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Michigan entered Wednesday’s home game against Penn State coming off two straight conference losses and having fallen back out of the AP Top 25.
A momentum shift was needed, but instead it was more of the same for the Wolverines, who dropped their first home game in conference play, 72-63.
Michigan is now 11-7 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten after opening the season 7-0 and skyrocketing to No. 4 in the nation.
Five takeaways from a disappointing night in Ann Arbor:
1. WOLVERINes are in free fall
With Wednesday’s loss, the Wolverines have now lost three games in a row, four of their last five, and six of their last nine. To make matters worse, two of Michigan’s three wins during that stretch came against Presbyterian and UMass-Lowell, meaning the Wolverines are 1-6 in their last seven games against power conference opponents. Adversity has struck in Juwan Howard’s first season as head coach at Michigan, and he’ll need to find a way to rally his players to overcome it.
2. No easy answers here
Looking at the box score, there’s not a single player or statistic you can point at to explain the performance tonight. This was the epitome of a team loss. Zavier Simpson shot under 35 percent from the floor and had six turnovers. Jon Teske failed to stay out of foul trouble once again. Franz Wagner was 1-of-8 from the three-point line. Eli Brooks started 3-of-4 from the floor and finished 4-of-12. David DeJulius, who has been a spark plug-type player off the bench this season, finished with 2 points and was 0-of-3 from the floor. The full roster, top to bottom, contributed to this incredibly poor performance.
3. SHots still aren’t falling
We’re passed the point where we can call these ‘shooting woes’. It’s more accurate right now to simply say that Michigan is not a good shooting team. There’s not much more to say: The Wolverines were 24-of-68 from the floor (35 percent) and an abysmal 5-of-28 from three-point range (18 percent). The numbers tell the story. Michigan has had a rough go of it shooting the ball for much of the past two months, and the performance tonight may have been the crescendo of that fact.
4. teske hits the glass
Jon Teske came into Wednesday’s game averaging 7.6 rebounds per game. That’s not a bad number, but it’s somewhat underwhelming for a guy his size. The senior reached double-digit rebounds against the Nittany Lions however, finishing with 11. Teske needs to reach double-digit rebounds more consistently moving forward, there’s really no excuse for a guy his size to not be more of a force on the glass.
5. Not going to get much easier
Looking at what Michigan has coming up, the schedule continues to look challenging. The Wolverines play host to No. 21 Illinois this coming Saturday, before hitting the road for a trip to Nebraska. Michigan is winless in true road games this season. The Wolverines will then return home for a matchup against No. 24 Rutgers, before hosting rivals Ohio State and Michigan State in back-to-back contests. Injured starter Isaiah Livers appears to be getting closer to a return, and its hard to imagine the Wolverines being more desperate for his presence on the floor than they are right now.