Michigan basketball blown out at home by Illinois, without its best player, 76-53
Michigan #Michigan
Michigan basketball could have clinched the Big Ten title Tuesday night.
Instead it suffered a surprising blowout loss on its home court.
The Wolverines were manhandled by Illinois in a 75-53 loss, even though the Illini were without star guard Ayo Dosunmu, the team’s leading scorer and a candidate for National Player of the Year.
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Illinois set the tone early in the first half and established an 11-point halftime lead. Then it used an 8-0 run as soon as Hunter Dickinson left the court with his third foul to double the lead to 16 — and never looked back.
It was a dispiriting loss for Michigan considering the stakes of the game and the competition (Illinois is ranked No. 4 and is the second-place Big Ten team). Even worse, Isaiah Livers rolled his ankle in the second half.
Illinois plays stifling defense
The Illini won this game because of their defense. Michigan entered the game with the nation’s fifth-most efficient offense but you could count the number of quality looks it generated with both hands. Illinois played tremendous ball-screen defense, shutting down the main source of the Wolverines’ scoring.
The Illini funneled everything inside to center Kofi Cockburn, who played drop coverage and created problems at the rim with his size. The defensive strategy induced an endless parade of difficult “in-between” 2s from Michigan — looks that the Wolverines usually force themselves on defense, but were stuck taking (and missing). Michigan’s usually efficient and lethal offense devolved into a series of desperate post-ups. The Wolverines had just four assists on 17 made baskets.
Rebounding a major problem
Illinois played far from a clean game on offense, turning it over on 22% of their first-half possessions. But while Michigan may have limited shot quality, it struggled with the Illini’s shot quantity: Illinois recorded 12 offensive rebounds, scored 22 second-chance points and attempted 14 more field goals.
This wasn’t a simple issue of one team wanting it more. Illinois excelled at getting to the rim, which pulled Michigan defenders out of position. But, again, that was a testament to the stellar game played by the Illini: The Wolverines are typically one of the better rebounding teams in the conference (and nation). But they allowed Illinois to rebound over 40% of its misses before garbage time began and the benches emptied.
Status of Livers
With the postseason rapidly approaching, this would be a terrible time for any team to lose a key contributor due to injury, which means Michigan will have to hope that Livers’ ankle injury doesn’t become a lingering issue. The senior wing was rolled up upon while trying to grab a rebound with just over 15 minutes remaining in the second half and immediately came up limping and asking for a substitution. Livers received attention on the sidelines and eventually returned to the game. But he did not look like he was playing at full strength or full speed — especially during on 2-on-1 fast break when he immediately passed the ball off to Eli Brooks and struggled to keep up on the rolled ankle.
Livers is one of Michigan’s most indispensable players because of his shooting, experience and off-ball defense; the Wolverines know just how difficult life can be without him after Livers’ injury-plagued junior season. While his ability to re-enter the game was a positive sign for Michigan, the health of his ankle will be worth monitoring going forward considering his history of ankle injuries.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball blown out at home by Illinois, without its best player, 76-53