4B — January 27, 2020
SportsMonday
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
‘M’ falls, 64-
62, to Illinois
Ayo Dosunmu called game.
Despite being hounded by Zavier
Simpson, the Illinois guard, with ice in
his veins, rose up over Michigan’s shorter
senior point guard and drained the
go-ahead jumper from the elbow with just
0.5 seconds on the clock.
“That last play was guarded as well as
you could possibly guard it,” Illinois coach
Brad Underwood said. “It was a really good
player making a really hard shot. The one
thing Ayo has at 6-foot-5 is the ability to get
it over smaller guards so we just chose him
to let it go.”
Just moments earlier, a much-needed
victory over the Fighting Illini was within
the Wolverines’ reach.
But, after missing five consecutive free
throws, the Michigan men’s basketball
team (11-8 overall, 2-6 Big Ten) provided
Illinois (15-5, 7-2) with the only lifeline it
needed, ultimately losing its fourth straight
game, 64-62, and suffering a blow with
junior forward Isaiah Livers leaving the
game with another injury.
Spurred on by the return of Livers, who
had missed six straight games with a groin
injury, the Wolverines got off to a hot start
— something they’ve failed to do of late.
Illinois’ offense wouldn’t be contained
for long. Its backcourt — one of the best
in the conference — of Trent Frazier and
Ayo Dosunmu led the way, killing the
Wolverines with their outside shooting.
Frazier knocked down two deep 3-pointers
to
quell
Michigan’s
energy,
while
Dosunmu’s mid-range game and slashing
drives to the bucket were equally potent.
The pair, which combined for 24 points on
9-of-13 shooting in the first half, launched
the Illini into an eight-point lead by the 7:58
mark of the first half.
Poor shooting plagued the Wolverines
during that stretch, and Michigan went
scoreless over a four-minute stretch. With
their momentum interrupted and their
backs against the wall, Michigan’s veterans
responded. Teske, Livers and Simpson
sprung to life late in the half, getting to
the basket at every opportunity. In classic
Simpson fashion, after lulling his defender
to sleep at the top of the key, he bulldozed
his way into the paint on multiple occasions,
either drawing a foul or finishing the layup.
Simpson polished off the first half with
nine points in the final three minutes.
And yet, despite the Wolverines’ best
efforts, Illinois had an answer on the other
end and entered the locker room up 34-30.
Michigan exploded out of the locker
room. After Cockburn, who was scoreless
in the first twenty, converted a layup
over Teske, Simpson and the Wolverines’
offense went to work.
Orchestrating the offense to perfection,
Simpson found Livers on the wing for
a wide-open three. Freshman forward
Franz Wagner also chipped in with two
and-one layups.
Michigan’s positive spurt to open the
half was promptly halted five minutes in
when Illinois’ Da’Monte Williams fouled
Livers hard on a dunk attempt. The junior
landed awkwardly, seemingly re-injuring
his groin. After hitting both free-throws,
he limped back to the bench and a hush fell
over the Wolverine faithful.
“Unfortunately for Isaiah, he went out
with his injury,” Michigan coach Juwan
Howard said, noting Livers is day-to-day.
“We pray that he comes back healthy. His
effort out there today was great. The energy
from the crowd just shows how much he’s a
huge part of this team’s success.”
Over the next few minutes, the Illini
capitalized on the vapid atmosphere. As
was the case all afternoon, Dosunmu
proved to be Michigan’s kryptonite
defensively. On consecutive possessions,
Dosunmu pulled up from beyond the arc
and hit a stepback jumper from the wing.
“(Dosunmu) has been playing some good
basketball these last few games,” Howard
said. “He’s a very crafty player and does a
really good job getting to his left hand and
finishing in traffic. He’s also really good at
getting to his pull-up jumper.”
And, as was the case all afternoon, the
Wolverines fought back. They were able
to get stops defensively, forcing Cockburn
to take some tough shots in the paint.
Michigan regained the lead when Teske
drained a 3-pointer from the top of the arc
with 6:35 remaining.
For every basket Dosunmu added to
his final total of 27 points, the Wolverines
collectively responded. Sophomore guard
David DeJulius even gave Michigan a
slender, two-point advantage after hitting
a contested three from 30-feet.
From there, though, things unraveled
for the Wolverines.
