There is something about playing the maize and blue that makes Wisconsin's offense fall into a haze.

Three months after opening the Big Ten season with a shooting dud at home against the Wolverines, No.18 Wisconsin fell victim again to seeing open looks fall by the wayside and another close, winnable game fall through their hands.

While the first one stung, losing for the first time this season and in the conference opener at home, seeing Michigan celebrate a Big Ten Tournament title with a 59-53 victory at Indianapolis' Gainbridge Fieldhouse had a different kind of sting on it.

The funny thing is that UW (26-9) probably wins if it shoots the 34.4 percent it shot back in December. The Badgers made life difficult for Michigan (25-9) and its offense, holding the Wolverines to 32.2 percent shooting, but the Badgers managed only 15 field goals in 67 possessions for an ugly .791 points per possession.

The good news is that UW had to wait about 45 minutes until it found out it had another game to play, as a No.3 seed in Denver against 14th-seed Montana on Thursday afternoon in the NCAA Tournament first round.

"This group has battled like crazy all year," head coach Greg Gard said. "Today was no different. We put ourselves in a good position, as hard as today is, that we're going to play next week."

Here are my takeaways from the Big Ten Tournament final.

John Blackwell, Max Klesmit, and John Tonje were unanimous that fatigue and conditioning were nonfactors in its second setback to Michigan. The Badgers were right in some areas, but it looked obvious in the shooting department.

Wisconsin shot 15-for-68 from the field, a ghastly 22.1 percent shooting, including them going 7-for-39 from three-point range. There were only three instances where the Badgers hit consecutive shots and four times when the offense missed at least six straight shots.

Michigan coach Dusty May, who became the first Big Ten coach to win the conference tournament in his first season, said after the game that Michigan's pushing of the tempo was designed to try and put extra mileage on Wisconsin's tired legs.

"We earned a break by not playing four in four days, and they had one extra game," he said. "We were optimistic that their legs might not hold up as well as ours just because of the number of games. Even in the first half, when that thing was ugly and whatnot, we wanted to keep running because we thought it might have a cumulative effect."

The Badgers made their first shot - a three-pointer - and then proceeded to miss 16 of their next 18 shots. Eleven of those looks came from three with only one make, as the Badgers were settling on opening looks from the perimeter instead of attacking Michigan's size in the post.

UW scored only two points in the paint through the 25 possessions (14:00 of game time). Michigan scored 10 of its first 16 points in the paint, but the Wolverines' offense was equally as ugly.

Both teams averaged less than .680 points per possession in the first half and went a combined 6-for-17 on layups. UW was the only team that shot free throws in the first half, going 3-for-4.

"It was extremely physical," Gard said. "it's a physical game, and both teams were not backing off on either end, specifically in the paint. The fact that we got the ball in the paint, shot chart looked pretty good for the most part. You've got to finish some things at the rim, and we've got to do a better job of drawing contact if we didn't get fouled when we went in there."

The Badgers were better at attacking after halftime. Sixteen of UW's 31 shots were from two, with more jumpers and layups at the rim. The Badgers' attacking also drew more contact, as UW went 13-for-14 from the line in the second half to stay in the game.

The problem was the Badgers often drove too deep and were blocked out by Michigan's size or couldn't find a way to finish past Goldin. Tonje was the epitome of that problem, going 1-for-9 on two-point shots as Michigan prioritized contesting all his attempts and working both sides of the ball.

"We just tried to be aggressive and switch it up a little bit when shots weren't falling," he said, "but it just wasn't enough to keep us afloat."

One reason the tired-legs argument doesn't hold water was how Wisconsin competed defensively on the boards. Michigan had a 47-18 edge in rebounds against Maryland, including a sizeable 18-4 edge in offensive rebounds that led to the same difference in second-chance points. UW outrebounded Michigan, 46-40, and had a 15-6 edge on the offensive glass that led to a 14-7 advantage in second-chance points.

It's why UW was in a one-possession game with under a minute to go on an afternoon where it had trouble throwing the ball into the ocean standing on the shoreline.

"Two teams that just slugged it out," Gard said. "Buckets were hard to come by. I thought we had really good looks. I couldn't ask for any more from our guys in how they played. They defended their butts off. We made it really hard for Goldin. We made it really hard for Wolf. We had open looks … They left it all out on the floor."

