The Wisconsin men’s basketball team (12-11 overall, 5-5 Big Ten) lost 53-64 to the Michigan Wolverines (9-10, 4-5) last night in Ann Arbor, marking their second-straight loss. The team has not lost back-to-back games since the end of November. Senior Charlie Wills and junior Kirk Penney carried the Badgers with 16 and 14 points, respectively.
The Badgers struggled from the field, shooting only 31.6 percent, making 18 of 57 attempts. On the other side of the court, the Wolverines had a more accurate game, shooting nearly 50 percent.
After the half, the Badgers attempted to overcome a 15-point deficit (22-37) but missed their next four shots from the field before Mike Wilkinson hit a jumper off a Wills assist with 16:12 remaining in the game.
Wisconsin cut the Michigan lead to ten points after a jumper by Kirk Penney, followed by a Wills three-pointer, puttind the score at 50-59 with under a minute to play. The Badgers fought to the end as Devin Harris sank a jumper with eight seconds on the clock to end the game at an 11-point deficit.
The Badgers got off to a slow start and were never able to recover. They trailed Michigan the entire game. Michigan opened the first half with a 21-6 run, thanks to three-pointers by Mike Gotfredson, Leon Jones and LaVell Blanchard. The Badgers fell behind by 17 points with about ten minutes left in the half, but recovered enough to enter intermission down by 15.