updated: Indiana holds off Michigan basketball's late rally, wins 71-65

Michigan forward Zack Gibson, right, has his shot blocked by Indiana guard Devan Dumes during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Bloomington, Ind.

AP photo

In both cases, their comeback efforts ultimately stalled. After tying the game late in the second half, Michigan lost, 71-65, against the Hoosiers.

Indiana would go on a run. Michigan would match, but so often in the second half - save for one time after a Zack Novak three-pointer - they could never take the lead or regain control of a game they dominated in the first half.

In the end, it meant another loss against a team Michigan (6-6 overall, 0-1 Big Ten) expected to be better than at the beginning of the season.

“It was just another hump we couldn’t get over,” sophomore guard Stu Douglass said. “Like the Kansas game, we couldn’t get past 11, we just couldn’t take the lead. Just little things that kept building up, fouling jump shooters three times, box outs here and there, just the little things accumulated into a loss.”

In reality, there were micro and macro reasons for Michigan’s loss. Foul trouble hurt junior guard Manny Harris in the first half.

The offense started off hot, making 6 of its first 10 shots and 4 of its first 5 three-pointers. Then it collapsed. The Wolverines missed 10 of 11 three-pointers to end the first half and finished 9 of 28 for the game.

“Zack got off to a hot start and Stu got one as well. Unfortunately no one else could find the range and we hung around and hung around but we got to shoot,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “I looked at it and said those guys are shooting the ball well but we shot the ball 32 percent as a team. We’re not going to win. We just have to keep working.”

Michigan picked up seven team fouls less than five minutes into the second half, although Beilein had no problem with the officiating after the game, going so far as to praise them.

The defense allowed Indiana to shoot 46.9 percent for the game and allowed a lot of open looks from three-point range in the first half.

“They got too many open three’s, they were knocking three’s down,” senior forward DeShawn Sims said. “We played them pretty even in the second half, but we put them on the line and they hit a bunch of free throws. We put them on the line a lot.”

All the fouling left Sims and Harris in trouble, which forced Michigan out of man to man and into a 2-3 zone for the majority of the second half. While the Wolverines rotated well at points, it also left them exposed at others.

Indiana (7-6, 1-0 Big Ten), playing its first game after losing its best player, Maurice Creek, looked motivated and inspired. Verdell Jones III led the Hoosiers with 20 points.

Harris, due to the foul trouble, was ineffective for most of the game, scoring 13 points. Novak made 3 three-pointers early to give Michigan a fast 17-9 lead, but then didn’t hit a shot for almost 20 minutes before finishing with a team-high 18 points.

Michigan stayed in the game in the second half because of Douglass, who hit a lot of shots stopping Hoosier runs that could have blown the game open. He finished with 16 points and played the entire game.

It was a game Michigan started well, but couldn’t end up ending early.

“As a team, I felt we were about to take a really big stride forward into the Big Ten,”
freshman guard Darius Morris said. “But to take a loss here, it’s just another reality check that we need to get way better.

“We need to learn to finish out games.”

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.