Michigan basketball's freefall continues with 97-68 loss at Illinois
When Illinois and Michigan basketball met in Ann Arbor in late January, the Fighting Illini didn't have their leading scorer, the Wolverines had theirs, and Illinois still won by 15.
On Tuesday, the Illini had their leading scorer back while the Wolverines were without their top offensive facilitator; the result that followed was fairly predictable. Terrence Shannon Jr. delivered a 3-point barrage late in the first half en route to scoring 31 points to bury Michigan, 97-68.
"It started with his ability to attack the basket, it gave him that comfort level," Michigan coach Juwan Howard told Michigan broadcaster Brian Boesch. "Then, on the perimeter, he gets a chance to feel like there’s a comfort level and stare at the rim. Of course, a defender (wasn't always) closing out to him, where he’s able to line the ball up and see it go in. In the first half, he was just too comfortable; we gave him too many open looks.
“Left the shooter in the corner, he got open and made us pay.”
Michigan's defense has been much maligned and Tuesday's performance was hardly a repudiation of that. But the Illini offense was also frequently hitting on all cylinders, including a stretch early in the first half with 10-for-12 shooting, then another stretch over the middle portion of the game with just one miss in 12 tries.
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The Illini were shooting better than 65% from the floor and better than 61% beyond the arc after their 20-8 spurt to open the second half, as their lead hit 30 points when Shannon buried a pair of free throws with nearly 15 minutes left to play.
It reached 37 later in the half, Michigan's largest deficit of the Howard era, with just under 6 minutes remaining.
Illinois finished shooting 56.3% from the floor (36-for-64) and 48% on 3s (12-for-25) despite reserves playing nearly the final 9 minutes of the game.
Meanwhile, Michigan shot 42.1% (24-for-57) while narrowly avoiding another indignity on offense: Will Tschetter's 3-pointer with 72 seconds remaining ended a run of nine straight misses beyond the arc as the Wolverines threatened finishing without a made 3 for the first time since March 3, 2013 (in a 58-57 win at Michigan State).
"We didn't shoot the ball like we've normally done in the past," Howard said. "That hurt us as well."
Terrance Williams II led Michigan (8-17, 3-11 Big Ten) with 17 points, Tarris Reed Jr was effective low with 13 points and seven rebounds and Olivier Nkamhoua added 13 points, four rebounds and three assists.
Hawkins complemented Shannon's 31 points (on 11-for-15 shooting) with 17 points, five rebounds, five assists and a pair of blocks and Marcus Domask added 13 points.
Howard is now 0-8 in his career vs. Illinois.
From bad to worse
Just in case the Illini's 16-2 run to turn a four-point lead with 4:09 remaining in the first half into an 18-point edge at the break didn't abuse the Wolverines of their upset hopes, the opening minutes of the second half likely did.
Hawkins hit a 3, Shannon had a layup lead to a three-point play and then made a stepback 3 over Reed, celebrating with an imploring of the Illini crowd to get louder. Reed's own three-point play, followed with a dunk off a lob, wasn't nearly enough to slow Illinois' head of steam.
Hawkins hit another 3 and a pair of free throws and then, after Nkmahoua made a midrange jumper, Quincy Guerrier made a putback layup and Shannon added a transition layup and a pair of free throws.
For the second game in a row, Michigan was in a 30-point hole.
It got worse. Michigan had a 2:51 stretch without a made field goal, and then another run of 5:12 without a score from the floor as the deficit hit 37 with 5:57 remaining.
Late collapse in opening half
Michigan came out looking to establish itself in the paint through Reed, who scored a career-high 20 points against the Illini in January. February wasn't as kind. The 6-foot-10 sophomore took six of Michigan’s first 10 shots and made just one, a difficult running hook over Hawkins.
Michigan grabbed four offensive rebounds in the first 5 minutes and kept up with Illinois with eight points in the paint by the first break, but it didn't last much past the first media timeout, as the Illini made seven straight layups to grab a double-digit lead 9 minutes in.
"We had opportunities at the rim, just didn't finish well," Howard said. "Did a good job of attacking the paint. ... Just didn't finish like we were capable of."
U-M's highlight of the half came when Tray Jackson came flying in for a poster transition dunk over Hawkins; even that joy was shortlived, as Marcus Domask answered with a layup on the other end.
Desperate for a stop, the Wolverines temporarily switched into a zone defense, which seemed to create problems. The Illini missed their next five field goal tries for a 2:58 scoring drought. Jaelin Llewellyn, meanwhile, hit a pair of free throws and Tschetter threw down a transition dunk after a nifty one-handed bounce pass from George Washington III to cut the deficit to seven.
Quincy Guerrier buried a 3 to make it a 10-point game again, but that was Illinois’ only field goal made over a 5:34 run. In the meantime, Michigan got back to its aggressive offensive attack and scored five straight baskets, all but one of which came in the paint.
It was a solid response, but one negated by the half-ending onslaught from Shannon and his Illini.
Shannon drilled consecutive 3-pointers from the right corner, Domask made a midrange jumper from the baseline and Shannon knocked down a transition 3. He then was credited for a layup after Reed was called for goaltending, After a Nkamhoua baseline floater, Shannon made yet another 3-pointer from the right corner to send the State Farm Center crowd into a frenzy.
In the final minute of the first half, Shannon came up with a swat on Nimari Burnett, then drove the lane. U-M's defense had no choice but to collapse, and he calmly kicked the ball out to Luke Goode for a 3-pointer to make it 47-29 at the half.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball freefall continues with 97-68 loss at Illinois
