updated: Boston College knocks off Michigan basketball in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge

The ball rolled out of bounds, untouched by any Michigan player.

The play represented a microcosm of what is currently going wrong with Michigan basketball right now. The Wolverines possess a lack of focus and an abundance of youth. 

It all added to the Wolverines’ third straight loss, this time 62-58 to Boston College in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. 

“I’m sure we’ve had poorer games here,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “But that was really a bad, a poor performance for us and really disappointing.” 

All of the problems that plagued Michigan throughout its stay in Florida last week followed the Wolverines home to Ann Arbor.

Michigan’s three-point shooting was abysmal for the third straight game - 9 of 34. None of the Wolverines’ top three three-point shooters, Manny Harris, Zack Novak or Stu Douglass, made more than 33 percent of their three’s taken. 

The Wolverines often looked rushed and discombobulated, often appearing unsure of themselves or what was supposed to be going on offensively or defensively. 

Speaking of defense, Michigan’s 1-3-1 zone defense allowed yet another slasher to cut right through the lane for easy layups and a lot of points. 

What made Wednesday worse is that Boston College (5-2) didn’t even set things up specifically for junior guard Corey Raji, who had 24 points and was so good Beilein said after the game ‘we didn’t have too many people guarding him today.” 

“We have yet to run a play for Corey,” Boston College coach Al Skinner said. “So this all comes through the flow (of the offense), comes from his activity, his alertness, and the nice thing about it is guys are looking for him and creating these opportunities for him. 

“But we have not run a play for him.” 

While Raji was alert, most of Michigan was not. Michigan senior forward DeShawn Sims, who said Tuesday he was going to refocus his game into making shots inside, was 2 of 7, scored four points and grabbed three rebounds. 

Harris was the only Michigan player in double figures with 19, but he scored those points on an inefficient 18 shots.

Too often, it looked like Michigan was standing around waiting for Harris to do something - a similar trait to what happened in Florida when Harris was dominant but had little help. 

“I don’t think we’re separating as a team,” Douglass said. “I think we’re still together. We’re not focusing completely as a unit. If one guy slips up, it screws up the whole team.” 

There’s a lot of slipping up to go around. Michigan looked lifeless for the first 35 minutes before back-to-back Zack Gibson three-pointers cut Boston College’s lead to 57-46 with 4:17 left.

Even then, Michigan (3-3) couldn’t seem to get over the hump and it has put the Wolverines a far cry from where they started the season at No. 15 in the country and picked by analyst Len Elmore, who did the color for Wednesday’s game, to go to the 
Final Four.

“Backed up against the wall,” Novak said, describing where Michigan is right now. “Definitely. We just have some things we have to fix right now. We just, we have to get it done.”

Meanwhile, Michigan is in the position of losing games to teams that it might be compared to in March when the NCAA selection committee meets to pick the tournament field.

That may seem like a long way off, but Beilein acknowledged Michigan needs to find a way to win games like this. 

“This is obviously a pretty good team,” Beilein said. “Or we’re really a bad team because they, I know the score came closer at the end but there was never a doubt who the better team was.”