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