Michigan shook off its habit of second-half collapses and held on to upset No. 11 Wisconsin 72-68 on Wednesday night in a Big Ten matchup in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Michigan (8-15, 3-9 in the Big Ten) had lost 10 of its last 11, and won for just the seventh time in 12 games where it led at halftime.
Wisconsin (16-7, 8-4) lost its third game in a row and dropped out of a second-place tie in the Big Ten with idle No. 10 Illinois.
Dug McDaniel returned from the bench after sitting several minutes with a sore knee to score on a dribble penetration to give Michigan a 69-64 lead with 1:12 left, before Max Klesmit’s two free throws brought the Badgers back within three.
Wisconsin’s Chucky Hepburn missed a would-be game-tying 25-footer with 26 seconds left before McDaniel hit one of two free throws.
Will Tschetter rattled in a 3-pointer from the right wing off a slick pass from Nimari Burnett to extend Michigan’s lead to 63-54 with 5:36 remaining.
Wisconsin took advantage of Michigan’s sloppy interior defense to go up 46-44 on Hepburn’s three-point play with 14:27 to go. Meanwhile, the Wolverines missed eight straight shots in that span.
McDaniel, Michigan’s top scorer who is playing only home games because of academic issues, led the Wolverines with 16 points, while Tarris Reed Jr. had 12, Tschetter 11 and Terrance Williams II 10 for Michigan.
AJ Storr led Wisconsin with 20 points, while Hepburn had 17.
Michigan held on for a 37-33 advantage at halftime.
McDaniel scored seven points within 45 seconds to extend Michigan’s lead to 26-20 with 9:02 remaining in the half, connecting on a pair of driving layups and a 3-pointer from the top.
Michigan leads the all-time series 74-57.
–Field Level Media
