Takeaways from Michigan's stunning home loss to Wisconsin

The No. 2 Michigan Wolverines suffered a shocking 91-88 defeat at the hands of Wisconsin Badgers at the Crisler Center on Saturday despite entering the game as nearly 20-point favorites.

Here are a few takeaways from the game.

End of first half and start of second half costly for Wolverines

With under 10 minutes to play in the first half, Michigan extended its lead to 14 points against the Badgers.

In most games this season, when the Wolverines have gotten up big on an opponent early on, they have been able to put games out of reach and keep the "pedal to the medal," so to speak.

However, on Saturday, that was not the case as the Badgers finished the first half on a 20-7 run to cut the Michigan lead to one point going into the break.

Jan 10, 2026; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Wisconsin Badgers guard Nick Boyd (2) shoots in the second half against the Michigan Wolverines at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

Then, Wisconsin carried that momentum into the start of the second half with a flurry of three-pointers in the first five minutes coming out of the break, including four from forward Aleksas Bieliauskas, who hit five from distance on the day and scored 17 points.

He was shooting under 30% coming into the day from beyond the arc, but Bieliauskas' ability to hit shots was a microcosm of the Badgers' day from three as they hit 15 of their 33 attempts against the Wolverines, despite coming into the matchup shooting just 32.6% as a team, which ranks 227th in college basketball.

Michigan did settle down to an extent on both ends after those stretches, but those runs from Wisconsin proved to play a big factor in the final score.

Badgers expose Michigan's big lineup

Although Wisconsin had a much better day shooting than it has had for most of the season, it's not as if the Michigan defense provided a ton of resistance, which allowed the Badgers offense to get into rhythm far too often.

The Badgers utilized a lot of ball screens involving guards John Blackwell and Nick Boyd, and when they weren't getting downhill and scoring at the rim, they were dishing out to the big men for open threes.

Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara, even though they combined for 27 points on the offensive end of the floor. did not get out to shooters often enough to contest shots.

When Michigan plays teams like Wisconsin that takes a lot of threes and wants to spread the defense out on the perimeter, Dusty May is going to have to figure out lineups that work consistently against that style of play.

Michigan's inability to contest three-point shots cost them against Wisconsin on Saturday.

Elliot Cadeau finds his offense

The Michigan point guard has played at a pretty high level for most of the year, but had struggled a bit over the past couple games.

After a quiet first half against the Badgers, Cadeau kept the Wolverines in the game early in the second half when Wisconsin was shooting the lights out, scoring 17 points in the first seven minutes of the second half on his way to 19 for the game.

Cadeau was getting downhill to the basket and finishing in traffic, and also hit a couple shots from distance during that stretch.

Jan 10, 2026; Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Elliot Cadeau (3) celebrates during the second half against the Wisconsin Badgers at Crisler Center. Mandatory Credit: Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images | Rick Osentoski-Imagn Images

The Wolverines will need their guards to continue to step up if they hope to compete for a Big Ten and national title, and Cadeau is certainly capable of running Michigan's offense as he showed against Wisconsin.

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