Michigan basketball's lack of depth may be biggest problem in a season from hell

COLUMBUS, Ohio — The only players remaining on the court were either walk-ons or freshmen as the clock ticked down below 30 seconds, yet still U-M basketball coach Juwan Howard held up five fingers to signal a defensive formation to his team.

Michigan (8-22, 3-16 Big Ten) tied the program record for losses in a season with its 84-61 defeat at Ohio State on Sunday, and now has as many losses by 15 points or more (eight) as it does victories this season.

The Wolverines have lost seven straight for the first time since the 2004-05 season, and lost 17 of 19 games for the first time this century.

However it didn't sound like any of that was the case postgame.

"This is a really important week (upcoming) for us because we have no games, we have a lot of practice time," Howard said. "We have to keep hammering in on those basics, so this is a great week for us. Kids can get in the gym, we don't have to worry about the schedule of a two-day prep back to a game, then two-day prep and another game.

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"No, now we have a free week where we can just get in the lab and get better."

It's a cruel irony, the Wolverines' bye finally coming when the season has just one regular season game remaining.

This may go down as the worst Michigan basketball season in history, which dates back more than 100 years, but it won't be because Howard or the players quit; he and the leaders of the team say they won't allow it.

"I will always continue to keep bringing that positive energy to our group," Howard said. "It starts with leadership and that's me. If I come in with a negative attitude, I come in pointing fingers or doubting our group, all that's going to do is make things worse.

"I will continue to keep teaching as well as feeding life into our group with confidence and positive energy."

The missing piece(s)

Like it's done so many times this season, Michigan fought hard late into the second half.

U-M cut an eight-point deficit to one, then fell behind again by 15 early in the second half, only to get back within six with 12:20 to play. After a 6-0 Ohio State run, Michigan went on a 7-2 spurt of its own and got within seven, when Terrance Williams II had the ball streaking up court with a layup attempt that would have made it a two-possession game.

Instead, it was one of the Wolverines' 18 turnovers, and served as the turning point.

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Ohio State went on a 22-4 blitz in the next 5:35 of the game and turned a once-close rivalry clash into a runaway. Howard lamented the turnovers afterwards — Michigan lost the giveaway battle 18-16, and points off turnovers 27-18 — but there was a greater difference in bench production.

The Buckeyes reserves outscored the Wolverines 40-10, and that's counting five garbage-time points by Cooper Smith and one by Harrison Hochberg.

"It's pretty tough," said Tarris Reed Jr. after the game. "We were so focused on trying to take their role players out of the game that the bench comes in and has an impact and that can't happen. We have to be more locked in defensively on our jobs, our skillsets and know what we have to do on the defensive end."

Michigan's bench has been an issue all season. On Sunday, the roster was shorthanded because it was without Oliver Nkamhoua, who has undergone season-ending wrist surgery. For weeks, U-M did not have Dug McDaniel, who scored 19 on Sunday, due to an academic suspension.

Since the season began, the Wolverines have had two open scholarships: per KenPom Michigan is 324th in bench minutes (23.7%).

"I mean, their bench contributing 40 points, that's a lot," Williams said. "Fresh bodies coming in and out, contributing like that, that's a good thing to have on a team ... I feel like our bench can do that as well, we've just got to stay dialed in all times and that's been kind of our problem all year, is not being dialed in."

That, as much as anything, is the difference between the winning Michigan fans remember and now.

Williams has seen just about everything college basketball has to offer. From an Elite Eight appearance his freshman year, to a Sweet 16 game as a sophomore, a bubble battle as a junior and now whatever this is as a senior, there's a lot that has to go right for teams to win.

"The year we won the Big Ten my freshman year, I think we were deep and all played together," he said. "We had a bench. Me, Chaundee (Brown), Austin Davis, Brandon Johns, and that's coming off the bench. Then you got Franz (Wagner) Isaiah (Livers) Eli (Brooks) ... we just really connected on that court.

"Part of that I think was COVID. We stayed together a lot and built good team chemistry and I don't know if we did that as much this year. We just had that team chemistry, team camaraderie, five on the court and five coming off the bench."

'I remember that feeling'

The players and coaches have had to find a way to block out the detractors in this disastrous season. For Williams it's been getting off Instagram and Twitter for the season, and it's something that can't stop now.

"I've been off social media, so I'm not really hearing the noise this year, so that's me personally," he said. "Hopefully everybody else is not listening to the noise either. We need everybody in the locker room; our coaches, support staff, teammates to stay dialed in to what we've got to accomplish."

Accomplish is a relative term. Unless it does something it hasn't done since December — win multiple games in a month — it will be the first time Michigan finishes with fewer than 10 wins since 1981-82, when it started the year 0-13.

Howard was asked what it's like going through a league like the Big Ten — not top heavy, but whose 13th team is stronger than any other conference in America — during a season like this.

Instead he thought back to what it was like a few years back. Days Howard hopes soon return.

"When you're winning, the food tastes five-star level and the pillow is more like a Sleep Number pillow or something like that," he said. "Talk to coach (Matt) Painter, they just closed out as far as Big Ten championship.

"I remember that feeling. That was a great feeling when we won it in 2021. Everything felt great."

Contact Tony Garcia: apgarcia@freepress.com. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.

Next up: Cornhuskers

Matchup: Michigan (8-22, 3-16 Big Ten) vs. Nebraska (21-9, 11-8).

Tipoff: Noon Saturday; Crisler Center, Ann Arbor.

TV/radio: Big Ten Network; WWJ-AM (950).

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: This may be Michigan basketball's biggest problem in season from hell