Gard said he never lost confidence in a group that had played and won in some tough environments, even though there were some outside nervousness with UW stumbling to a 2-3 finish in the regular season (a stretch that likely cost the Badgers the chance to play Friday in Milwaukee).

While the offense's efficiency fluctuated (again, not a concern with Gard especially since the Badgers weren't fully healthy), the main worry point was not being close to where Wisconsin needed to be defensively following the loss to Penn State to compete for a conference title or have a deep run in the national tournament.

What he saw in four games, holding four opponents to 35.4 percent from the field (85-for-240), was a step back in the right direction.

After allowing Vlad Goldin and Danny Wolf to score 44 points and dictate the game during the second half of the December meeting in Madison, Wisconsin limited both players' productivity. Goldin - the tournament's most outstanding player and a first-team All-Big Ten selection - had his lowest point total in nearly a month at 11, going 4-for-12 from the floor with just five rebounds and three turnovers.

Wolf - a second-team all-conference pick and a member of the all-tournament team - had eight rebounds but finished 3-for-8 from the field with three turnovers. UW also limited starting guards Tre Donaldson and Rubin Jones to 4-for-17 from the floor, as Michigan shot 32.2 percent.

Nolan Winter and Steven Crowl didn't score much (nine points on 3-for-12), but Winter logged 19 minutes and Crowl played 29 (despite four fouls) to match Michigan's low-post size.

"We guarded really well, and that has to be a mainstay," Gard said. "We were in a tie game with 45 seconds to go. Even when you're not putting the ball in the basket at the rate that maybe you're accustomed to, the defensive ability of this group, we leaned into that heavily because we had to. That's been a growth over the last 60 days, but these four games we really guarded pretty well."

UW players and Gard showed a mixture of disappointment and indifference about not being seeded in Milwaukee. The Badgers were the 12th overall seed, two spots behind fellow Midwest school Iowa State and one slot behind Kentucky. Iowa State ranked ninth in the NET with a 10-7 record in Quad-1, while Kentucky No.14 in the NET (one spot ahead of UW) with an 11-10 Quad-1 record. None of the schools had a loss outside Quad-2.

With higher seeds Houston and Texas Tech got slotted in Wichita, Milwaukee became the closest site for the Cyclones. With Kentucky unable to play in its home gym in Lexington and Michigan State and Alabama getting seeded in Cleveland, Milwaukee became the choice for the Wildcats.

That means the Badgers will be playing in Denver (the program's first game played in the state of Colorado) and the elevation and altitude that comes with it: reduced oxygen levels, impacting performance and requiring acclimatization. Athletes may experience increased heart rate, faster breathing, and reduced exercise capacity, potentially leading to fatigue and altitude sickness

The only Badgers player with any experience playing in altitude and how it affects the body is Tonje, who spent four seasons at Colorado State. Located in Fort Collins, 5,000 feet above sea level and roughly two feet below Denver's altitude, Tonje said playing through the fatigue and thinness of the air is something to be aware of.

"You'll feel a little heavy maybe the first day," Tonje said of his experience with the Colorado air. "So hopefully we get down there a day early or two, just to kind of feel things out."

Wisconsin won't be alone in adjusting. Like the Badgers, Michigan will have a short travel turnaround after playing on Sunday when they take on UC San Diego, but the Wolverines will get the slight added benefit of tipping at 8 p.m. local time, 8 hours and 30 minutes after the Badgers do.

Gard reiterated Sunday that he has spoken to the conference multiple times about the issue it creates of two teams playing the final game before the brackets getting released having to travel and play four days later.

"Whoever is playing here on Sunday should try to get a Friday (site)," Gard said. "Again, that didn't happen. Quick turnaround maybe is good for us. We'll turn around quick and go play."

.333 - Wisconsin fell to 3-6 in conference title games. The Badgers' nine appearances match Ohio State for the most of any school.

22.1 - Wisconsin's shooting percentage was a new tournament low for the program, breaking the 25.9 percent performance in a 54-43 loss to Illinois (also the tournament final).

5 - Points scored by Wisconsin's reserves (Carter Gilmore 3, Kamari McGee 2), a season-low. Gilmore, McGee, Xavier Amos, and Jack Janicki combined to go 1-for-11, although they had 14 rebounds and no turnovers.

94 - Named to the conference's all-tournament team, Blackwell finished with a game-high 18 points and had 94 points for the tournament, the third-most behind Iowa's Keegan Murray (103 in 2022) and Illinois' Terrence Shannon Jr. (102 in 2024).

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