trayce jackson-davis

Three days earlier, the 2022-23 Michigan Men's Basketball team provided us with a play that seemed to symbolize the ineptitude in late games and the general feeling that most fans got watching this team, Joey Baker's airball on a perfect look from three that would've tied the game and sent it to another OT. All you could do is chuckle sardonically at the agony of the moment and perhaps feel a little bad for the players, hopeless in crunch time yet again. It seemed like the rollercoaster experience in Champaign on Thursday was as perfect as it would get to sum up this team. 

Then we got today. After Indiana had improbably missed a fourth straight free throw across two possessions with a chance to put the game away in OT, Michigan had one more chance to tie, down two, with just four seconds left. Kobe Bufkin snagged the rebound, zig-zagged through traffic as he approached half-court, and went to pass the ball to Hunter Dickinson. The problem was, Hunter's back was to Bufkin. The ball hit Dickinson square in the back and dropped like a stone to the floor. Indiana's Tamar Bates scooped it up and time expired. Michigan didn't even attempt a tying shot. Instead they threw a pass into a guy's back. Somehow, it sums it up even better than the Baker airball. 

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For most of the first half, it didn't seem like Michigan would even have the spark to create a game with the potential to end in such upsetting fashion. Over the first ~16 minutes, the visiting Wolverines were a carcass. They scored just 13 points over that span, and scored just three over an eight minute stretch lasting over the middle of the half. The Wolverines battled turnovers and mental errors early on and couldn't hit a three point shot to save their lives. They opened the game 1/10 from beyond the arc and on defense, they were getting killed in the paint. Indiana had as many points in the paint as Michigan had points total at one point, and Assembly Hall was rocking. With almost four minutes left, Indiana led 27-13. 

Michigan got it together rapidly in the closing minutes though, finishing the half of a 14-2 run which dramatically changed the feel of the first twenty minutes of play. Kobe Bufkin slammed a dunk down and then hit a jumper before Dickinson engineered a personal 8-0 run, the last of which was an and-one off a beautiful pass from Dug McDaniel, one of his best out of the PNR this season. Indiana then turned the ball over, Michigan ran the floor, and Jett Howard made a dunk and Michigan went into the break down just 29-27, a stunning sea change in the game. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The momentum they accumulated in the back half of the opening twenty carried over into the first minutes of the second half, which is when the outside shooting came on-line. Bufkin hit a fadeaway two-point jumper to tie the game on the opening possession and the next time down the floor Jett Howard swished a three to give Michigan their first lead in ages. They just kept raining threes and after a Dickinson dunk made it 42-34 Michigan, Mike Woodson called timeout and Assembly Hall was silenced. Indiana made a strong charge out of the timeout initially but the Wolverines built their lead up even further, stretching it to 52-40 with 13:42 remaining. 

The next few minutes ticked away with the Wolverines retaining breathing room, even if the unfavorable road whistle was rearing its head, with Will Tschetter picking up a foul for being elbowed in the face and the officiating crew missing several out of bounds calls, giving the ball to the Hoosiers. Dug McDaniel connected on a three to put Michigan back up double digits, 59-49, at almost exactly the halfway point of the second half, and the lead was 60-51 after he went 1/2 at the line with nine minutes to go, which is when Indiana began their hard charge. 

Indiana got a three from Miller Kopp to trim the lead to six and then Tarris Reed Jr. missed the front-end of a one-and-one. The ball was rebounded down by Race Thompson, who would eventually knock down a hook shot to make it a four point game and then a brilliant pass from Trayce Jackson-Davis to Thompson for an and-one dunk left the score at 60-59. In the meantime, Michigan's offense had gone cold, poor ball movement leading to low percentage shots being jacked up. One such was a late shot clock heave by Kobe Bufkin on a long two, which Dickinson rebounded down and put back for an and-one (that was completed), finally snapping the funk. 63-59 Wolverines, 6:11 left. 

[Campredon]

The Hoosiers had an answer, a three for Tamar Bates following a sweet feed from TJD out of a double team, but Michigan had a response with a Tarris Reed putback. Will Tschetter had free throws at 65-62 out of the under four media timeout, but missed the front-end of a one-and-one. Michigan snagged the OREB but were completely unaware of the state of the shot clock, ending in a turnover where they were not even close to getting a shot away. Indiana took it down the floor and a nifty Jackson-Davis layup cut the lead to one. On the other end, TJD forced a turnover and then back on offense, Jackson-Davis hit another layup to give the Hoosiers the lead. 66-65 IU, 2:49 to play. 

