Michigan looked every bit of a team coming off a three-week layoff. They fell behind by 14 points at the infamous Kohl Center. Eli Brooks had one of the worst games of his career. Hunter Dickinson made 33% of his shots. Isaiah Livers missed a free throw. Chaundee Brown scored one point. Brandon Johns barely saw the floor.

The Wolverines won.

Even as the rest of the team got off to a shaky start, Livers came out hot and never cooled off, leading all scorers with 20 points and going 4/7 from beyond the arc. Wisconsin had a scorching start all around, drilling 5/7 threes in the first half—Aleem Ford hit three of those and made all five of his attempts from the field. Michigan's offense looked ragged, missing a series of midrangers they don't normally take at such high volume, while the defense had some uncharacteristic breakdowns to open up the perimeter.

On the final play of the half, the Badgers blew up Michigan's initial set out of a timeout. Livers created something out of nothing with a pullup 18-footer to beat the horn. That basket cut the Wolverine deficit to 12 points, and it was easy to see a similarly rough second half leading to an understandable, unpleasant loss.

Instead, Michigan opened the second half with a gorgeous set that led to a Livers layup. Juwan Howard found a way to make the points come easier on that play and he also made adjustments to stymie the Badgers on the other end. The Wolverines started switching on screens and trusting their defenders to hold up on cross-matches; they did so spectacularly, particularly Dickinson, who recorded five blocks and stopped multiple forays to the rim by point guard D'Mitrik Trice, who went 1/5 from the field in the half.

As the defense held strong, the scoring came around. Franz Wagner scored ten of his 14 points in the half with some strong finishing around the hoop and a couple timely triples. Livers kept up his scoring. Austin Davis had a patented four-point burst in five minutes, going to work on Micah Potter in the paint. Dickinson was a monster on the boards, pulling down four offensive rebounds to keep possessions alive and grabbing seven on the defensive end—again, just in the second half!—to make sure the Badgers went one-and-done.

Potter and Nate Reuvers, the two Wisconsin centers, combined for zero total rebounds in the game. While Dickinson didn't have his best scoring output, his rebounding and defense changed the game, and his 5/6 mark on free throws also proved critical. Brooks made only 2/11 field goals but also was money down the stretch, helping ice the game with his own 5/6 mark from the charity stripe, and his defense was outstanding, as usual.

Michigan was given every reason to accept a moral victory. They didn't have it going early in a tough place to play, allowed a big run, and had a built-in excuse for the performance. Instead, they won the second half 40-20, chipping away at Wisconsin until they cracked. Given the circumstances, there haven't been many more impressive victories in recent memory, and this program hasn't been short on recent impressive victories.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]