Michigan basketball falls again, 71-65, to Maryland in home finale
A once promising Michigan basketball season feels as if it’s on life support.
The Wolverines, despite their 9-3 record over their past 12 games entering Thursday, hadn’t excelled in nearly two months. It’s starting to catch up to them, continuing Wednesday at Crisler Center in U-M’s home finale in which head coach Dusty May’s team turned the ball over too many times (16), didn’t make enough 3-pointers (seven) and played just another generally sloppy game that ended as a 71-65 loss to Maryland.
The worst part of the night for No. 15 Michigan (22-8, 14-5 Big Ten? It officially no longer controls its own destiny for a Big Ten championship. The loss gave Michigan State a share of the conference title (Tom Izzo’s 11th in 30 seasons) and an MSU win Thursday at Iowa would give Izzo his fourth outright league title.
Michigan was in the Big Ten driver’s seat just a few weeks back, but with cold shooting up and down the lineup, the car has seemingly stalled. Danny Wolf was a bright spot early, scoring half of U-M’s 22 points before the break. He finished with with 20 and seven rebounds, while Vlad Goldin nearly powered the comeback with 20 points, including 14 in the second half, and 13 rebounds. But no other Wolverine scored more than eight.
Rodney Rice scored 19 for Maryland while Selton Miguel and Derik Queen both added 17.
The Wolverines wrap up the regular season on Sunday in East Lansing (noon, CBS) in what they hope is a for a chance to share the Big Ten title.
Michigan trailed by 11 to open the second half when Tre Donaldson dropped in a scooping layup.
Maryland looked poised to pull away as it got up 12, thanks to three straight Wolf turnover, but the Terps missed all the looks on the other end before Goldin woke up. The 7-footer hit consecutive shots in the paint, got an offensive rebound and hit both free throws and then hit another floater in the lane for eight straight points to get the Wolverines within 44-37.
That’s when Rubin Jones stripped Rice, and Donaldson got the loose ball and flipped it up court to L.J. Cason, who threw down a slam to get within five with 13:11 to go.
The rally was shortlived, however, as Ja’Kobi Gillespie and Rice canned consecutive 3s 40 seconds apart to go back up 11.
U-M wouldn’t go down without a fight. Burnett threw down a slam, then after Donaldson had a steal, he hit a 3 in front of the logo and Wolf threw down a transition dunk to get within four. It got as close as two, 54-52, when Roddy Gayle Jr. reeled in a loose ball and threw down a slam dunk on a breakout with 9:03 remaining, but Maryland responded.
The Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the ensuing three minutes and Wolf missed a pair of free throws, before Queen (who also missed a pair moments later) hit two from the stripe to make it 63-57 Maryland with 3:48 left.
After Goldin had the ball ripped away on one end, Julian Reese hit a pair of free throws on the other to go up eight. Wolf missed a layup and Tschetter missed a midrange shot, but Burnett drilled a 3 from the right corner to make it a five-point game with 89 seconds remaining.
U-M needed a stop, but instead, Goldin committed a foul after Maryland bled 24 seconds off the shot clock, and Rice hit two free throws.
Wolf made a putback and Donaldson hit a 3 from the left wing with 17.5 seconds left to get within 69-65, but Maryland closed it out from the stripe despite not making a field goal over the final six minutes of play.
Michigan went on a 10-0 run in 1:22 to turn a 7-4 deficit into a 14-7 lead as it made four consecutive shots, including a Wolf 3 from the top of the key and a Burnett 3 from the right wing. Outside of that spurt, however, the Wolverines were an abysmal 6-for-28 from the floor (and 0-for-7 beyond the arc).
As has been a problem all season, U-M also gave the ball away too many times — seven times in the first half, to be specific — which led to 11 Maryland points off turnovers. Another issue of late: Keeping opponents off the glass. U-M again struggled, giving up six offensive rebounds for 12 second-chance points before halftime.
The Terrapins, not known for their depth, hadn’t scored a bench point in 114 consecutive minutes before Jordan Geronimo hit a bucket and had a thunderous slam; Kevin Willard’s reserves outscored May’s, 4-0, in the first half.
Wolf had 11 of Michigan’s 22 points as U-M made just 10 of 32 shots (31.3%) and two of nine 3-pointers (22.2%) while Maryland went into the break on a 26-8 run over the final 11:25 of the half.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
Comeback falls short
First half slopfest
Michigan’s Danny Wolf throws down dunk to trim deficit against Maryland
Danny Wolf threw down a dunk that trimmed the Michigan Wolverines’ deficit against the Maryland Terrapins.
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