Tarris Reed blocked his fourth shot of the first half and waggled the Mutombo no-no. As usual, the "Not Today" was for Michigan fans who dared to hope silly somethings like "This 15-point second half lead means we're going to win!"

An 18-2 Rutgerz run at the end of the game capped a 37-12 reversal over the final 17 minutes to turn what looked like a blowout into the most embarrassing loss of the most embarrassing season in program history. As usual, the opponent's big second-half run started with a terrible bench rotation, and continued through turnovers, confused defenders, and lazy boxouts. As usual, an opponent who couldn't find the bottom of the basket in the first half got hot in second as Michigan's own hot shooters cooled. As usual, the opponent had better answers out of halftime, better answers out of timeouts, and a better basketball team than Juwan Howard's last-place Michigan Wolverines.

With about 24 seconds to halftime and 4 on Michigan's shot clock, the announcers offered an interest statistic. Michigan was 7-7 this year when leading at the half, last in D-I basketball. Their opponent was 9-0.

The context of this was Michigan holding a double-digit lead for the bulk of the first frame, and how it seemed to be slipping away. Rutgers had just put together a run off a series of Michigan turnovers and a missed front end by Terrence Williams. His team's latest possession, a hopeless Nimari Burnett baseline drive and kick that was almost intercepted, began with 0:47 on the clock. Crisler Arena was grumbling about wasting a 2-for-1 opportunity at the end of the half. The lead was down to five.

The ball came to Williams with a Scarlet Knight climbing on his back. He gathered, stepped sideways, took a contested jumper, and swished it at the buzzer with 8 seconds left in the half. Rutgers's Derek Simpson tried to drive for the answer but Williams poked it away and tossed it upcourt to Olivier Nkamhoua, who slammed it home with 0.3 remaining. Michigan went to halftime with 11 turnovers but a nine-point lead against the worst opponent they'll host all year. Not this time, right?

[After THE JUMP: I go on; you don't have to.]

Your season is raising important questions not answered by your shirt. [Campredon]

Ominously, Omoruyi opened the second half with an offensive rebound putback. Rutgers packed the paint on the other end and Dug responded with a stepback three and a quick Rutgers timeout. A few trips later, Tarris Reed's no-look behind the back pass to Olivier Nkamhoua led to a layup and the first foul on Omoruyi. Nkamhoua converted the and-one opportunity, and Michigan was up 47-32 with 17 minutes remaining. It would be their last free throw of the game.

Had the next 17 minutes not been the worst basketball of the worst season of Michigan basketball, the story of the game might have been Michigan's offense finding shooting space against the vaunted Scarlet Knights, and the Knights trying to keep pace by caroming contested long two's so far off the glass that Omoruyi could field them over Reed's back.

But a hand injury to Reed and a disastrous shift from the Michigan bench led to Michigan's 12th through 17th turnovers of the afternoon and an 8-0 Rutgers run. It also featured a weird play where Llewellyn was down on the floor with a bloody nose under the visitors' basket and his teammates decided to play the possession four-on-five. Williams missed a three, which led to a runout with two Knight wings coming at a recovering Llewellyn and the mop guy, who'd come out on the court to clean up Llewellyn's nose blood.

This wasn't even Michigan's worst timeout-related event. Seeing players calling timeout as he collected a Rutgers make to inbound, Reed stepped onto the court with the ball. The officials ruled he had turned the ball over a fraction of a second before they had issued the timeout, and awarded Rutgers possession.

Jeremiah Williams played in his first game this season after successfully suing the NCAA over blocking his transfer eligibility. [Campredon]

Out of the timeout Rutgers went to a 1-3-1, spoiling whatever play the Wolverines had drawn up, and cut it to 3 on a stepback triple by Derek Simpson. Most of a shotclock later, Nkamhoua was hacked by Omoruyi, but there was no whistle. Reed collected the rebound but was quickly tied up with 0.2 on the shot clock, meaning Michigan lost both the ball and the possession arrow. Simpson then gave his team a lead they'd never relinquish by nailing a contested 29-footer, with Reed coming down on him for an and-one.

Usually a bricker,, Derek Simpson scored 14 points on just 10.5 shot equivalents in the 2nd half. [Campredon]

The rest of the game was vintage 2023-'24 Michigan basketball. Rutgers went up by 4 at 4:00 when nobody blocked out Mawat Mag, and a quick turnover led to a transition two to push the difference to six and force a timeout. Rutgers again went to 1-3-1 out of the break, Michigan turned it over again, then again forgot to guard the post. By the time a Nkamhoua fallaway ended Michigan's scoring drought, the worst offense in the Big Ten had been allowed to score on 13 of 16 possessions. Their 19 points off of Michigan's 19 turnovers and 18 second-chance points from rebounding 15 of their 41 misses played a role. They'd score again, and make their free throws, and win their first game at Crisler since joining the conference.

Kenpom still thinks I have a good shot of collecting on my bet that Michigan will win another game this season. But not today.