Michigan grabs win No. 22 in 61-52 win over Wisconsin

Michigan Basketball (22-2, 11-2 B1G) found itself in another bar fight with the Wisconsin Badgers (17-7, 9-4 B1G), but came out on the right side of the result this time with a 61-52 victory on Saturday at home, avenging what was their first loss of the year a few weekends back.

This was a resurrection game for Charles Matthews, who had come under fire for recent weeks for his struggles offensively. It did not start well, but he scored 18 points on the day, 16 of which game in the second half. Jon Teske had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Jordan Poole scored 10 points.

Ethan Happ was getting the best of Michigan early on, but foul trouble kept him on the bench throughout the second half. He finished the day with 18 points of his own.

Offense was hard to come by in this game for both teams and it started right off the bat in the first half. Wisconsin jumped out to a 13-5 lead to start the game with Happ leading the charge and the Badgers had taken Michigan fans out of the game early on. With the game being officiated in a way that the crowd was not fond of, that was a spark that got them into it and when Michigan stormed back, eventually taking a 20-19 lead at around the eight minute mark, the dogfight was back on in Ann Arbor. This game would go into halftime tied at 27 apiece.

The second half started and the theme of scores being hard to come by continued, as it took two and a half minutes for either team to get going. The scoring got started by Teske after a flagrant-1 hook-and-hold call on Wisconsin’s Brad Davidson, which handed Michigan four points on free throws and a jump shot from Charles Matthews to take a 31-27 lead.

These two would continue to trade blows throughout the second half and Michigan missed numerous chances to put the game away, but missed their open shots. However, they pulled away and walked out of Crisler with a nine-point victory.

The Wolverines are back in action on Tuesday night with a trip to Penn State, which is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff.