ANN ARBOR — No. 15 Michigan men’s basketball (22-7, 14-4 Big Ten) allowed 62 points after halftime in a 93-73 loss to Illinois Sunday. It marks the second home loss of the season for the Wolverines after starting 12-0 at the Crisler Center. Michigan lost the rebounding battle 43-32, and Illinois pulled down 19 offensive boards. The Fighting Illini made 11 (of 23) threes in the second-half.
Illinois runs away from Michigan in second-half en route to big win
Neither team could get much to drop in the first half. Michigan went 2-for-7 from behind the arc, and Illinois went 3-for-14. The Fighting Illini (19-11, 11-8 Big Ten) were in front nearly the entire time, but the Wolverines held them to just five points over the final six minutes. Michigan gave the ball away nine times in the first-half, but it turned into just ten points for Illinois.
Kylan Boswell was the only Illinois player to score over five points (13) before halftime. Vladislav Goldin (8 points), Tre Donaldson (7 points) and Nimari Burnett (5 points) led Michigan offensively going into the locker rooms with the score at 31-30 in favor of Illinois.
Goldin got the second-half started with a hookshot to give Michigan its first lead (32-31) since it was up 13-12. The Wolverines shot 46.9 percent from the field after halftime, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The Wolverines got outworked on the glass throughout the game, and Illinois made them pay for it in the form of 30 second-chance points.
“That’s what they do best. They send everybody on the glass (and) they fight,” Goldin said after the game. “It’s hard because it takes discipline, and if we’re disciplined enough, we will take that away. Unfortunately we weren’t disciplined enough today.”
With 16 minutes left in the game, the score was even at 41. Illinois found a zone from deep range and outscored Michigan 29-13 over the next eight minutes, and it was over from there. The Fighting Illini got a boost from the bench as Jake Davis and Ben Humrichous combined for five 3-pointers after halftime.
Michigan allowed more points in the second-half Sunday than it did in the entire Nebraska game (Feb. 24). Danny Wolf had just five boards, which is his lowest total for a game since he pulled in two in the loss to Purdue on Jan. 24. Michigan head coach Dusty May said his team didn’t have enough tenacity.
“The thing that I was most disappointed in, is when they did get a rebound, we dropped our heads,” May explained. “We didn’t dig in and fight harder. And guys, air balls are hard to rebound from a defensive standpoint. You’re trying to get a hit, you’re trying to find the ball and it lands, so there were a couple bad bounces.
“There were a couple where, it’s a 6-foot-9 guy versus a 6-foot-1 guy. But there were others where we just didn’t get in the fight enough.”
Wolf, Donaldson and Will Tschetter all finished the game with nine points. Goldin was the only Wolverine to reach ten points, as he ended with a game-high 22. Tschetter said it was just one of those days.
“We just weren’t ready to play today,” Tschetter said. “… Everything we’re playing for is still in front of us. Everything we want is still there, so it’s just a look in the mirror kind of game.”
Four different Fighting Illini scored at least 13 points, and they were led by guard Tre White with 19.
With Sunday’s loss and Michigan State’s win over Wisconsin just a few hours before, the Wolverines are in second place in the Big Ten and a full game behind the Spartans. The rivals will meet on March 9, in East Lansing to cap off the regular season. First, Michigan has to prepare for No. 16 Maryland on March 5.
“We’ve got to bounce back,” May said. “We’ve got a quick turn with Maryland – an extremely good basketball team – coming in Wednesday. We’re going to have to figure some things out here in the next couple days to keep this from happening again.”
Thank you for reading Blue by Ninety. For more Michigan Athletics and Big Ten content from Blue by Ninety, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also subscribe to our YouTube Channel. Also, be sure to check out our shop and our podcast, which is available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all other streaming platforms
BASKETBALL4 days ago
BASKETBALL3 days ago
FOOTBALL4 days ago
FOOTBALL3 days ago
FOOTBALL4 days ago
BASKETBALL2 days ago
BASKETBALL6 hours ago