Halftime: Michigan 33, IU 30

Out of the gates at the Crisler Center, it looked as though the IU men’s basketball team was poised to erase the memories of the team’s loss Tuesday on Senior Night against Ohio State and clinch the outright Big Ten regular season title for the first time in 20 years with a win against No. 7 Michigan.

After grabbing an early seven-point lead though, the Hoosiers went ice cold from the field while IU Coach Tom Crean went to his bench early and often, falling behind by as many as 11 before crawling back to within 33-30 at halftime.

Senior guard Jordan Hulls hit a 3-pointer early from the left wing to jumpstart the Hoosiers. He sank another from long range, sandwiched by layups from junior guard Victor Oladipo and freshman guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell, and all the sudden IU held an early 10-3 lead going into the first media timeout.

It would not be until after the next media timeout more than five minutes later until IU scored again.

Michigan’s Nik Stauskas fueled a 12-0 run by the Wolverines with eight-straight points, including two 3-pointers, while Crean tried to stop the bleeding with getting minutes from bench players Remy Abell, Will Sheehey and Hanner Mosquera-Perera to no avail.

IU’s bench finished the half shooting 0-for-8 from the floor while amassing three turnovers and three personal fouls.

The Hoosiers continued to miss shots from around the rim while Michigan slowly boosted its lead despite a mediocre half of shooting at 40 percent while IU lagged behind at 35.1 percent from the floor.

A 3-pointer from national player of the year candidate Trey Burke boosted Michigan to its biggest lead of the game – and IU’s largest deficit of the season – at 27-16, but things began to click for the Hoosiers

Senior forward Christian Watford made his first shot of the half with 3:59 left and nailed a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to just six.

Sophomore forward Cody Zeller finally started getting shots in the lane to fall, hitting seven of IU’s last nine points in the half as the Hoosiers moved within just three points to close the half behind 33-30.

-Nathan Brown