An excellent college basketball game that Michigan led most of the way turned into a nightmare tonight, as the familiar late-game gaffe script bit the Wolverines and robbed them of a potentially season-altering win at home against Indiana. A back-and-forth affair for most of the second half, Michigan took a 61-58 lead off a Hunter Dickinson basket with 5:12 remaining and then would not score a single point the rest of the way. Their defense held Indiana in check, but the clunker ending on offense was enough to doom Wolverines and deny them their fourth straight win. A new day, same old story. 

Michigan started hot to open the game, seamless offense with points being chipped in from everywhere and they held a 21-14 lead when Hunter Dickinson picked up his second foul with 12:08 remaining in the first half, a crucial swing moment in the game. Tarris Reed Jr. came on and did an admirable job tussling with Trayce Jackson-Davis and Michigan retained a 28-21 lead when Dickinson returned, but his defense would not be as effective as it was previously, unable to apply the same level of defensive pressure as earlier. 

Still, the home team held a lead for much of the half and a lot of it was due to the brilliance of Kobe Bufkin, who was slashing into the paint and finishing at the rack with ruthless efficiency, in addition to outside shooting. Bufkin scored a team-high 14 points in the first half, 5/6 from the floor and 2/2 from three, taking charge of the offense for a Michigan unit that scored 37 in the opening frame. The defense held strong for much of the half but started to come unglued in the later stages, struggling in the pick-and-roll once Jalen Hood-Schifino was re-inserted into the game. Indiana finished strong to close out the half, scoring the half's final four points and trailed just four, 37-33, at the break. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Indiana came out hot from the locker room, using an abbreviated 7-2 run to give themselves their first lead since the early stages of the contest, 40-39. Michigan came right back, answering with a 10-2 run of their own, using a Dickinson and-one, a three from Jett Howard, and then it was capped off by a Joey Baker layup, forcing Mike Woodson to call a timeout. Michigan led 49-42 at that point, but the main storyline was defense, as it had taken each team seven minutes to score roughly ten points each, foreshadowing the rock fight it was going to be the rest of the way. 

The game marched along, with the two teams battling tight, Michigan leaning increasingly on their big man for offense while Indiana was looking at TJD and Hood-Schifino as their two engines. A 6-0 IU run forced a Michigan timeout and only a few moments later, the Hoosiers had the lead back, 54-53. A Tarris Reed and-one wrested the lead back for the Maize & Blue and as the clock ticked down towards five minutes, it was the home team with their natural advantage. That leads us to the basket noted in the opening, a Dickinson layup with 5:12 remaining to put Michigan ahead 61-58. 

Little did we know at the time, that would be it for the Michigan offense. The defense continued to do its job, holding Indiana scoreless until the under-4 media timeout was over with, and it wouldn't be until there was 2:58 left that the Hoosiers snatched the final lead, 62-61. That came on a pair of free throws from Hood-Schifino. On the next Michigan possession, Bufkin drove to the lane and had an open opportunity at the basket, but his shot clanged off the iron. Michigan forced a turnover on the ensuing possession, but TJD swatted Dug McDaniel on an arcing layup that was awfully close to a goaltend. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Malik Reneau traveled on the next possession for Indiana, continuing to give Michigan opportunities to win the game, but the Wolverine offense continued to decline those opportunities. Michigan had Dickinson isolated on a smaller defender but Terrance Williams II flubbed the entry pass, throwing it directly to the Hoosier. Michigan's defense just kept standing strong, with a great possession forcing a miss, but Jett Howard's shot was not even close. Indiana rebounded it down with roughly 37 seconds to play and opted to play defense rather than foul.

With <15 seconds left in the game, Jackson-Davis got it in the paint and Dickinson had positioning but then strangely attempted a reach-in, which was hit with a foul. TJD missed the front-end of the one-and-one, though, Michigan rebounded it down, and called timeout once the ball was across half-court. Out of the timeout, with eight seconds left, the Wolverines passed the ball around with no success, eventually winding up in the hands of Jett Howard, who jacked up an off-balance three at the horn that was off the mark. Final score: 62-61. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Indiana won because Michigan finished 0/7 and 1/10 from the field. They didn't score in over five minutes and no matter how strong their defensive compete was late, it wasn't going to get it done when the offense disappears. Dickinson missed shots in tight, the Wolverines couldn't scheme up open looks from the perimeter, and McDaniel and Bufkin both either had a shot blocked or missed a shot inside. Bufkin, for his brilliance in the first half, was scoreless (0/4 FG) in the second half. Williams and McDaniel were non-factors, leaving the load to fall on Dickinson and Jett Howard, and neither were sharp enough late. Meanwhile for Indiana, Hood-Schifino and Jackson-Davis combined for 49 of Indiana's 62. It's not the easiest to win a game with just two players but tonight they could. 

More than anything, it's a missed opportunity to finish off a big win. Just as it was against Virginia. And at Iowa. Michigan Basketball was presented a chance to flip the script, change the narrative late in games, but the clutch gene continues to evade the team. Shooting stats, turnovers, and offensive rebounds were nearly even between the teams, but one team made one more basket when it mattered. That team was not Michigan yet again, and that's why the Wolverines are unlikely to make the NCAA Tournament at this juncture. Not much more can be said than that. 

Michigan now heads out on the road to play Wisconsin this Tuesday night in Madison. That game is scheduled for 9:00 PM EST and is scheduled to be broadcast on ESPN2. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]