CHICAGO — Maybe they needed this, a test of their mettle and a taste of peril. Yaxel Lendeborg certainly needed it after his recent struggles. The Wolverines will take it this time of year, any way they can get it.

You’d think by now, Michigan would have run out of new ways to win games. But then here came Wisconsin, heaving 3-pointers from the shore of Lake Michigan. The Wolverines have more to do in the Big Ten Tournament championship game Sunday against Purdue (3:30 p.m.), but this was an entertaining — and enlightening — dance with danger.

The Wolverines blew a 15-point lead, fell behind, then rallied to pull out a 68-65 victory over Wisconsin on Saturday on Lendeborg’s 3-point strike with less than a second remaining. They added another layer to their dominance by vanquishing the Badgers, the only Big Ten team they hadn’t beaten this season.

The Wolverines (31-2, 19-1 conference) don’t have much left to prove to the rest of the Big Ten, although Purdue (26-8) provides a significant challenge. Michigan rolled the Boilermakers on the road in February, 91-80, but Purdue is an experienced team that was ranked No. 1 in the preseason.

This will be the last step before the next big steps, as the Wolverines chase a national title and pieces of history. They came to the United Center to cut down nets, not raise red flags, but they hoisted a few, then knocked them down. Dusty May wasn’t looking for more evidence of UM’s resilience, but he didn’t mind seeing it.

“This is very, very healthy for us to be where we are right now, still finding some things out about ourselves and discovering new ways to win,” May said. “We haven't been in a close game like this all year where there was a lot of friction in our huddles. The emotion was pouring out late in the game because there were such extreme runs. I was proud of our guys. They were able to regulate their emotions, get back together, and figure out a way to win.”

It’s also important this time of year to figure out where flaws might be lurking. With 16 of their 19 Big Ten victories by double digits, the Wolverines probably needed to break a sweat before the tension of the NCAA Tournament. Wisconsin (24-10) provided it, just like in January, when it handed UM its only conference loss, 91-88 in Ann Arbor.

The Badgers are the Big Ten’s most-prolific 3-point shooting team and hit 15 in that victory. They were even better in this one, going 16 for 38, including an incredible barrage of six 3s in a six-minute span that turned UM’s 54-39 lead into a 62-58 deficit with 3:50 left. Austin Rapp, the 6-10 forward who didn’t play in the first meeting, hit five in a row and the United Center crowd roared deliriously for the underdog.

In the ensuing huddle, the Wolverines showed some rare volatility. Nothing personal, nothing over the top, just raw emotion from a team that plays with calm efficiency.

“We had some guys just hyping each other up a little bit, getting rowdy, but it's all in the love of the game,” Lendeborg said. “We haven't had many opportunities like this where we felt that kind of game pressure. This is like a learning point for us. We're going to do a lot better next game, or whenever it happens again, to take advantage of the moment and punch (the opponent) right back in the mouth instead of taking a couple hits.”

The Wolverines rank in the top five in the country in most defensive metrics, but like any team, they’re susceptible to hot 3-point shooting, the Kryptonite that Wisconsin brings. UM’s depth also is slightly down, with L.J. Cason lost for the year, so when Elliot Cadeau picked up two early fouls and sat most of the first half, UM’s offense stalled.

It lit up when Cadeau came back in, and Lendeborg revved up, and 7-3 Aday Mara (game-high 16 points) started ruling the post. Those are UM’s strengths, along with Morez Johnson Jr. on the frontline, and they can’t stray from them for long.

May is seeking more aggressiveness from Lendeborg, who’s been increasingly frustrated by all the defensive attention, and was held to six points by Ohio State. After scoring just three in the first half Saturday, he said in the CBS interview he was having “the two worst games of my life so far.”

He rebounded with nine in the second half, and two of the biggest clutch plays. He grabbed an offensive rebound and pitched it out to Cadeau, who drilled a 3 to give UM a 65-62 lead. Nick Boyd tied it for Wisconsin with 30 seconds left, and then Cadeau went to work, running down the clock before finding Lendeborg for the open game-winner.

Perfect release and perfect relief for the Big Ten Player of the Year.

“I don’t know what’s been going through my brain these last two games, I’ve just been super-passive,” Lendeborg said. “I feel like I’m getting a little over-covered, honestly. I haven’t been feeling myself, as freely as I normally do. I’ve just been overthinking a lot of things.”

Against Purdue and then into the NCAA Tournament, the Wolverines will need a powered-up Lendeborg, lots of down-low activity from Mara and Johnson, and controlled leadership from Cadeau, who must avoid foul trouble. UM’s cool confidence emanates from May and his point guard, who rarely get flustered. I asked Cadeau if the Wolverines learned something about themselves, and he offered a slight smile.

“The only thing we learned is, a team can hit 16 threes on us and we can still win,” he said. “We feel like we’re one of the best teams in Big Ten history. We just want to prove that every day.”

They’ve done things no Big Ten team has done, going back to Indiana’s undefeated 1976 champs. In the now 18-team conference, the Wolverines won a record 19 games.

They can capture their second straight conference tournament championship by beating Purdue, and Matt Painter will have his team ready. If the Wolverines get down late, May at least has a better idea how his players will respond. And the players have an idea how to handle a feisty huddle confrontation, with their coach exhorting them.

“The gist was, look, we're big boys here,” May said. “We can live with whatever the results are, but we're not going out like that. We're going to be aggressive. We're not going to be afraid of failure. We're going to let it rip, being us.”

This was another version of the Wolverines, not as dominant, just as clutch. It’s the version — and the Lendeborg — they’ll need at some point against Purdue, and then in the Bigger Dance, where it’s all about finding another way.

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