Michigan Falls In Madison
The game was tied at halftime, but Wisconsin just leaned on Michigan as U-M's offense stalled and pulled away during the second half and ended up winning pretty easily, 77-63. Michigan now has just five regular season games left to try and bolster its resumé.
Here's what stuck out today in Madison.
1. Awful three-point shooting
Every time Michigan loses badly, this is one of the biggest and most obvious issues. Today the Wolverines were just 4-of-25 from downtown. Wisconsin wasn't much better overall at 4-of-13, but they shot it better in the second half and that helped the Badgers pull away on their home court. It's surprising that Michigan has shot the three at almost 35% over the course of the season because every time you turn them on they seem to be in the 20s or even the teens when it comes to their long range percentage. Once in a while, Michigan will shoot the lights out, like they did during their 24-point over Purdue, but usually it's more like what we saw today. They're just too inconsistent from deep, which is why making the tournament is looking like a longer shot by the game.
2. One-man band
Michigan's entire offense revolved around Hunter Dickinson for the first half, and it was actually working. The big fella had 17 points in the first half but once Wisconsin clamped down on him and held him to just four points in the second half, Michigan had no alternative. Eli Brooks did manage 14 points of his own but that's about as far as the scoring efforts went for the maize and blue. The Wolverines are so reliant on Dickinson, which works for a little while, but once teams settle in and adjust, Michigan's offense screeches to a halt.
3. No depth
This point builds from point No. 2. When Dickinson isn't scoring every time down, and Brooks isn't pouring in 20+, Michigan simply doesn't get enough from anyone else. Today, Michigan's entire bench scored just six points. Wisconsin's bench only had 10, but the non-Dickinson and Brooks starters added just 22 total points, at least six of which came from DeVante' Jones in garbage time. Like three-point shooting, the lack of depth has been a problem all season and just isn't fixable at this point in the year.
