The Michigan Wolverines beat the Wisconsin Badgers, 68-65, in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals on Saturday afternoon in Chicago. Michigan improved to 31-2 overall and will take on the winner of Purdue vs UCLA on Sunday afternoon in the championship.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
Elliot Cadeau’s early foul trouble forced the offense out of rhythm, but he made up for it in second half
The Wolverines have not had many major areas of weakness all season, but one that has come up time and time again in recent weeks has been guys getting in early foul trouble. On Friday, it was Aday Mara and Morez
Johnson Jr. that had to sit with two fouls in the first half. On Saturday, it was Elliot Cadeau, who picked up his second foul at the 11:38 mark of the first half.
Forced to sit for the rest of the half, head coach Dusty May hoped his depth would make up for his absence, but the opposite occurred. Without a true lead ball-handler, the Wolverines committed six turnovers in the final 10 minutes of the half, missed eight straight attempts from three and let Wisconsin jump out to an eight-point lead before eventually tying it at the break.
Cadeau got back in the game to begin the second half and made a huge impact. He finished with 15 points and four rebounds, proving even more that his impact cannot be diminished by his own mistakes. “Dumb fouls” have been something May has been trying to clean up for weeks now, and it almost cost Michigan if not for the team’s strong play in the second half.
Wisconsin could not be stopped from three…again
The Badgers made 15 three-pointers in the upset win at Michigan in January, marking the first time an opponent hit 15 or more against Michigan in more than nine years. On Saturday, they hit seven in the first half and 16 total in the game.
As both teams struggled to get their feet wet in the first half of Saturday’s contest — combining for 3-for-17 from the field to start — Wisconsin went to the three ball to settle down, rattling off four straight makes via Nick Boyd, John Blackwell and Aleksas Bieliauskas. From there, Bieliauskas made another two triples from deep to help Wisconsin take a commanding lead.
Meanwhile, Michigan shot more threes than twos in the first half hoping to keep up, but only converted on 4-of-15 attempts, going on an eight-miss stretch as Wisconsin heated up.
But the tide completely changed early in the second half. The Wolverines were more committed to getting inside the paint while Wisconsin’s three-point magic dried up. The Badgers went 1-for-11 from beyond the arc through the first 10 minutes of the second half. Michigan went 10-for-12 from two-point range in the same time span and took a double-digit lead.
Nonetheless, the Badgers stayed committed to the three ball by hitting seven straight attempts, with six of them coming from forward Austin Rapp. That capped off a 23-6 run and Wisconsin took a 62-58 lead with 3:50 to play.
Yaxel Lendeborg comes in clutch
Big Ten Player of the Year Yaxel Lendeborg scored just six points on Friday against Ohio State, and he went without a basket through the first 18 minutes vs Wisconsin. With nothing going Michigan’s way for most of the first half, May drew up one final play for Lendeborg, who drained his first basket of the game with 10 seconds left in the half.
That basket ignited some confidence, as Lendeborg went 3-for-3 from the field in the second half, including the game-winner with fractions of a second left.
Rim protection continues to be a massive strength
Even when things were not going Michigan’s way offensively (in any capacity), Wisconsin failed to put the game away. One of the biggest reasons for that is the rim presence that Mara, Johnson and Lendeborg had down low and their ability to affect shots on the perimeter.
Michigan blocked six shots in the first half and two in the second. Mara had five of those blocks, including a deflected three-point attempt by Boyd. Johnson had two and Lendeborg had a signature chase-down block in the first half to help McKenney spark the run.
Michigan’s size will be hard to stop in March
Michigan could have easily lost the game in embarrassing fashion giving up 16 threes, with seven coming consecutively in the second half. But somehow, some way, it pulled out another tight victory.
In the first half, it was the defense that kept the Wolverines in the game. In the second half, Michigan’s size on offense is what willed it to victory, and what will be a superpower for it in the NCAA Tournament.
Michigan went just 3-for-9 from three in the second half and 7-for-24 for the game, but it went 17-for-33 from two-point range, with Mara leading the way with 16 points. The Wolverines continued to stay committed inside despite getting mauled from beyond the arc, and never let the deficit become too great to handle.
