Biggest takeaways from Wisconsin Badgers 91-88 upset over No.2 Michigan Wolverines

The body blows were painful as they were being delivered but deep down the University of Wisconsin was becoming calloused.

The Badgers always schedule aggressive in the nonconference portion of their schedule, which looked like a mistake as the losses started to pile up. UW was embarrassed against No.8 BYU in Utah and suffered frustrating neutral-site losses to TCU and Villanova. Throw in getting blown out by Nebraska in its conference road opener, the Badgers didn't have much success to lean on.

It did prepare them for how it needed to compete against the best teams in the nation, which served a valuable purpose to register one of the nation's biggest upsets.

"We're not a push over," said senior Braeden Carrington, whose play in the second half was one of the many reasons UW registered a 91-88 win over No.2 Michigan. "Obviously our first couple games against top-25 teams didn't go well, but we're coming out of our shell right now. It's showing the country that we're here, and we're here to compete."

The Badgers (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) competed like few teams have this season against Michigan. The Wolverines (14-1, 4-1) have had only three games decided by four points or less all season and none at home.

When the horn sounded, Wisconsin overcame a 14-point deficit in the first half - its largest of the season - to score its most points ever in a win at Michigan.

Here are my takeaways from Gard's ninth victory over a top-five opponent.

Notes from Wisconsin's huge win at No.2 Michigan, which has become habit for the #Badgers program under head coach Greg Gard https://t.co/AjsWkbxVQZ
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) January 11, 2026

Defense was timely

Shutting down Michigan's offense is like trying to stop a freight train with a Bebee gun. Averaging 95.1 points per game, the Wolverines had a run of six straight wins by 25+ points - including at least two ranked victories - that hadn't been done in basketball in at least the last 30 years.

Considering Wisconsin's defensive struggles throughout the early portion of the season, this appeared to be a tough task.

Michigan finished shooting 46.8 percent and went 22-for-24 from the line, but two distinct stretches were critical with Wisconsin's defense that were defined by physical defense without fouling

The Badgers held Michigan to seven empty possessions to end the first half, keeping the Wolverines without a field goal to cut the seven-point deficit down to one. The Badgers committed five fouls in the first 6:01 and picked their sixth team foul with 8:21 remaining. The Wolverines never got to the bonus.

UW forced three turnovers and blocked two shots, including one from Carrington and his assist to Nick Boyd (22 points) breaking toward the basket for an uncontested layup.

"It took us a bit to get our footing defensively, to figure it out a little bit," head coach Greg Gard said. "We didn't have the backside loaded as well as we needed to. They got some key post touches. We had to feel them out to see what we were going to do. It's a 70-possession game, so you want to stay within striking distance while you figure it out. We were able to get ourselves back on track defensively, and then we started to get in rhythm offensively."

The Badgers weren't as clean in the second half, picking up their 10th team foul with 7:57 to pit the Wolverines in the double bonus. Again, UW didn't let the Wolverines take advantage with only two fouls down the stretch, including one by John Blackwell (game-high 26 points) with 15 seconds remaining and the Badgers up four.

The two made free throws represented only four points scored by Michigan in its final eight possessions, as UW went then to 1-for-9 over the final 3:34 and 0-for-5 in the final 38 seconds.

"i thought we played the last nine seconds as well as you can play it," Gard said. "We decided not to foul. It was actually Nick's call from the floor. He said let's play it out, so we guarded it as well as you can probably guard it."

Wisconsin's offense frustrated the nation's best defense

The Wolverines entered the weekend ranked first nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, giving up just 86.9 points per 100 possessions. The Badgers scored 91 points in 71 possessions and averaged 1.282 points per trip down the court.

Wisconsin's quality of offense was special for the final 27+ minutes. After starting the game 6-for-19, falling for the trap of settling for mid-range and perimeter shots instead of attacking the height of Michigan's frontcourt, UW started to balance out its offense.

Blackwell banged in consecutive three-point shots coming out of the other eight media timeout, the start of seven straight possessions with points. The end of that run coincided with UW's defense stance, allowing the Badgers to close the first half on an 11-3 run.

UW's ability to hit the three-point shot in the second half was the difference maker, however. UW hit a three-pointer on its first five possessions of the second half, which stretched Michigan's defense to the perimeter and opened up the floor for UW's guards to drive.

In three straight possessions, Boyd dribble through the press (and through all five Michigan defenders) at one point for a layup, attacked the left block and hit a floater over Morez Johnson, and hit a three-pointer to push the streak to eight straight possessions.

That buckets became contagious, as Wisconsin kept the throttle down and kept shooting high-percentage looks once it got the lead.

"We talked about taking the right shots," Gard said. "We can quick shoot it at times, but we can't quick shoot all the time because they are exceptional in transition. It's being smart, but being aggressive, not losing our aggressiveness, and picking our spots."

When the smoke cleared, the Badgers shot 63.0 percent in the second half and 58.5 percent (10-for-17) from three. They also neutralized Michigan's ability to overwhelm teams in the paint. The Wolverines had been outscoring teams by 20.7 points per game in the lane but managed only a 38-26 edge Saturday.

Bieliauskas and Carrington were the x-factors

Wisconsin went into halftime seeing Michigan's frontcourt outscore them by 20 (28-8) and have a narrow 9-7 edge in bench points. Aleksas Bieliauskas and Carrington helped make both categories positive talking points.

The reason the defense opened in the second half because Bieliauskas couldn't miss. Only 8-for-27 from three on the season, and just 2-for-16 over the past month, Bieliauskas hit four three pointers in the first three minutes, including one on three consecutive possessions to give UW a four-point lead.

"They had a hard time staying with that same lineup, so they had to change some things which impacts what they do on both ends," Gard said when asked about the impact of Bieliauskas' threes. "He took really good (threes). He had some pretty good ones in the first half.

"We had to take what they were and that was maybe one thing at the top of the list that we were going to get or was going to be there that we would have to look for, which was some threes from our bigs. We took the right ones at the right time and stayed aggressive with it."

Connecting on a career-high five three-pointers, Bieliauskas scored a career-high 17 points. He didn't score again after his three-point barrage, but Carrington took the baton and ran with it.

After a relatively quiet first half, where he missed all three three-pointers he attempted, Carrington hit his only bucket - a three - after screening for Boyd and drifting to the top of the key to push the lead six, a game-high for UW, with 15:11 remaining. The rest of his points came because of his hustle.

With the game tied at 75 at 6:40, Carrington slipped being Yaxel Lendeborg and got in perfect position to rebound Winter's missed three pointer and make two free throws after drawing a foul. On the next possession, Carrington put the ball on the deck and attacked center Aday Mara at the rim, drawing another foul, two more free throws, and breaking another time.

A big momentum swing came just under the three-minute mark, when an unchecked Carrington attacked the basket, cleaned up a missed Blackwell three, and fed Andrew Rohde for a corner three to put UW up 88-84.

Carrington also helped keep the lead at least three in the final 32 seconds by going 3-for-4 from the line. He finished 9-for-12 at the free-throw line, the most FTs and FTAs of his career. He finished with 12 points, nine rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers.

"He has experience," Gard said of Carrington. "He's been to Crisler. That experience is hard to put a price tag on. He came in, gave us a spark, and wasn't phased by the moment."

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