Michigan Basketball: Takeaways from Zavier Simpson-led comeback effort

3. Where’d the defense go?

Michigan basketball has been a top-25 defense (No. 21) in the nation per KenPom. Over the last five games, the Wolverines held their opponents to 60.4 points per game, which again, makes their effort at home against the Badgers all the more disappointing.

Jon Teske and Zavier Simpson formed a strong defensive duo, simply because Simpson is capable of applying pressure on the perimeter and Teske is a massive (7-foot-1, 265 lbs.) presence in the paint. That being said, any team with a creative ballhandler capable of keeping everyone involved stands a chance of cracking the Wolverines’ defense.

Wisconsin guard D’Mitrik Trice is a creative ballhandler and he dismantled Michigan on Thursday. The Wolverines’ bigs started off in drop-back coverage, letting Trice (and the rest of the Wisconsin shooters) step into 3-pointers as Simpson struggled to get around screens and get up a solid shot contest.

The Wolverines eventually had the bigs step up a bit more on the screens and even committed the occasional switch but nothing could slow down the Wisconsin offense. Michigan basketball was victim to backdoor cuts, off-ball screens, and general confusion pertaining to matchups, especially in transition. Credit goes to Wisconsin’s talented group of shooters but Michigan’s defense certainly made it easy on them and they capitalized.

There weren’t a ton of adjustments Howard could’ve made outside of trapping Trice to get the ball out of his hands, which may have been a tad too aggressive. But the Badgers picked them apart, going 11-for-23 (47.8%) from 3-point range and shooting 58.1% from 2-point range.

Michigan didn’t have much in the way of rim protection on Thursday, as Wisconsin’s perimeter shooting eventually made the Wolverines’ bigs jumpy, making them susceptible to hesitation dribbles and an array of ball fakes. As the Wolverines begin to prep for the Big Ten and NCAA Tournaments, Howard and his staff will need to tighten up their 3-point defense and possibly even install more zone. The Badgers certainly showed the Wolverines that there is always room to improve.