Michigan men’s basketball rolled its way to No. 1 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll, throttling some of the best teams in the country on its way to a 14-0 start.
That immaculate record is no longer unblemished.
Behind 26 points from John Blackwell and 22 points from Nick Boyd, Wisconsin went on the road and knocked off the previously unbeaten No. 1 Wolverines 91-88 on Saturday, Jan. 10 at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
With the loss by coach Dusty May’s team, there are five remaining undefeated men’s teams at the Division I level — No. 2 Arizona, No. 3 Iowa State, No. 10 Vanderbilt, No. 11 Nebraska and, perhaps most surprisingly, Miami (Ohio).
Michigan led by as many as 14 points with 7:38 remaining in the first half, but that deficit was trimmed to one at halftime by a Badgers team that entered the day with a 10-5 record. Carried by 13 second-half points from Boyd, Wisconsin built a six-point lead early in the second half and held on for the win after Roddy Gayle Jr. missed a contested 3-pointer with two seconds remaining that would have tied the game.
Michigan made only one of its final nine shots.
The Badgers knocked down 15 of their 33 attempts from 3 (45.5%), including a 10-of-17 mark in the second half. Wisconsin had been 0-2 in road games and 0-5 in Quad 1 matchups heading into the day.
In their second season under May, and with a roster led by high-impact transfers Yaxel Lendeborg and Morez Johnson Jr., the Wolverines hadn’t just been beating opponents, but obliterating them. Of Michigan’s first 14 wins, 10 of them came by at least 25 points, a group of blowouts that included victories against Gonzaga, Auburn, San Diego State, Villanova and USC.
Elliot Cadeau had a team-high 19 points in a losing effort for the Wolverines, who will embark on a West Coast road trip next week with games at Washington and Oregon.