In a 40-minute game, Michigan men’s basketball led Oklahoma for more than 31 minutes, including by three points with just 23 seconds remaining.
However, after Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears knocked down a deep 3-pointer and drew a (highly questionable) foul with 11 seconds left, the Sooner freshman converted the four-point play to give OU the lead. Michigan’s Tre Donaldson missed a 3-point attempt at the other end, and the Wolverines fell to the Sooners, 87-86, in the Jumpman Invitational on Wednesday night.
Michigan falls to 8-3 on the year, with the three losses coming by a combined five points. Here are five takeaways from another heart-breaking defeat for the Maize and Blue.
For the second consecutive game, Michigan let a double-digit lead get away from them. Last time out against Arkansas, the Wolverines built a 15-point first half lead only to fall behind by as many as 18 before eventually losing by two points.
Tonight, Michigan led by 11 with just under 10 minutes to play, but found itself trailing by four in the closing minutes. The Wolverines rallied to retake the lead late, but had another costly turnover on their penultimate possession when Roddy Gayle Jr. got a little too selfish with the basketball. Then, Tre Donaldson took an ill-advised 3-pointer on the final possession on a night in which the Wolverines were ice cold from outside.
Failing to close out games was a major problem for Michigan in the final two years of the Juwan Howard era, and although Dusty May has nearly turned over the entire roster, it remains an issue in Ann Arbor.
Michigan has shot the ball well for the most part this season, but as we alluded to above, the Wolverines were ice cold from 3-point range in this one, connecting on just 4-of-28 attempts from beyond the arc.
This team has a lot of guys who are perimeter threats from distance but nobody had the hot hand tonight. Nimari Burnett and Roddy Gayle Jr. each shot 0-for-5, Sam Walters and Donaldson were each 1-for-6 and Wolf went 1-for-4. It’s remarkable this game was as close as it was with those shooting numbers, and even more mind-boggling that the Wolverines had all kinds of opportunities to still win the game.
In the long run, tonight’s shooting woes aren’t too big of a concern long term, but losing by a single point after missing a whopping 24 attempts from beyond the arc is a brutal result.
The college basketball season is still young, but it’s hard to imagine there’s a frontcourt duo in the nation playing better than Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin right now. Michigan’s “Area 50-1” big men were excellent once again tonight.
Both big men had double-doubles, with Goldin scoring 26 points on a ridiculous 10-of-12 shooting, and added 10 rebounds and two blocks; and Wolf going for 15 points on 6-of-10 shooting, adding 10 rebounds and five assists.
Goldin got off to a slow start this season but he’s elevated his game by leaps and bounds over the past five games and has become a dominant force for the Wolverines. Wolf, meanwhile, has been consistently productive throughout the season and is playing at an All-Big Ten level at minimum. How well these two guys have played in each of these last two games make the back-to-back losses all the more frustrating.
The Wolverines’ point guard has been solid for most of the year, but has disappeared at times for the Maize and Blue. Tonight, we saw a more assertive Tre Donaldson and he provided a lot of good things for Michigan.
Donaldson’s speed with the ball in his hands gave Oklahoma fits throughout the night. He put pressure on the Sooners’ defense with his ability to attack the rim, and knocked down a big triple in the second half to end a Wolverine scoring drought.
Donaldson finished with 14 points, but unfortunately settled for another 3-pointer on Michigan’s final possession. In that situation, we would have liked to see Donaldson attack the rim one more time and/or look to get the ball in the hands of the Wolverines’ bigs. It was an overall good night with an unfortunate finish for the point guard.
The Wolverines have played with high intensity on defense through much of this season, but there’s a level of consistency that this team has not achieved on that end of the floor, and it’s proven costly down the stretch in these close losses.
Tonight, Michigan allowed Oklahoma to shoot 47% from the floor and 48% from the 3-point line. The Sooner also shot a 88% on a whopping 24 free throws. (There was a ton of whistles tonight, as Michigan shot 26 foul shots as well.). At the end of the day though, that’s not a good enough defensive effort from the Wolverines. It’s another factor in why Michigan has been a streaky team that has struggled to put opponents away this season.
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