ANN ARBOR, Mich. — IU men’s basketball lost its third straight road game Sunday.
IU struggled on the defensive end when it lost to Michigan 89-65 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Each road loss for the Hoosiers has been by at least nine points.
The defeat puts IU at 16-9 overall and 6-8 in Big Ten play. Six of the eight conference losses have come on the road.
IU hung around for the most part in the first half thanks to senior center De’Ron Davis and junior guard Al Durham both scoring in double digits. Outside of their contributions, the Hoosiers only made six other field goals in the first 20 minutes.
Senior guard Devonte Green made seven 3-pointers in his last game against No. 21 Iowa, but went 1-3 from beyond the arc Sunday afternoon.
The Wolverines shot 57% from the field after the Hoosiers failed to defend the pick and roll while giving up 24 points in the paint in the first half alone.
IU trailed by 10 at one point but cut the lead to seven by halftime. The Hoosiers eventually trailed by only five points early in the second half, but that’s as close as they’d get.
Michigan went on a run to extend the lead to 12 points by the under-16 media timeout. It also wasn’t until 16:02 remained in the game that IU’s leading scorer, freshman forward Trayce Jackson-Davis, scored his first field goal. He only had three shot attempts in the game along with two rebounds.
One of the few positives for IU in the game came from Davis. He was a perfect 9-9 from the field for 18 points. He stepped up as the rest of the IU frontcourt struggled against center Jon Teske and forward Austin Davis.
In the second half, Michigan pulled away and maintained the lead throughout. Michigan also dominated the boards, outrebounding IU by 16. The Wolverines went 9-17 from beyond the arc while the Hoosiers were 3-12.
Up next for IU is another road game on Wednesday night at Minnesota. When the Hoosiers traveled to Minnesota last season, they lost by 21 points. The Golden Gophers have 10 wins at home this season.
