The Minute After: Michigan

Thoughts on a 70-67 loss to the Wolverines:

This one looked headed towards another double-digit loss at home.

As Indiana jacked up several ill-advised long 2s in the first half, Michigan drained 3-pointers and made shots at the rim. The Wolverines got up by 10. Then by 15. Then 18 with 1:07 to play. Trey Galloway’s jumper with 49 seconds to go cut the lead to 16 (43-27) entering the break. As the Hoosiers entered the locker room, smattered boos reigned down from the Assembly Hall faithful, but not as loud or as plentiful as we’ve heard them at other times this season.

But the second half gave Indiana a new life. After going scoreless over the first 20 minutes of action, Mackenzie Mgbako put the ball in the basket. Indiana’s sophomore scored 13 points in the first 10:30 of the half. Malik Reneau started to find himself, too. Anthony Leal made a couple of baskets. Trey Galloway ran the show with Mike Woodson again benching Myles Rice, this time for the entire second half.

As the crowd sprung to life, Indiana got some juice on defense. A zone look mixed things up and the Wolverines weren’t taking advantage. They just went ice cold, too. After hitting 5-of-12 (41.7 percent) in the first half from 3-point range, the Wolverines didn’t make a single one (0-of-9) after the break. They made just 10-of-27 (37 percent) from the field in the second half, scoring only .84 points per possession, according to the live stats box score.

Michigan’s lead fell to one with 9:30 to play. The Wolverines pushed it back out to seven with 6:56 to go. But IU then ripped off a 7-0 run to tie the ball game. Leal hit the front end of a 1-and-1 and then scored on a layup after a Michigan turnover. Oumar Ballo scored. Luke Goode’s two free throws capped it off. All tied up at 59 with 4:08 to play.

But Indiana just couldn’t quite pull it out from there despite threatening late. Danny Wolf went after Leal, hit the bucket and was fouled, making the ensuing free throw to put Michigan up five points (66-61) with 1:25 to play. That proved to be the play that gave the Wolverines enough of a cushion to survive the comeback, as they hit four of their five free throws in the final minute to keep Indiana at bay.

No players took questions after the game. Woodson also sent assistant coach Brian Walsh to his usual post-game radio interview with Don Fischer. On-site media was told that Woodson would only discuss the game, not yesterday’s announcement that he would step down after the season.

But the first question posed hinted at the month’s tumult, and Woodson spoke about it briefly.

“It’s been emotional,” he said. “You know, we’re dealing with young men. Young kids, man, trying to figure it out.”

There is the human side to those deeply involved with Woodson stepping aside; let’s not forget that.

But there’s also reality. This team has now lost 12 straight to ranked opponents. They’ve lost five in a row and seven out of eight. Indiana again showed up listless in the first half at home and couldn’t make the plays down the stretch to pull out a victory.

“I’ve done a terrible job of putting them in the best position possible to win, I think,” Woodson also offered up after the game.

As Woodson limps through his last few weeks as Indiana’s head coach, you won’t find any arguments with that assessment from the masses.

Category: The Minute After

Filed to: Michigan Wolverines