Elliot Cadeau makes a second chance count in win over Wisconsin

CHICAGO — It took fewer than nine minutes for Elliot Cadeau to pick up his second foul against Wisconsin, which meant for the remaining 11, he was relegated to Michigan’s bench. For the remainder of the first half, the Wolverines played as their star point guard sat and watched.

Of all the thoughts swirling around Cadeau’s head over that span, one in particular kept coming up.

“I was just on the bench, just like, ‘I really, really, really want to be on the court,’ ” Cadeau said. “It was hard for me, just to watch and not be able to help and do anything, and that’s just on me.”

Cadeau watched as Michigan — down 13-9 to the Badgers when he subbed out — brought the deficit to one possession. Cadeau watched as the Wolverines missed five 3-pointers in under two minutes. Cadeau watched as Wisconsin leapt out to an eight-point lead, before a three from Yaxel Lendeborg just ahead of halftime knotted things up.

Those moments only partially explain what Michigan’s offense looked like without Cadeau.

Due to sophomore guard LJ Cason’s season-ending injury, the Wolverines ran things through guards Roddy Gayle Jr. and Trey McKenney, both of whom have been practicing more with the ball in their hands since Cason went down. They both showed flashes, but neither exhibited the poise and decision-making Cadeau does, and Michigan’s offense, which was scoring 0.61 PPP when the under-4 timeout came, struggled.

“That’s something that we’re still learning,” Cadeau said. “Because it’s cool for us that we have Roddy and Trey running the point guard, we’re confident in them. We feel like they’re good passers as well, good ball handlers.”

Sitting in front of his locker postgame, Cadeau shared that he wasn’t exactly sure, but he didn’t think Dusty May had benched him for the remainder of the first half to get McKenney and Gayle more reps. In terms of both the stakes and May’s substitution decisions, Cadeau considers this tournament no different than the next one.

“(This is) just like the NCAA Tournament is going to be,” Cadeau said. “So I think it’ll be the same coaching style, the same way in the (NCAA) Tournament.”