Despite holding Cockburn to just five
points and three rebounds, containing
Trent Frazier in the second-half, out-
rebounding the Illini and committing just
two turnovers, Michigan let the game slip
when it could least afford to.
“We tried everything. I don’t think
anybody can tell us that we didn’t play hard
today,” Wagner said. “It just didn’t happen
again. Free throws and a couple defensive
lapses cost us. It’s tough.”
Brad Underwood’s conference
with his assistants was short.
With 24 seconds left in a tie
game against the Michigan men’s
basketball team, the Illinois coach
and his staff huddled just a few
feet from the Fighting Illini bench
during a timeout. His players
looked on as the staff devised a
final play call.
“It wasn’t a very long discussion
amongst the coaches,” Underwood
said. “… We just chose to let
(sophomore guard Ayo Dosunmu)
go.”
The call was simple. Underwood
isolated Dosunmu — his best scorer
— at the top of the key. No screens,
off-ball motion or gimmicks of any
kind. He wanted Dosunmu to have
as much space as possible. Straight
one-on-one basketball. Dosunmu’s
only instruction was to begin his
drive with six seconds left on the
clock.
On the Wolverines’ side, senior
point guard Zavier Simpson was
tasked with stopping him. The
very player who’s been lauded
time
and
time
again
for
his
perimeter
defense.
The
name
that’s become synonymous with
a pitbull mentality and relentless
determination.
It was Big Ten basketball at its
finest. The intensity in the moment,
the implications of the outcome
and, most importantly, the sheer
will to win.
Dosunmu began inching closer
when the clock struck six seconds,
as Underwood directed. He drove
left, planted his right foot at the
free throw line and stopped on a
dime. But when he tried to get a
shot off, Simpson was in his face.
He looked up and saw two seconds
showing on the backboard clock.
He brought his left foot across his
body to create space, but it didn’t do
much.
And with barely enough room
to breathe, the 6-foot-5 Dosunmu
elevated over the 6-foot-0 Simpson
and rattled home a game-winning
jump shot to push No. 21 Illinois
past Michigan, 64-62.
“It’s what great players do,”
Underwood said. “That last play
was guarded as well as you could
possibly guard it, and there was just
a really good player making a really
hard shot.”
The Fighting Illini knew exactly
what they wanted to do with the
last possession. The Wolverines, on
the other hand, did not.
When a reporter asked Michigan
coach Juwan Howard if he expected
Dosunmu to be isolated, Howard
began
his
answer
before
the
reporter could finish the question.
“No I did not, I did not expect
that at all,” Howard said. “I
expected some type of wrinkle or
high ball screen.”
That
wrinkle
never
came.
Instead,
Dosunmu
delivered
his 26th and 27th points of the
afternoon. With it, he became the
fourth opposing player to set a new
career-high against the Wolverines
this season, joining Iowa’s Luka
Garza, Purdue’s Trevion Williams
and Minnesota’s Daniel Oturu.
“(Dosunmu) does a really good
job of getting to his right hand and
finishing in traffic,” Howard said.
“He’s also good with the pull-up
jumper. They run some ball screens
with him, and he’s very crafty in
using the ball screen. It just so
happened today — every player has
it in sports — sometimes, you’re
going to have a great night. He had
a great night.”
Added sophomore guard David
DeJulius: “(Dosunmu) is a long
guard, very crafty. He can shoot the
ball off the dribble, off the set shot,
able to get in the lane and create for
himself and his teammates. He’s a
really good player. He has a lot of
options to his game and it’s hard to
stop.”
It wasn’t a matter of Dosunmu
catching fire at certain points.
Michigan didn’t have an answer at
any point in the game, as he scored
27 points on 11-of-18 shooting. He
entered Saturday shooting 28.6%
from beyond the arc before sinking
two of his three 3-point attempts
against the Wolverines.
“Basketball is about a rhythm
thing,” DeJulius said. “They put
a lot of confidence in him and put
the ball in his hands the whole
game and we kind of let him find a
groove early. He just went with that
because he had his juices flowing
from the start.”
By
the
end
of
the
game,
Dosunmu’s rhythm was at its peak.
It was only fitting for him to deliver
the dagger.
“When you have a close game
like that,” DeJulius said, “you leave
it up for grabs to let anyone get the
game.”