Michigan wasn't done. Kobe Bufkin's three popped out, but Hunter Dickinson swatted Jackson-Davis and Bufkin would be fouled going to the bucket. He made them both and Michigan led 67-66 with 1:46. TJD would be fouled in a rather questionable call on Indiana's next possession, but the ball didn't lie and he missed the front-end free throw. Michigan fed Dickinson in the post, who rattled a hook shot home to put the Wolverines ahead 69-66 with 1:15 to go. Perhaps the biggest shot of the game came on the next possession, a Jalen Hood-Schifino stepback three that sent Assembly Hall into a frenzy.

The game was now tied with 44 seconds to play after Juwan Howard called a timeout. Out of the timeout, the Wolverines turned it over to Race Thompson in the paint, who then ran the floor, but terrific transition defense from Bufkin produced a miss. The Maize & Blue rebounded it down and now with 23 seconds left and the shotclock off, they had a chance to hold for the final shot. Howard took his last timeout to draw up a play, which seemed to be a plan to enter the post with Dickinson, but IU sold out to take that option away. Without a plan, the Michigan players ran out of ideas, dribbling it around before frantically asking Dickinson to jack up a three, who clanged it off the iron. Indiana rebounded it and called timeout with less than a second to go. Amazingly, they drew up a perfect play to get TJD a chance at the buzzer, but his half-court shot was just off the mark and Michigan would be headed to OT for the third straight game. 

[Campredon]

Overtime got off to a very poor start for the Wolverines on offense, Bufkin missing a floater, a McDaniel layup being blocked, and several horrible possessions in between. Thompson's hook shot got the scoring started for the Hoosiers and when Miller Kopp hit a two (initially called a three) to stretch the lead to 6 with 2:21 left, the home crowd was rocking. Michigan didn't make their first bucket until three minutes of OT had elapsed, but it was a big one: Dickinson knocked down a three to draw the Wolverines closer. Indiana's next shot that went up ricocheted out of bounds, but Michigan wasted the possession, which ended on Dickinson getting stuffed and Reed missing the awkward second-chance heave. 

The score was then 75-72 with a minute to go. Michigan played defense and got the stop, but tried to enter the post out of the timeout again (strange with so little time left and taking into account the score) and turned it over. They fouled Indiana, but Race Thompson missed both free throws with 14 seconds left, giving the Wolverines more life. Indiana would foul strategically with six seconds left, sending Dug McDaniel to the line. He made the first and then, in a decision presumably made by Juwan Howard during a timeout, missed the second on purpose, looking for an offensive rebound and igniting conversation online. Regardless of merits, the play was unsuccessful, as Thompson rebounded it down and was fouled again with four seconds left. This then leads us to the sequence in the opening, as Thompson improbably missed both again, gifting the Wolverines one last chance. Which Bufkin of course threw into Dickinson's back, ending the game. 

Good riddance. 

[Click the JUMP for the stats, a brief rant, and the box score]

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]

There are not many teams in recent college basketball that I can remember having the ability to bounce from looking like a dangerous tournament team to "should not even be in the conversation for the NIT" the way 2021-22 Michigan Basketball can. For most of the calendar year 2022, that bounce happened between games. Michigan would hammer a decent team, or beat a good team, and then look abject the next night. But today the switch turned in the middle of the contest, from a dominant first 27 minutes to the Hindenburg going down in a ball of flames over the last 13 minutes. Michigan led 60-43 with 12:52 to play in the game. They lost by five. A collapse of epic proportions in the second round of the Big Ten Basketball Tournament in Indianapolis eliminated Michigan from contention and leaves them on the bubble heading into Selection Sunday. 

Michigan took control of the game early on and seemed to retain that vice grip well into the second half. The first twenty minutes represented one of the Wolverines' best defensive halves of the season, holding Indiana to under 40% from the field, scoring just 28 points (buoyed by four made threes) and forcing five turnovers. Michigan wasn't great offensively in that half, but they did score 41, riding the tandem of Hunter Dickinson and DeVante' Jones, who combined for 25. They also kept the turnovers down, got great effort from Moussa Diabate (even if it didn't show up on the stat sheet), and went 11/13 at the line. Michigan led 41-28 at the break. 

