MADISON, Wis. — Michigan couldn’t overcome another woeful outside shooting performance and an overwhelming second-half flurry in Sunday’s 77-63 loss to No. 15 Wisconsin that ended with a brawl breaking out at the Kohl Center.
During the postgame handshake line, Michigan coach Juwan Howard and Wisconsin coach Greg Gard got into a heated exchange. Howard hit a Wisconsin assistant Joe Krabbenhoft in the head with a punch and freshman forward Moussa Diabate and sophomore forward Terrance Williams II also appeared to throw punches during the scuffle before the teams were separated.
Hunter Dickinson finished with 21 points, Eli Brooks scored 14 and DeVante' Jones added 11 points, seven assists and six rebounds for Michigan (14-11, 8-7 Big Ten), which shot 16.7% from 3-point range (4-for-24) and trailed by double digits over the final 10:31.
The Wolverines used a strong start out of the break to force an early Wisconsin timeout. Following a dunk by Dickinson, Brooks buried a 3-pointer in transition then came away with a steal on the ensuing possession that led to a fast-break layup and a 38-33 lead less than 90 seconds into the second half.
After Brad Davison snapped Michigan’s run with Wisconsin’s first made 3-pointer at the 18:24 mark, the Wolverines’ offense went cold and missed 15 of its next 16 shots with many coming from beyond the arc. The Badgers took advantage of the dry spell with a 23-3 surge to pull ahead, 56-41, with 8:52 to play.
Brooks snapped a nearly six-minute field-goal drought and a string of nine unanswered Wisconsin points with baseline floater, but if offered little reprieve as the long-range bricks continued to pile up and Johnny Davis took over. Davis scored nine straight points, including a three-point play and three baskets in the paint, to put Michigan in a 15-point hole.
Freshman forward Caleb Houstan snapped a five-minute, 21-second scoring drought and Davis’ personal run with a corner 3-pointer and sophomore forward Terrance Williams II followed with a layup to cut the deficit to 56-46 with 6:50 remaining.
But that’s as close as the Wolverines would get the rest of the way as the Badgers’ lead ballooned to as much as 19 points in the final minute.
Davis finished with 25 points, Steven Crowl added 11 points, and Tyler Wahl, Chucky Hepburn and Davison scored 10 apiece for Wisconsin (21-5, 12-4), which scored 44 points in the paint turned 12 Michigan turnovers into 17 points.
Michigan got off to a crisp start by creating shots and good looks around the basket. The Wolverines scored their first 12 points in the paint, with Dickinson doing much of the damage. He scored off a high-low pass from freshman forward Moussa Diabate, a pick-and-roll feed from Jones and made two hook shots to give Michigan a 12-10 lead with 11:50 left in the first half.
The Wolverines’ post defense, though, couldn’t prevent the Badgers from finding similar success around the rim. Wisconsin scored its first 12 points in the paint, with Davis using a quick first step to attack the rim numerous times, and made the first basket outside of the paint when Hepburn knocked down a jumper at the 10:02 mark.
After Diabate picked up his second foul and headed to the bench with 9:08 left in the half, Wisconsin continued to score inside as neither team could make outside shots. Davis capped a 9-2 spurt with another driving layup to give Wisconsin a 23-16 lead.
Michigan responded with a 13-4 run that started with back-to-back layups and free throws off fast-break opportunities. The spurt featured a 3-pointer by Houstan — the first of the game after Michigan missed its first nine attempts and the teams started a combined 0-for-14 from deep — and a three-point play by Dickinson as the teams entered the break tied at 31.
