The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week in the Big Ten Tournament, and they lost it. On Thursday (03/10/2022), they lost to Indiana 74-69 in Indianapolis, IN. The loss lowers Michigan’s record to 17-14 (11-9 in Big Ten).
What Happened?
First things first: Despite losing in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament, Michigan was still selected to play in the NCAA Tournament, starting this week. They are the #11 seed in the South Region, which seems about right. That’s the good news. The bad news is that Michigan collapsed in the last 12:52 of the IU game, although this collapse proved to be non-fatal, since Michigan still made it to the Big Dance.
On paper, this is just another loss in a season full of them. It was expected to be a close game, and it was. Michigan was the #8 seed in the tournament, and Indiana was the #9 seed. Michigan had beaten IU at their place by 18 points back in late January, and UM was favored by 3 points in this game. Losing by 5 points in a tournament game, that’s not so bad, is it? Well, it is when you give up a 17-point lead in the last 12:52 of the game, and lose by 5. The game was close for the first few minutes, and was all tied up (10-10) with 13:54 to go in the 1st half. Michigan went on a nice 11-0 run, and led by 11 (21-10) at the 8:48 mark. They kept the lead in the 11-13 point range for the rest of the half, and led by 13 at halftime, 41-28. IU started the 2nd half strong, and got back within 8 points (43-35) with 18:05 to go. Michigan promptly regained control, and pushed the lead up into the 13-15 point range. They kept it there until the 12:52 mark when … they just stopped playing. At that point, the score was 60-43, and Michigan had been scoring regularly. They went completely cold, and IU got hot, and the last 12:52 were just plain miserable. IU went on a 9-0 run to get within 8 points (60-52) with 9:19 to go, then Michigan made 2 free throws to momentarily stop the run. IU went on another run, this one 11-0, to lead 63-62 at the 5:39 mark. Michigan made 2 more free throws, for their final lead (64-63) with 4:37 left. Michigan finally made a basket at the 1:42 mark, to pull within 5 points (71-66), and a 3-pointer at the 0:44 mark to pull within 2 points (71-69), but IU made their free throws to win by 5.
Take a good look at that: from the 12:52 mark to the 1:42 mark (11 minutes and 10 seconds), Michigan only scored 4 points, all on free throws. In that miserable stretch they did the following on offense:
- 12:08 – Turnover
- 11:08 – Missed jumper
- 10:42 – Missed layup (in the paint)
- 10:19 – Missed jumper (in the paint)
- 10:00 – Turnover
- 09:42 – Turnover
- 09:01 – Missed jumper (in the paint)
- 08:59 – Turnover
- 08:36 – 2 made free throws
- 07:46 – Turnover
- 07:13 – Missed jumper
- 06:39 – Missed jumper (in the paint)
- 06:28 – Missed 3-pointer
- 06:27 – Turnover
- 05:51 – Missed 3-pointer
- 05:15 – Missed jumper
- 04:37 – 2 made free throws
- 04:06 – Missed 3-pointer
- 03:57 – Missed jumper
- 03:16 – Missed jumper (in the paint)
- 03:09 – Turnover
- 02:19 – Missed 3-pointer
That’s 7 turnovers, 8 missed jumpers, 1 missed layup, and 4 missed 3-pointers, for a total of 13 missed shots in a row. 5 of the 8 of those missed jumpers were in the paint. It was horrible.
Stats
Not surprisingly, the stats for the game are lousy. Michigan shot poorly overall (22-for-58 = 37.9%), they shot 3-pointers poorly (6-for-20 = 30.0%), but they did shoot free throws well (19-for-21 = 90.5%). They won the rebounding battle (34-32), and they tied the turnover battle (12-12). They lost this game with that 0-for-13 shooting collapse. Up to that point, Michigan was shooting decently: 20-for-45 = 44.4%. If they had kept that up, they would have made 5 or 6 shots in that stretch of 13 shots, for 10-12 points, more than enough to win the game.
Who Started?
The starters were Eli Brooks, Moussa Diabate, Hunter Dickinson, Caleb Houstan, and DeVante’ Jones.
Who Looked Good?
Jones was the leading scorer for Michigan, with 18 points on decent shooting (5-for-10).
Brooks scored 17 points, but he didn’t shoot well: 4-for-13 overall, 2-for-5 from 3-point range.
Dickinson had a strong 1st half, with 13 points, but he only had 2 points in the 2nd half, with 15:26 to go. He disappeared when Michigan needed him the most.
Houstan almost hit double figures, with 9 points. After going scoreless in the 1st half, he hit three 3-pointers in a row in a 4-minute stretch early in the 2nd half, as Michigan built up the 17-point lead, then he went cold again. He ended up shooting 3-for-10 overall, 3-for-8 from 3-point range.
Diabate had a lousy game offensively (4 points), but he did haul in 12 rebounds and block 2 shots.
Who Looked Not-So-Good?
Frankie Collins scored 2 points.
Brandon Johns, Jr. scored 4 points.
Terrance Williams II was scoreless.
Who Else Played?
No one else played.
Who Didn’t Play?
Isaiah Barnes, Kobe Bufkin, Jace Howard, Adrien Nuñez, and Will Tschetter are the scholarship players who didn’t play.
Ian Burns, Jaron Faulds, and Brandon Wade are the players on the scout team who didn’t play.
What Does It Mean?
If Michigan had just hung on and beaten IU, they wouldn’t have had to worry about making the NCAA Tournament, but they still managed to sneak in, even with the heartbreaking loss. Now that they’re in, they need to start winning a few games in a row. Starting with the home Purdue game on 02/10/2022, Michigan has gone W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L-W-L. In the Big Dance, one loss and you go home.
What’s Next?
This week Michigan is scheduled to play in the NCAA Tournament. As mentioned above, they are the #11 seed in the South Region. They’re scheduled to play their first game on Thursday (03/17/2022, 12:15 p.m., CBS) in Indianapolis, IN, against the #6 seed, (#23) Colorado State. If they manage to win that one, they’re scheduled to play again on Saturday (03/19/2022, TBA, TBA) against the winner of the game between the #3 seed (Tennessee) and the #14 seed (Longwood). The other high seeds in the South Region are (#1 seed) Arizona, (#2 seed) Villanova, and (#4 seed) Illinois. Here’s the full bracket.
Colorado State went 25-5 (14-4 in the Mountain West). They didn’t play many games against ranked opponents, so they don’t have many impressive wins. They did beat Creighton and St. Mary’s, but they also lost to San Diego State (twice, by 30 and 5), to UNLV (twice, by 14 and 21), and to Wyoming. They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: a 6’10” forward and a 7’1” center. It’s worth noting that Michigan beat UNLV in Las Vegas in the Thanksgiving tournament, and UNLV beat Colorado State twice. This is a game that Michigan can win, as long as they don’t have any 11-minute meltdowns.
Check back next week to find out what happened and why.
Go Blue!