The second half began with a bit of a seesaw. Indiana cut the lead inside 10 on one occasion, but Michigan wrested control right back. Each minute that passed without Indiana making a more serious dent in the margin raised the Michigan win probability another point or two, and hope for the Hoosiers seemed to fade. Caleb Houstan, who was mostly anonymous in the first half, knocked down a trio of threes in the first seven minutes of the second half, which helped build Michigan's lead up. Not much had changed in the narrative of the game from halftime to the 12:52 mark, when Eli Brooks made a layup to nudge Michigan's lead up to 17. It's what immediately followed that was the sea change. 

DeVante' was great in the first half. About the second half.... [Campredon]

In a few summarizing words, Michigan's offense locked up like an elderly man's joints. They would not make another shot from the field for eleven minutes (!!!!), and only sprinkled in a few free throws along the way. To Indiana's credit, they sensed that their season was on the line and responded. The Hoosiers were likely going to be on the wrong side of the bubble picture with a loss, and they played those final 13 minutes like a team on their last gasp. The energy level from IU picked up on the defensive end dramatically. Michigan's guards suddenly couldn't get an ounce of separation, they couldn't make an entry pass to Dickinson in the post, and any attempts at the rack were being swatted by Trayce Jackson-Davis. But Michigan also made far too many mistakes, missing the occasional open shot they got, throwing the ball out of bounds, and enduring a several minute stretch where it seemed like one Michigan player was falling over on each offensive possession. 

Indiana suddenly began executing on offense as well. They capitalized on Michigan's turnovers as a chance to run out in transition, but also were getting free dunks and layups, and a few threes rattled home as well. Michigan took timeouts and tinkered with the lineups, but nothing could stem the tide. The partisan Hoosier crowd in Indianapolis seemed to play a role too, with IU feeding off the energy inside the arena, and it helped to further Michigan's emotional troubles. Jackson-Davis made a pair of free throws with 5:39 to go which put Indiana up one. In just over seven minutes, the Hoosiers had erased the 17 point lead. 

Michigan got a couple points off free throws immediately thereafter, but then the problems started again. Indiana went on an 8-0 run and held a lead of 71-64 with only 1:54 to go. Michigan called another timeout and began to mount a last ditch effort. DeVante' Jones knocked down a shot that finally ended the Wolverine drought from the field and after a couple stops, Eli Brooks canned a transition three with 0:44 on the clock, leaving the score at 71-69. Michigan needed one stop and they got it, a terrific defensive possession that produced a half-hearted, desperation heave as the shot clock was expiring from Miller Kopp. It was nowhere close to on the mark, and Moussa Diabate grabbed a loose ball rebound off the floor. 

Then disaster struck. 

Never a good sign when your coach is making the "politician has a sex scandal" face [Campredon]

Diabate had two Hoosiers standing near him, but neither were threatening to rip the ball away. Still, the freshman's internal clock sped up. He panicked and tried to immediately rid himself of the ball, throwing it towards Eli Brooks, who was not ready for the pass. It glanced off Brooks and went out of bounds. Turnover, Indiana ball, with just nine seconds left. Michigan was forced to foul, and Xavier Johnson swished both at the line. After that turnover, Michigan would never again have the ball with a chance to tie. Game over. Final score: Indiana 74, Michigan 69. 

Despite the roller coaster nature of the game, the box score tells a pretty coherent picture of why Michigan lost this basketball game. They shot just 37.9% from the floor and 30% from three, not nearly well enough for 19/21 at the line to redeem you. 12 turnovers aren't horrendous, but 10 in the second half says a lot. Meanwhile, Indiana shot 46% from the floor and 53% from three (8/15), while banking 14 points at the line and committing an identical number of turnovers. The Hoosiers deserved to win this game, and in the final 13 minutes, they clearly wanted it more. They out-hustled, out-competed, and out-worked the Wolverines. 

Michigan falls to 17-14 on the season and now will have to wait for Selection Sunday. They entered the day being included in 122/123 brackets on the Bracket Matrix, in safe position and out of the First Four picture. A loss like this doesn't help, but it is a weak bubble this year. The Wolverines are probably still in, but they may have to head to Dayton for a play-in game. And a win over Indiana, which seemed to be well in their jaws only an hour ago, would have put a berth on ice. Michigan had a chance to wrap this up on their own terms. Now they're at the mercy of the Selection Committee on Sunday evening. Stay tuned. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]