Another collapse for Michigan basketball, this time in an 81-62 rout by Michigan State

EAST LANSING — In a season that feels increasingly lost, Michigan basketball had a chance Tuesday night to find itself, even if only for the moment.

Instead, it was more of the same second-half flopping in a 81-62 loss to Michigan State at Breslin Center. The Wolverines led nearly the entire first half but got punched in the mouth out of the break: Following a Nimari Burnett 3-pointer, MSU made seven straight field goals as part of a 16-1 blitz covering 3:23, turning a five-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

Terrance Williams II scored U-M's next seven points to keep the game within seven, but Michigan's defense didn't string enough stops together to get any closer.

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“In the first half, as you guys got a chance to witness, it was two teams battling it out and defensively and, we did a really good job of protecting the basket, not allowing too many paint touches,” coach Juwan Howard said. “Also from a transition standpoint, guys did a fantastic job getting back in transition. … Also keeping them off the glass, we did a good job the first half.

“The difference was everything I just mentioned that we did great the first half, we had breakdowns in the second half with.”

With more than 10 minutes left in the game, Tuesday's contest felt out of reach after Tarris Reed Jr. missed a pair of free throws (sending the Breslin crowd into a frenzy as it made their tickets redeemable for free McNuggets afterward) and Tyson Walker followed on the other end with an three-point play on a layup to make it 61-46.

In all, MSU made 13 of its first 17 second-half shots, capped by Carson Cooper's dunk to make it 63-48 moments later. After allowing just one point in transition in the first half, U-M allowed 17 in the second.

Perhaps the worst stat was this: MSU outscored U-M in the paint, 34-6, in the final 20 minutes.

That speaks to the defensive woes.

"We will continue to keep working on it," Howard said. "It's a mindset. You have to really want to be dialed in to want to play defense. It's not going to show up in the box score, it's not going to show up on highlight moments, but you've got to have those moments with a guy driving in and you contest him at the rim.

"Even if he dunks it and you challenge, that's part of the game, it's OK to get dunked on. We can't have blow-bys, we can't have uncontested shots ... and I take full blame for that as a coach. I take the blame, it's on me, so we're going to work on it."

Getting the point

Michigan was shorthanded — leading scorer Dug McDaniel is still suspended for road games while he addresses academic issues — but Jaelin Llewellyn gave perhaps the best minutes of his time in maize and blue.

He set a personal high as a Wolverine with 18 points, fueled by four 3-pointers on six attempts, but didn't have enough help. Williams scored 14, Olivier Nkamhoua scored nine and Burnett and Tray Jackson each scored eight.

The game might have remained close had Michigan not struggled so much at the line, making just 14 of 26 free throws (53.8%). Then again, the Wolverines made just six of 24 shots (25%) in the second half, with just three 3-pointers on 11 tries (27.3%).

But worse than that, the defense struggled all night, particularly with Jaden Akins, MSU's junior wing who hit a career-high seven 3-pointers and led all scorers with 23 points. A.J. Hoggard finished with 15 points and seven assists for the Spartans while Walker and Hall each scored 12.

"Tyson Walker, he's the head of the snake, let's call it what it is — he's not only one of the best players in our conference, but in college basketball," Howard said. "There was a big emphasis in our gameplan making sure he had to work for every bucket. At times we got creative defensively. ... But we can't allow other guys to get ignited with confidence.

"Those shots Jaden made were just mental breakdowns."

Michigan has now lost four consecutive games, nine of its past 10 and 14 of its past 18. The MSU win marked Tom Izzo's 700th career victory, and on his 69th birthday, no less.

"A Hall of Fame coach, he's an example of what a lot of us coaches are striving to become," Howard said. "The success he's had in college basketball, the work is right there, looking, glaring at you. I mean the man grinded.

"I really admire coach in a lot of ways. Yes, it's a rivalry, it's always going to be a rivalry, but at the same time you've got to give respect when respect is due. ... I'm trying to get to that level."

When it all flipped

Michigan led, 35-28, after a Llewellyn 3 with 1:42 to play in the first half, but the Wolverines didn't score again before the intermission. MSU did, however, entering the break with momentum after a 5-0 spurt to make it a two-point deficit.

After Burnett's 3, the floodgates turned green-and-white: Malik Hall hit a fadeaway in the lane, Hoggard hit a slashing layup, Hall followed with another scooping layup for the tie and then, after it appeared U-M had an offensive rebound to stem the tide, Walker stole the ball from Llewellyn from behind and went the other way for a layup and a two-point lead.

"We've just got to lock in more on the details," Llewellyn said. "I'm not really sure, we try to focus on trying to stay together when teams go on a run. ... Staying together is what helps us be able to punch back.

"(Tonight), I mean I felt we stuck together, but they just got rolling and the crowd got into it."

MSU never trailed again as U-M's defense resumed its porous second-half ways.

Continuing the Spartans' run, Hoggard threw a skip pass to Akins for a corner 3-pointer, Hall made another basket and Akins hit yet another transition 3 to cap the 16-1 run — in all, a 21-4 stretch going back to final 78 seconds of the first half.

Michigan's red-hot first half

The Wolverines couldn't have asked for anything more to open; after falling behind 5-3 early and missing two of their first three shots, they went on a heater offensively.

U-M made 10 of its next 11 shots from the floor as almost everybody who was on the court got in on the action: A Burnett 3-pointer gave U-M an 8-5 lead, then after Tre Hollomon answered with a 3, Michigan didn't miss a shot from the field for more than 9 minutes.

Llewellyn hit a 3-pointer with 1 second left on the shot clock, Reed Jr. followed with a lefty hook, then after a Llewellyn floater made it a seven-point game, it was Reed's turn for a desperation 3-pointer — the first of his career — as the shot clock expired to put U-M up 18-9 with 11:25 left in the half.

But the offense was only getting started. After MSU trimmed its deficit to four, Jackson — wearing a black mask to protect his broken nose — hit consecutive slashing layups.

Then, Williams and Nkamhoua — who sat 10 of the first 13 minutes with foul trouble — hit consecutive midrange jumpers to extend the field-goal streak to eight and the lead to 27-21.

U-M finally missed a shot when Coen Carr swatted a Nkamhoua dunk attempt. But U-M retained possession and Nkamhoua made a layup off the inbound pass to extend the lead back to six.

Michigan cooled off soon after, making just two of its final seven attempts from the field. Still, both were Llewellyn 3s — giving him three in the half — with the last putting Michigan up seven.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball folds in 2nd half of 81-62 loss to Michigan State