Kansas guard Tyshawn Taylor, right, and Michigan guard Stu Douglass battle for the ball during the first half on Saturday in Lawrence, Kan. (Photo: Associated Press)

By David Boyce For AnnArbor.com

LAWRENCE, Kan. _ A moment occurred late in the first half at Kansas when Michigan basketball coach John Beilein feared the game was close to getting out of hand.

A crowd of 16,300 fans were rocking Allen Fieldhouse Saturday afternoon and the Jayhawks were playing up to their No. 1 ranking, building a 21-point lead.

The Wolverines didn’t wilt. They scored the last 9 points in the first half and played Kansas even in the second half, falling 75-64.

Michigan junior guard Manny Harris said there are no moral victories in a loss that dropped the Wolverines to 5-5.

Michigan forward DeShawn Sims (34) passes to a teammate while defended by Kansas forward Thomas Robinson (0) in the first half. Kansas defeated Michigan 75-64. (Photo: Associated Press)

“That could have gotten real ugly very quickly,” Beilein said. “That could have been one of those typical Kansas 100-58 types of wins that they have.

“We haven’t been in that situation yet, where we were getting blown out early and nothing was going well. I like that we at least fought back and stayed in the game.”

The extended bad stretch midway through the first half doomed Michigan from pulling off an upset against No. 1 ranked Kansas (10-0.)

“We had a good first half, until the last three minutes,” said Kansas freshman Xavier Henry, who finished with 15 points.

“They (Wolverines) have a couple of good athletes, Harris and (DeShawn) Sims. Other than that, we just didn’t play up to our potential.”

Despite a huge deficit late in the first half, Michigan refused to give in to a blowout. “We let them get too big of a lead in the beginning,” Harris said. “We fought back but it just wasn’t enough. But we showed a lot of heart.”

Through much of the second half the Wolverines were within 11 to 14 points. Sometimes it was Harris making a basket. Another time it was Zack Novak clawing his way for a hard-earned bucket that made it 59-47.

Sims scored consistently in the paint.

Michigan stayed in its offense and got wide-open looks beyond the 3-point arc. The Wolverines failed to connect on a couple of 3-pointers that could have dropped their deficit to single digits.

“Our shot selection was good, but we just got to finish some shots,” Harris said. “We would make a stop at the other end and come back down and miss an open shot. If a couple of our shots would have fallen it would have been a different outcome.”

The missed opportunities helped the Jayhawks maintain their advantage.

“You shoot 17 percent from the three and 35 percent overall, it is tough to win,” Beilein said.

The Wolverines trailed 66-55 with 3 minutes left. Harris and Sims definitely weren’t intimidated against Kansas. Sims scored 19 and Harris added 16. Sims also did a good job of limiting Kansas junior center Cole Aldrich to 5 points.

“I was just trying to play him tough,” Sims said. “I’m the five, and I should be able to guard the five man. I tried not to let him get any angles. My teammates helped me on the weak side.”

Sophomore forward Marcus Morris picked up the inside scoring slack left by Aldrich and finished with a game-high 23. Senior guard Sherron Collins added 19 for Kansas.

Collins was upset by the way Kansas played in the final 3 minutes of the first half. He felt the Jayhawks should have had a bigger halftime lead.

Late in the first half the Wolverines were behind 42-22 with a couple of minutes left. They went on a 9-0 spurt and closed to 42-31 at halftime.

Two buckets in the paint by Sims sparked the run. Freshman Darius Morris completed the best stretch of the first half for Michigan by making a two-point field goal followed by a 3-pointer.

“It definitely gave us confidence,” Harris said. “I think we played off that, but it wasn’t enough to overcome that and get the win.”

Midway through the first half was when the Wolverines lost control of the game, seeing an 18-14 deficit grow to 41-20.

Actually, Michigan started the game well. Two free throws by Stu Douglass gave the Wolverines a 7-5 lead. A basket by Harris gave Michigan its last lead at 11-10.

The play of Morris and Thomas Robinson allowed the Jayhawks to Kansas command of the game. They combined for 6 points in an 8-0 run that gave Kansas an 18-11 lead.

A three-pointer by Douglass briefly halted the Jayhawks momentum. But over the next few minutes Kansas’ lead grew. A timeout by Michigan after a 3-pointer by Henry failed to halt the scoring the Jayhawks run.

After the 30 second timeout, Kansas moved its lead from 27-16 to 38-18.

“I think (Tyrel) Reed hit a couple of threes in that stretch and we went to our 2-zone and they exploited something,” Novak said. “We knew they were going to make a run at some point. It was a little bigger than we wanted, but we fought back.”