The Badgers came away with an incredible upset over the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines, winning 91-88 Saturday in a hard fought game in Ann Arbor. Taking down the undefeated Wolverines took a team effort, including breakout games from bench guard Braedon Carrington and freshman forward Aleksas Bielauskas, two first-year Badgers.
Carrington contributes sneaky performance
Carrington lit a spark from the bench that the Badgers needed to help overcome a big deficit in the first half. Carrington, who transferred to Wisconsin from Tulsa, found a role in Wisconsin’s rotation largely due to a career-best 38.8 3-point percentage.
But it wasn’t his shooting that allowed him to stay active in this contest, but his rebounding and his aggressive presence on the court that proved crucial in helping Wisconsin secure their biggest win of the season.
Carrington picked up a season-high nine rebounds this game. Although he had a respectable first half, his major contributions came during the second half of play. Carrington entered the game quickly after the second half began, and through his aggressive presence around the paint and his ability to move off the ball to get himself open, he proceeded to be head coach Greg Gard’s go-to-guy off the bench.
This was a rather sneaky performance by the senior guard, as he was relatively quiet and played his role efficiently while he let other teammates shine. His sneaky performance came from his presence in the paint and being able to control the boards against a highly-skilled Michigan squad.
His ball movement was efficient as he was able to make the extra pass to the shooters who were hot. Nine of Carrington's 12 points came from the charity stripe. He delivered when Wisconsin needed him most, knocking down three crucial free throws in the final minute to seal Wisconsin’s final three points.
Carrington brings a veteran presence to this Badger squad with his extensive college basketball resume. He played his first two years of college basketball at Minnesota and transferred to Tulsa for his junior season. Now in his senior season at Wisconsin, Carrington is exactly what Gard needs off of the bench. His intensity and his feel for the game from his past experience really shapes him into the player he is now, which allows for consistent minutes off of the bench.
In an intense game like Saturday’s, the game could have easily ended the other way for Wisconsin without Carrington’s aggressive presence off the bench,
Bieliauskas shows what he can do
Wisconsin also received a much-needed standout performance from Bieliauskas, who broke out of his shell to explode for a career high 17 points on a 5-for-10 clip from beyond the arc.
Bieliauskas became a starter after taking over sophomore forward Austin Rapp’s spot early in December, and while he has shown plenty of potential this season, has not put together the complete performance that Wisconsin has waited for. Saturday was just his second double-digit performance of the season.
After Wisconsin clawed back into the game late in the first half, the Badgers can attribute Bieliauskas as the key reason for Wisconsin’s early second half outburst. Bieliauskas drained four 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half, helping Wisconsin turn a 40-37 deficit into a 52-47 lead and injecting an energy the Badgers rode the rest of the game.
The pick-and-pop game was the key reason he was able to create space from his defenders and gain open looks. When he would set the screen at the top of the key for Nick Boyd, Bieliauskas was able to delay the screen so when he would pop off of it, both defenders were caught trying to capture Boyd. Being a big man, Bieliauskas was also not guarded as heavily behind the arc, so he consistently set himself up for the dish when one of the guards would drive.
Bieliauskas played a career-high 31 minutes in this game, which he rightfully earned from the way he was shooting the ball.
Bieliauskas has had some rocky games this season as he is still adjusting to the style of basketball played in the United States, but with the performance he had on Saturday, he can gain a huge confidence boost leading into the second half of the season. If Bieliauskas can start to consistently become a threat from beyond this arc, this opens up a whole gateway of opportunities for the Badgers and allows them to become a big threat.
