took a 19-9 lead before the Wolverines responded with a 6-0 run to get back in it.
D’Mitrik Trice’s pull-up three following a Johns airball ended the run and pushed the lead back to 22-15.
U-M went on another run, cutting it to 24-22 on a Franz Wagner post and backdown finish. Wisconsin ended that flurry with a pick and roll dunk to Potter. Trice extended the lead to 29-22 with a drive and finish, and one, and the Badgers were back in control.
Wisconsin continued to expand its lead. Sophomore David DeJulius missed at the rim twice in transition — meanwhile, the Badgers continued to hit jumpers. It was 36-22 before senior center Jon Teske ended the run with a putback, and-one at 3:44. Simpson’s steal and dunk cut it to nine.
Simpson was the only one doing much of anything offensively. He scored 18 points in the first half and helped the Wolverines cut it to 10 at halftime, repeatedly getting to the rim and finishing. Nobody else had more than five points, and the Wolverines had only two assists against four turnovers.
The Badgers shot 63 percent in the first half (17 for 27), 5-for-11 from long range.
SECOND HALF
Simpson to Teske on the ball screen but the deficit to eight on the first possession of the second half, and the Wolvereins started strong. Livers’ triple on an inbounds play cut it to 43-39, and Wagner’s cut and finish made it 43-41 at 16:54.
Potter finally ended the run with a finish inside, but it was game on.
Once again, the Badgers responded. Trice’s triple pushed the edge back to 50-43, and Adeem Ford pushed it back to 10 with another triple after a Simpson miss at the rim.
Simpson ended the run with yet another drive and finish, but the Wolverines missed a chance. Davis missed at the rim and Potter countered with triple to push it back to 11. Tyler Wahl’s three after a Johns miss pushed it back to 14, and U-M was on the ropes again.
U-M missed more chances at the rim to cut into the lead, including a Simpson finish that rimmed out. Wagner heated up, though, and scored four straight to get the deficit back to single digits. Simpson’s finish cut it to six before Trice answered with yet another triple.
It was a seven-point game, 66-59, at the six minute mark aft another Wagner drive and finish.
Trice took over again and pushed the lead back to 10, but Wagner cut it to 70-65 at 3:43 with a long triple. Simpson inside cut it to 70-67 after a Badgers miss, forcing head coach Greg Gard's timeout at 2:50.
Trice answered once again. Wagner gave him too much room, and he buried a triple with the shot clock winding down to make it 73-67. He'd finish with a career-high 28 points.
U-M would play from behind the rest of the way, taking a hit when Simpson missed the front end of a one-and-one at 1:16, and wouldn't catch up. They cut it to 77-74 and had a chance to cut it to one, but Johns missed the front end of a one-and-one with 22 seconds remaining and the Badgers closed it out at the line.
Wagner notched 17 points, Livers nine. U-M fell to 9-8 in Big Ten play after losing its fourth conference game at home.
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