ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Wisconsin Badgers men's basketball team saw three opportunities to knock off a ranked opponent come and go during the non-conference portion of its schedule.

The Badgers didn't wait long to end that drought once Big Ten Conference play tipped off. They didn't wait long to grab control of their conference opener, either.

UW used a sizzling shooting start, a gritty defensive showing and a composed second-half performance to upend 23rd-ranked Michigan Wednesday afternoon in front of a crowd of 11,046 at Crisler Arena.

The Badgers (10-3, 1-0 Big Ten) made nine of their first 10 shots, put the clamps on the 3-point happy Wolverines and their star sophomore guard Manny Harris and answered each Michigan surge after halftime.

"It answered a bunch of questions for us," said UW junior point guard Trevon Hughes, who scored 16 points to tie senior forward Marcus Landry for the team lead. "Obviously y'all (saw) today that we can still play Wisconsin 'D' and take care of the ball."

Michigan (10-3, 0-1) shot 39.2 percent from the field and Harris, the Big Ten's leading scorer entering the game, was just 3-for-13 with Badgers senior forward Joe Krabbenhoft hounding him.

"That felt a lot like our defense was last year," Krabbenhoft said, referencing how UW led the nation in scoring defense last season. "We wanted to get that toughness back - and now, it was just one game, that doesn't make your season or anything like that - but Michigan's a very good team."

Indeed, the Wolverines entered conference play with upset wins over UCLA and Duke on their resume. But the Badgers never trailed after Harris' driving basket put Michigan ahead 2-0 15 seconds in.

Landry scored eight points and sophomore forward Jon Leuer - the hero of last season's Big Ten-opening win here with a career-high 25 points - added seven to fuel a 24-10 run over the next 7 minutes, 38 seconds.

"The jump start is everything," Landry said. "As long as you get a good start and you get up on a team in the first 5 minutes, it sets the tone for the rest of the game. And, for the most part, we did that."

And even after foul trouble sent Landry and Leuer to the bench and the Wolverines clawed their way within 26-21, UW built the lead back up to a 42-31 halftime advantage.

It was the same story after halftime, with Hughes at the forefront.

After junior forward DeShawn Sims hit a 3 to cut Michigan's deficit to 46-39 with 17:40 remaining, Hughes scored the Badgers' next 10 points.

He converted a driving bucket, then darted in front of a pass by Wolverines freshman guard Zack Novak and finished at the other end to make it 50-39. And after Sims scored in the post, Hughes nailed two 3s in a span of three possessions to extend the lead to 15.

"He was getting a good feel for how they were playing the screens, when to attack, when to retreat, how hard he was coming off the ball screens and he managed the possessions about as well as anybody I've coached during that stretch," UW coach Bo Ryan said.

Hughes finished with three steals, three assists and no turnovers. Eleven of his points came in the second half.

"Trevon was a great general out there today," Krabbenhoft said. "He did as good of a job as he's done of taking care of the ball and running the show. He ran the show like a veteran point guard."

And the Badgers, the defending conference regular season and tournament champions, played like a veteran team down the stretch.

Michigan, which played man-to-man defense for the bulk of the game, used its usual 1-3-1 trapping zone to pressure UW. But the Badgers handled it, and the Wolverines only got within single digits on one occasion.

"It clicked out there today," said Krabbenhoft, who finished with nine points and eight rebounds. "It was fun to see."

Tom Ziemer is a reporter for the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison.