Remember when No. 21 Wisconsin lost five out of six games and fell out of the top 25?
Remember before that, when everyone thought that they were a legitimate Final Four contender?
Expect the latter to become a more prevalent opinion for the Badgers in the coming weeks. Wisconsin went into Ann Arbor on Sunday afternoon and extended their current winning streak to four games by knocking off No. 15 Michigan, 75-62.
The guy that is going to get most of the publicity for the win will be Frank Kaminsky, and deservedly so. The big fella went for 25 points and 11 boards, overwhelming Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford in the post as the Wolverines opted to allow him to operate one-on-one on the block the entire game. He was responsible for the most important run of the game as well. Michigan had cut what was a 16-point second half deficit to 52-49 with six minutes left when Kaminsky took over. He scored in the post to push the lead to five and, on the ensuing possession, blew by Morgan off the dribble for a layup to push the lead to seven. After the Wolverines scored at the other end, Kaminsky went to work on Horford in the post, finishing a three-point play that pushed the lead to 59-51.
After Gasser hit a three with three minutes left and Michigan answered with a free throw, Kaminsky put the game on ice by hitting a step-back three over Morgan with two minutes left.
As impressive as Kaminsky was, the biggest story of the game is going to be how well the Badgers were able to defend on the perimeter. All season long, that has been the question mark for Bo Ryan’s club. Can they keep slashers and penetrating guards out of the lane? Can they cut off the dribble-drive? On Sunday, they did, for the most part. Caris LeVert finished with 25 points and took the game over for a 10 minute stretch in the second half. He was the reason that Michigan even made it a game down the stretch.
But that was it.
Nik Stauskas finished with 11 points and two assists on 4-for-11 shooting. Derrick Walton was 0-for-6 and completely ineffective. Zak Irvin was 1-for-7 from the floor.
This comes after the Badgers were better defending the perimeter against both Michigan State and Minnesota.
That is what is going to be the difference-maker for the Badgers, and it’s something that has gotten better over the course of the last three weeks.