Michigan MBB looks to ‘clean some things up’ following second straight loss

No. 24 Michigan men’s basketball (8-3, 2-0 Big Ten) lost to No. 14 Oklahoma (11-0) in dramatic fashion on Wednesday night, 87-86. The Sooners are one of the best teams in the country so far this season, and they didn’t let the Wolverines get away with mistakes when it mattered.

“They’re undefeated for a reason,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said after the game.

The Wolverines were up 86-83 with 30 seconds left. With the shot clock winding down, Michigan guard Roddy Gayle Jr. drove to the lane and turned the ball over on a pass to Danny Wolf. Oklahoma took its last timeout and found guard Jeremiah Fears coming off a screen for a game-tying three pointer with 11 seconds left. Gayle Jr. fought through the pick and made contact with Fears’ right elbow to send him to the free-throw line, and he put his team ahead for good. 

Michigan point guard Tre Donaldson brought the ball up the court, gave it to Wolf at the top of the key and got it back for the last shot: a missed three pointer from the wing. 

The Wolverines have lost back-to-back games by a combined three points. The first loss of the season came at the hands of Wake Forest by two points (72-70). Wednesday night marked another loss in which it seemed the Wolverines beat themselves.

What went wrong for Michigan against Oklahoma

Donaldson was 1-for-5 from deep range before the final shot, and Michigan was 4-for-27 as a team. Given their inefficiency from behind the arc, and the fact that the Wolverines had 50 points in the paint, one could question if a deep shot was the best option with the game on the line. Afterall, it was a one-point game, and center Vladislav Goldin was effective all night. 

“I think it’s just the small plays,” Goldin said about how his team has lost games. “Obviously all the games were close. (We can’t) let them have extra opportunities like offensive rebounds. Don’t turn the ball over, don’t have bad fouls when you’re tired. It’s the small things, we just have to execute better.”

Goldin finished with a game-high 26 points, 10 rebounds, two assists, two blocks and one steal.

Michigan took care of the ball relatively well Wednesday night with 10 turnovers. It may seem like a large number, but the Wolverines have had 10 or less turnovers just three times this season. Unfortunately for the maize and blue, the tenth giveaway didn’t just give the Sooners the ball, it ultimately gave them the win.

May said his team isn’t far from where it needs to be.

“We’ve got to clean some things up. We’re really close to being a really good basketball team,” May said. “It’s in our vision, we just got to be a little more disciplined, a little more attentive to the details and figure out a way to get over the hump.”

It’s worth noting Michigan had a timeout left when the clock hit zeroes. Even though the ball couldn’t have been advanced with it, a little more time to draw something up couldn’t have hurt. Had the game gone to overtime, the Wolverines (and the Sooners) would’ve been given another 30 second timeout anyways.

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