Tess Crowley/Daily | Madeline Hinkley/Daily | Design by Sophie Grand

W

hen it’s boiled down 
to its bare bones, 
basketball 
has 
a 

simple premise: get the ball in 
the basket.

When a team can’t do that 

efficiently, 
the 
chances 
of 

coming away with a win drop 
significantly.

The 
Michigan 
men’s 

basketball team (13-10 overall, 
7-6 Big Ten) proved the adage 
true on Saturday, falling to 
No. 16 Ohio State (15-6, 8-4), 
68-57, in a showing fraught 
with offensive inefficiency. 

“We got good looks,” fifth-

year guard Eli Brooks said. 
“We missed a lot of layups, a 
lot of bunnies, a lot of stuff 
around the rim that we should 
have made. And it’s tough 

when tough when you don’t 
make the easy ones.”

From the start, the game 

looked 
like 
a 
rock 
fight. 

Both 
the 
Wolverines 
and 

Buckeyes — 19th and seventh 
in the country in KenPom’s 
adjusted offensive efficiency 
— struggled to make any 
gains offensively. Each bucket 
was hard-earned, and both 
teams’ offensive possessions 
were marred by turnovers 
and missed shots in a messy 
back-and-forth 
showdown. 

Eventually, 
the 
offenses 

gained some traction, giving 
Ohio State a 3-point lead at 
the half.

Coming out of the break, 

where 
Michigan 
would 

have liked to see a spark to 
ignite a comeback, it instead 
saw smoke. At the under-12 
timeout, the Wolverines found 
themselves in an 8-point hole 

after shooting a measly 3-for-
12 from the field to start the 
half. The Buckeyes, though not 
accelerating their offensive 
rate, kept up the pace from 
the first half, which proved 
to be enough in the face of an 
anemic Michigan attack.

The Wolverines were simply 

not the high-scoring team 
that decimated No. 3 Purdue 
Thursday 
night. 
Typically, 

Michigan’s 
defense 
sinks 

its ship, but the Wolverines 
were actually able to amount 
stops. They simply couldn’t 
capitalize on the opportunities 
they were creating, in spite of 
having the ability to do so.

“We know that we have 

shooters on the team,” Brooks 
said. “We prove it in practice, 
we 
prove 
it 
through 
our 

numbers throughout the year. 
I mean, (it’s) just confidence. I 
think we need to just shoot our 

shots and be more confident 
taking our shots.”

It was a far cry from the 

Michigan team that bared its 
formidable fangs against the 
Boilermakers. The Wolverine 
squad that dropped 82 points 
and made over half of its shots 
from the floor and from deep 
was nowhere to be found come 
Saturday.

Instead, a shell of itself 

stood in its place. Michigan 
posted 
an 
underwhelming 

41.4% from the field and a 
tragic 23.5% from beyond the 
arc.

“We 
shot 
4-for-17 
from 

three, and there were some 
really 
good 
looks 
at 
the 

basket,” 
Michigan 
coach 

Juwan Howard said. “I would 
say maybe five of them were 
forced 
(misses). 
But 
other 

than that, it just didn’t go in 
for us, but we stay with it.”

With every missed shot, 

the Wolverines lost a chance 
to 
build 
momentum. 
And 

when they did make a much-
needed bucket, the Buckeyes 
always found a way to silence 
the Crisler crowd and halt 
Michigan in its tracks.

Star Ohio State forward 

E.J. Liddell stood on the 
front lines of the Buckeyes’ 
spoils. Dropping 28 points 
on the Wolverines’ defense 
with 
odds-defying 
makes 

and clinical shots. Flanked 
by the rest of Ohio State’s 
contributors, it was too much 
for Michigan on a night where 
it wasn’t at its best.

“He’s gonna make tough 

shots,” Howard said. “… And 
that’s what it was tonight. 
Liddell made a lot of tough 
shots.”

The 
Wolverines’ 
typical 

saviors didn’t have it in them 

to resurrect their team from 
the deficit. Sophomore center 
Hunter Dickinson notched just 
14 points on 7-of-17 shooting, 
freshman wing Caleb Houstan 
came away with a miserable 
five and besides Dickinson, 
only 
fifth-year 
guard 
Eli 

Brooks 
broke 
into 
double 

digits.

Down 
the 
stretch, 
as 

Michigan 
floundered, 
the 

Buckeyes 
pulled 
away. 

Without the ability to score 
efficiently, the comeback was 
never realized.

With the chance to grab 

their second Quadrant 1 win 
in a row and put themselves 
in a better position to make 
the NCAA Tournament, the 
Wolverines came up short.

As Brooks saw it, the reason 

why was pretty simple:

“We just didn’t make shots.”

NICHOLAS STOLL
Managing Sports Editor

SPORTSWEDNESDAY
SPORTSWEDNESDAY

FACED
FACED
TWO
TWO

After dominating Purdue, Michigan falls 
back to earth in deflating loss to Ohio State