Dosunmu got the game.
CONNOR BRENNAN
Daily Sports Writer
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
It’s what great
players do. That
last play was
guarded as well
as you could
possibly guard.
OLIVIA CELL/Daily
Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu scored the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds left over Zavier Simpson, giving his team a decisive two-point lead.
OLIVIA CELL/Daily
Freshman forward Franz Wagner missed two key free throws down the stretch of Michigan’s 64-62 loss to Illinois on Saturday.
Missed
free throws
doom ‘M’
late
Step up to the line. Give high-fives to
the guys lining up on the paint. Stretch
out an arm or a quad. Catch the ball
from the ref. Take a dribble, maybe two.
Maybe practice a shooting motion.
A buzzing crowd at the Crisler
Center claps once, then goes silent, the
air teeming with their anticipation.
Visualize it: that perfect arc; net, net,
net.
One more dribble.
The ball goes up, and for a few tense
seconds, everything on the court —
everything in the arena — narrows in
on nylon and iron and glass.
The shot doesn’t fall.
And moments later, someone in
orange puts up a game-winning prayer,
and this time it does fall, and it’s over.
And there, in that moment as the clock
winds down to zero and a collective
gasp
escapes
the
once-exuberant
crowd, is defeat, yet again, taken
cruelly from the jaws of a desperately-
needed victory.
In the final minutes of Michigan’s
heartbreaking 64-62 loss to No. 21
Illinois at home on Saturday, the
Wolverines missed five straight free
throws in the final three-and-a-half
minutes of the game.
Five.
Five missed opportunities. Five
opportunities that could have, maybe
should have, changed the outcome of
a game Michigan could not afford to
lose. Five opportunities to snap a three-
game losing streak. Five opportunities
to defend home court in a conference
where it’s imperative to do so.
And not one of them went in.
“Yeah, it’s really tough right now,”
freshman wing Franz Wagner said,
visibly upset, after the game. “But the
way our culture works is that we just
stick together. We come closer together
and we’ll figure it out. I like the way
we fought throughout the whole game.
Just gotta reward ourselves at the end.”
Michigan led, 62-60, with two and
a half minutes left in regulation. It
was awarded three free throws after
gaining that lead — free throws that,
if made, would’ve made it a two-
possession game. That, if made, just
might have moved Saturday’s loss into
the win column.
At this point in the season, those are
not chances that the Wolverines can
afford to give up. And the team knew it.
“It
hurts.
It
hurts
everyone,”
Michigan coach Juwan Howard said.
“It’s just unfortunate for us, because
we didn’t do a good job of making our
free throws.
“You come in after a game like this,
when you lose it, and you see nothing
but red eyes. And you know that heads
are down. Everyone’s been crying. It’s
awful. And it hurts you as a coach.
Because I feel like I let them down.
“That’s the worst feeling ever.”
Michigan now sits at 11-8 overall, and
a disheartening 2-6 in conference play,
putting it tied with Ohio State for 10th
in the Big Ten. It is far from where they
pictured themselves at the beginning
of the season, and even farther from
where everyone saw them after their
stunning run in the Bahamas two
months ago.
More importantly, though, it is far
from where this team could be, if just a
few of those opportunities had shaken
out differently.
March is closer than the Bahamas
now. And if Michigan wants to make the
NCAA Tournament — something that’s
seeming more and more questionable
these last few weeks — they need to
start winning games like these. At
11-8, with six conference losses, the
Wolverines don’t exactly have a sterling
tournament resume.
The emotion — the disappointment
— that is inextricably linked to the
realization that Michigan is not playing
as well as it can is clear in the players’
faces. It was palpable in Wagner’s voice
as he choked up talking about how
the game slipped out of his hands to a
crowd of reporters surrounding him.
It’s probably not unrelated to the
team’s struggles as of late. For a team
— and a coach — that has preached
confidence from the start, it is growing
ever harder to believe, and that lack of
self-assuredness has been hurting them
in games lately — games they need to be
winning if they want to stick around for
March.
“I’m not gonna lie, it’s really hard for
me to stand up here right now,” Wagner
said. “It’s my two free throws. Yeah,
it’s really hard. That’s how basketball
works, though. Obviously, you gotta be
ready for those type of moments.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
A-oh no
Inside Ayo Dosunmu’s game-winner