At 10-2 in Big Ten play, Michigan currently holds sole possession of first place in the conference (though Purdue is just a half game behind at 9-2), while Wisconsin comes to Ann Arbor tomorrow tied with MSU for third place in the league, at 9-3.
U-M head coach John Beilein embraced the game’s magnitude this afternoon while meeting with the media, and wasn’t afraid to discuss how difficult of a matchup it will be for the Wolverines to win.
“This is a big game,” he began. “Wisconsin is playing as well as anyone in the country right now, and could beat anybody — home or away — in the nation.
“This is the exact team that was winning championships over and over a few years ago — the names are just different now.
“Wisconsin can undoubtedly win the Big Ten title this year, because they have veterans who are finally healthy. Everyone is back from last year’s team, so we’ll have to play like we did against Villanova and North Carolina if we want to come out on top.
“It’ll be a great crowd at Crisler, and I have a big group of people coming in from my hometown in upstate New York — I actually have a pretty good record when they’re here.
“This group has been doing this for about 20 years. They’re doing it for fun and just to catch a game, and a couple of them might even like me too.”
Beilein’s joking mood quickly turned serious again when asked about this season’s first matchup with the Badgers back on Jan. 19, a game that resulted in a 64-54 Wisconsin victory.
At the time, the defeat was Michigan’s first since last season’s April 2 National Championship against Villanova, snapping a string of 17 consecutive victories.
After going 9.5 months without a loss, Beilein admitted he had forgotten a bit what the pain of defeat felt like.
“It was a different experience,” he recalled. “I’ve been through several hundred losses in my career, but I had forgotten how it felt — it hurt pretty bad.”
One of the trademarks of Beilein’s clubs throughout the years, however, has been an ability to display incredible grit and mental toughness after a loss by not letting one turn into two or three.
That was sure enough the case once again following the setback in Madison, as the Wolverines have won four of their five games since.
Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis, who was held scoreless for the only time in his career against the Badgers, took that bounce back notion to heart, and has averaged 18.2 points per game in the five affairs since.
“You’re just going to have days like that sometimes,” Beilein said, referring to Brazdeikis’ poor performance in Madison.
“He can’t stop shooting, though, and can’t pass up open shots. Wisconsin does a good job of taking away threes and making you hit tough twos.
“We fell into their trap a bit the first time around, but I actually get the most upset after games when the other team plays smarter than us. That reflects on the coaching staff, and usually means that we didn’t teach our guys something well enough.
“Wisconsin has played smarter than we have in so many of their wins against us over the years.”
Michigan has actually been the smarter team as of late, however, winning three of its last four against the Badgers dating back to February of 2017.
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