Despite hanging around with No. 3 Michigan for most of the first half, the IU men’s basketball team was clearly outmatched in its 73-57 loss to the Wolverines on Saturday.
Senior guard Al Durham led the team in scoring with 15 points on his senior day and last regular season game at Assembly Hall.
“He’s finishing the way that you like seniors to finish by rallying our troops and staying positive,” Miller said. “But at the end of the day, he is playing so hard, he's working very, very hard right now for us. And it's up to us to figure out how we can deliver a better performance on his senior day.”
It wasn’t enough to overcome Michigan. The Hoosiers were without sophomore guard Armaan Franklin, who was out with a foot injury and likely won’t play the rest of the regular season. But they couldn’t rely on sophomore guard Trayce Jackson-Davis to do it all.
Jackson-Davis — who has 10 double-doubles this season — scored just 10 points and only grabbed four rebounds. He finished the first half with 3 points.
IU got off to a quick start from behind the arc. Junior guard Rob Phinisee and sophomore forward Jerome Hunter hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put the team up 8-7, both off a dribble handoff and screen from Jackson-Davis.
But IU got out of rotation easily with Michigan’s quick ball movement on the offensive end, leaving the Wolverines open to drain easy 3-pointers. Between the 3-pointers and sending sophomore guard Franz Wagner to the free-throw line, the Wolverines outscored the Hoosiers 10-4 over three minutes to regain a 22-16 lead.
IU had no answer for Michigan’s size on defense and ended up allowing the Wolverines to shoot 18 free throws in the first half.
And it didn’t help that Jackson-Davis didn’t score his first point until 10 minutes into the game on a free throw. Then a minute after, junior forward Race Thompson drove down the baseline and bounced the ball to Jackson-Davis who flew in the air for a left-handed slam, drawing the foul, too, to put IU down just 1 point.
But that was about the most aggression the Hoosiers would get from Jackson-Davis. He struggled to finish around the rim, not being able to play through the contact against freshman center Hunter Dickinson — missing nine field goals against Michigan.
Although Hunter drained a step back jumper to send IU into halftime down by 9 points, the team struggled to overcome that deficit in the second half.
Senior guard Isaiah Livers came out and nailed three 3-pointers in a row in the first three minutes of the second half, putting Michigan up 51-38.
“I think our 3-point field goal percentage defense has really suffered because of our lack of smarts, effort in communication and transition over the course of the season,” Miller said. “Transition defense has been our biggest problem.”
The Hoosiers also couldn’t stop the Wolverines down low, giving up 30 points in the paint and being outrebounded 37-27.
Their answer to stopping 7-foot, 1-inch Hunter Dickinson and 6-foot, 9-inch Wagner down low was typically fouling and sending them to the free-throw line. Michigan scored 17 of its 73 points from the free-throw line, shooting 90%.
IU will be back in action again Tuesday at Michigan State for its second-to-last regular season game after falling to the Spartans on Feb. 20.
“We gotta come out hungrier than the other opponent, we got to come out just wanting it more,” Durham said. “I feel like we just got to lock in, get even better each day. And continue to lock in and stay with the process. And after that, we'll break through here soon.”
