While hardly alone, I’ll admit that I didn’t have Greg Gard’s Wisconsin Badgers rolling into Ann Arbor and wrestling a massive 91-88 victory from the host (and previously undefeated) Michigan Wolverines, but here we are.
The shorthanded Wisconsin squad finally showed the promise and resilience that so many of us expected this season, stood sturdy late, and got a signature win over arguably the best team in America.
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Here are seven fun observations to give the win some context and flavor. Enjoy it, Badgers everywhere.
7. This was the Badgers’ first win over the Wolverines in almost three years. The last one came in early 2023 at home, 64-59, with Connor Essegian leading the way with a then-career high 23 points.
6. Despite much whining and many complaints from Michigan fans about supposedly biased officiating, including a late offensive goaltending call on center Andy Mara that could have gone either way, the Wolverines actually shot more free throws than the Badgers, and fouls were even for the game.
In fact, Wisconsin was whistled for several more fouls in the second half than Michigan, and point guard Nick Boyd was glued to the Badger bench for a lengthy spell after picking up his 4th foul.
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5. Michigan came into the game with an absurd six wins by 30 points or more, including 96-66 over No. 24 USC, 101-61 vs No. 14 Gonzaga, and 102-72 against No. 21 Auburn. The Wolverines were favored by 19.5 at tip today.
4. The Wolverines’ Dusty May coached Boyd all the way to the 2023 Final Four while both were at Florida Atlantic. They shared a warm postgame hug today after Boyd dropped a clean 22/6/3 on his former coach’s squad.
3. True freshman big Aleksas Bieliauskas had made only eight 3-pointers all season for the Badgers, but the Lithuanian rocked Michigan for a cool five triples Saturday, finishing with a career high 17 points, which was especially helpful given the absence of Austin Rapp. There were surely zero Badger Bingo cards today that had Bieliauskas leading the Badgers with a robust 10 attempts from beyond the arc.
2. John Blackwell emerged from a horrendous recent 3-point shooting slump with a solid 4/8 performance from deep on the way to 26 points in 39 huge minutes that were necessitated by the Badgers’ foul trouble.
1. The win moved Gard to 7-10 vs Michigan as Wisconsin’s head guy, his lowest winning percentage vs any Big Ten team outside of Michigan State and Purdue.
