John Blackwell had 26 points, Nick Boyd scored 22 and Aleksas Bieliauskas set a career high with 17 points to lead Wisconsin to a 91-88 win over previously unbeaten, second-ranked Michigan on Saturday.
The loss left a lot to be desire in the eyes of Michigan head coach Dusty May, who gave Wisconsin credit but harped on his team’s lack of consistent intensity as a key component behind the stunning loss.
“One thing I’m disappointed in is in the way we started competing at a high level, it looked different than the other 25 or 30 minutes of the game,” May told reporters. “We can’t be a team that’s what we’re playing for that has two different levels of intensity, of relentlessness. And that’s what happened today.”
The Badgers (11-5, 3-2 Big Ten) beat their highest-ranked regular-season opponent since a win over No. 2 Michigan in 2019. They beat the AP poll’s No. 2 team on the opponent’s court for the second time since winning at Maryland on Feb. 13, 2016.
The Wolverines (14-1, 4-1) led by as much as 14 in the first half and lost because they gave up 54 points in the second half.
Michigan had a game-tying basket waved off by basket interference on Aday Mara, who followed up Roddy Gayle Jr.’s missed layup with 35.2 second left. The call stood after video review.
Braeden Carrington made two free throws on the ensuing possession after being fouled on a long, inbounds pass.
Carrington split a pair of free throws with 9.6 seconds left for a three-point lead that gave Michigan a shot to tie the game, but Gayle missed a 3.
Michigan’s Elliot Cadeau scored all 19 of his points in the first half and Morez Johnson Jr. scored 13 of 18 points in the first half. Yaxel Lendeborg finished with 14 points and Nimari Burnett added 10 points for the Wolverines.
Wisconsin trailed 38-37 at halftime but outscored Michigan 20-7 to start the second.
Bieliauskas entered the game averaging 4.0 points per game. The freshman forward from Lithuania showed why Greg Gard recruited him early in the second half, making 4 of 4 3-pointers in less than three minutes.
Up next
Wisconsin: Visits Minnesota on Tuesday.
Michigan: Visits Washington on Wednesday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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