MADISON, Wis. _ Michigan's history of near-misses in Wisconsin is long.
Throw another log on that fire.
The Wolverines made a strong second-half push, highlighted by a 17-2 run and held an eight-point lead at one point.
But sustaining it at the Kohl Center, where the No. 17 Badgers have the nation's seventh-longest winning streak, wasn't realistic.
Wisconsin won its 17th straight home game _ and 13th in 14 here against the Wolverines over the years _ surging late for a 68-64 win.
U-M, led by Zak Irvin's 20 points and Derrick Walton Jr.'s 15, was trading possessions in the final minute and got within 66-64 with 4 seconds left when Bronson Koenig iced it with two free throws.
The second-half fade looked like the first half finish as the Wolverines (12-7, 2-4 Big Ten) vanished down the stretch.
After U-M took a six-point lead with 6 { minutes to play, Wisconsin (15-3, 4-1) ripped off a 15-0 run over the next 4 minutes to take its own nine-point lead. The Wolverines lost possessions to a pair of blocked shots, a missed front end of a one-and-one and a travel, imploding along the way.
That's also when the poor defense returned, as the Badgers hit 8 of 10 shots in one stretch and were much better shooting in the second half, shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from 3-point range. They were their usual consistent selves as four players scored in double figures.
Michigan thought it had withstood the Wisconsin run earlier, when the Badgers tied the game at 43 with 8:17 to play.
Michigan answered with Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman hitting a 3, Duncan Robinson picking off a cross-court pass and then hitting a 3 at the other end to push the lead to 49-43.
But sustaining the lead was a challenge.
Wisconsin simply attacked the basket and Michigan had no resistance. Big men D.J. Wilson and Moe Wagner re-entered with their four fouls with less than 6 minutes to play, but they were liabilities on defense, both eventually fouling out in the final minute and a half.
Michigan's second-half energy was impressive and it came out firing.
The Wolverines hit 5 of 6 shots and, after an early Wisconsin basketball, went on a 15-1 run to open a seven-point lead with 13 minutes to play.
U-M got there being physical.
That cost them with seven fouls in the first 5 { minutes of the second half, putting them in the bonus early. But it gave the Wolverines a physical presence.
The problem came when Wilson picked up his fourth foul with nearly 13 minutes to play, quickly followed by Wagner's third, putting both on the bench.
The first half featured improved Michigan defense, holding Wisconsin to 38 percent shooting from the floor and 22 percent from 3-point range as the Wolverines trailed, 26-21, at the break.
But that was meaningless when the Wolverines shot only 32 percent and didn't make a basket in the final 7 minutes of the first half and just two points.
It was encapsulated in the final possession of the half as the Wolverines got a rebound with 29 seconds to play and ended up without even getting a shot off as Wisconsin strategically fouled and got a turnover out of a time-out.
Michigan had a chance to tie the game at 24 with 1:47 to play but Wilson missed an open corner three.
Wisconsin came down and scored, setting up the five-point halftime lead.
It was always going to be a challenge for the Wolverines in Madison.
U-M had lost 12 of the previous 13 games at the Kohl Center, with the only win coming in the runaway Big Ten title season of 2013-2014.
They even lost in the year they reached the NCAA title game, when Wisconsin's Ben Brust hit a half-court shot to force overtime, a moment Beilein still talks about.
Beilein was 2-15 against the Badgers in his first nine years at U-M, so it was a stretch to expect anything different.
