Michigan failed its final nonconference test, blowing an 11-point lead over the final 10 minutes. Up three with the ball, Michigan turned it over and allowed a four-point play to lose.
From the failure to put Oklahoma away to the mistakes Michigan was able to clean up, here’s a closer look at Wednesday’s 87-86 loss in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Blown leads lead to close losses
Michigan’s three losses have come by a combined five points. Michigan led by double digits in all three: by 13 in the first half to Wake Forest; by 15 in the first half against Arkansas; and the aforementioned 11-point lead midway through the second half on Wednesday.
Michigan head coach Dusty May has bemoaned these one-possession games because he figures they could go either way. On the flip side, Michigan has two Big Ten wins by a combined five points.
Michigan’s problem has been not kicking the opponents when they’re down. The Wolverines have talked about being complacent and taking their foot off the gas after building a double-digit lead. It’s unclear why that’s happening, or if it did against Oklahoma, but it has to stop.
Fixing mistakes, sort of
The good news is that the Wolverines seemed to take their recent lessons to heart. With a week off since their last game, Michigan focused on turnovers and defensive rebounding.
The Wolverines committed just 10 turnovers on Wednesday, their second-lowest rate of the season. They didn’t allow Oklahoma too many second chances, all while hitting the offensive glass pretty hard themselves.
Michigan was sloppy at times though, including during Oklahoma’s run to get back in the game. Up three and taking the ball out of bounds along the baseline with 38 seconds on the game clock and 10 on the shot clock, Roddy Gayle Jr. got the ball and waved off point guard Tre Donaldson, choosing to drive into traffic instead. His errant pass was stolen, and it led to Jeremiah Fears’ and-one 3.
Gayle was whistled for the foul, though it’s unclear if he actually made contact with Fears. Michigan got another shot at the win, but Donaldson tried a 3 — when Michigan only needed one point to tie — and missed long. Vladislav Goldin appeared to get pushed under the basket during the shot, but there was no call. The Wolverines didn’t get a favorable whistle late, but they put themselves in a position for that to matter.
Missed opportunity
We’ll see what becomes of Xavier (and TCU and Virginia Tech, though early returns are not promising there), teams Michigan beat last month. For now the Wolverines’ nonconference performance looks just OK. They’ll have to beat Purdue Fort Wayne and Western Kentucky to close out December and avoid any truly bad losses.
The Big Ten is good enough that Michigan will have plenty of chances for Quad 1 victories, but the NCAA Tournament selection committee will consider what happened before that as well.
Michigan will certainly have some regrets given how these losses have unfolded. Before last season’s tire fire, Michigan struggled to win close games under Juwan Howard. May is experiencing similar setbacks in his first season on the job.
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