No. 23 Michigan basketball hit just seven of 33 attempts from the floor (and two of 16 from beyond the arc) in its Big Ten opener Tuesday at the Kohl Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Somehow, that didn’t shut down the Wolverines, as they went into the break trailing No. 11 Wisconsin by just six points.
And in the second? It was almost all Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf over the first eight minutes of the half, as the bigs went 5-for-8 (and the Wolverines matched their first-half field goal total) for 15 points in clawing back to a tie game with 12:04 remaining.
From there, the teams went back and forth, with Michigan taking the lead for good on a lay-in by Goldin with 94 seconds remaining; U-M then held on to win, 67-64, for the Wolverines’ first Big Ten win under first-year head coach Dusty May.
The Badgers had few answers for Michigan’s pair of 7-footers, as Wolf, a transfer from Yale, finished with a box score-stuffing 20 points, seven rebounds, five assists, five blocks and three steals and Goldin, a transfer from Florida Atlantic, added a team-high 24 points plus five rebounds and three blocks. No other Wolverine scored in double figures, though Roddy Gayle Jr. just missed out, on a missed one-and-one free throw in the final seconds. He added six rebounds and five assists, and Nimari Burnett had seven rebounds.
A slow finish
Max Klesmit’s turnaround jumper from the lane put Wisconsin up 64-61 with 2:37 to play, but the Badgers didn’t score again. Goldin made three consecutive baskets to give Michigan a 67-64 edge with 22.9 seconds left.
Klesmit missed a 3-point attempt, but Gayle Jr. missed his free throw with 6.8 seconds left.
Nolan Winter missed the front end of a one-and-one for Wisconsin with 3.2 seconds remaining. Goldin missed a free throw at the other end with 0.6 seconds left, and John Tonje’s desperation heave from beyond halfcourt bounced off the rim at the buzzer.
Frigid opener in Madison
Wolf was effective in the first half, leading the Wolverines with nine points on 3-for-5 shooting and adding six rebounds. Goldin had seven points, but made just two of seven shots from the field, and had just one rebound. Other Wolverines weren’t as lucky; Tre Donaldson missed all five of his first-half shots (though he cleaned up his mess, with six rebounds), Gayle went 0-for-3 and Burnett went 1-for-5.
Wisconsin had its first-half issues, too: The Badgers went more than 7½ minutes of the first half without a field goal until Steven Crowl scored underneath for a 23-20 lead. Wisconsin entered the game averaging 85.3 points, but mustered just 32 in the first half, on 10-for-31 (32.3%) shooting.
Still, the Wolverines’ major issue this season, turnovers, were mostly an afterthought through the first 20 minutes, as U-M gave the ball away just six times. The Badgers had just three turnovers over that span, but Michigan outrebounded Wisconsin, 27-24, to keep the game within reach.
Next up
The Wolverines (7-1, 1-0 Big Ten) will wrap up their early Big Ten slate with a visit from Iowa (which knocked off Northwestern on Tuesday night on a last-second 3-pointer) at 2 p.m. Saturday (FS1). The Badgers (8-1, 0-1) have a rivalry visit to Milwaukee to face No. 4 Marquette on Saturday before ending their December Big Ten run with a visit to Illinois on Dec. 10.
