Shorthanded Michigan basketball falls at Northwestern, 76-62, in familiar second-half flop

EVANSTON, Ill. — It might be the only place where boos are actually cheers, and they came loud and often.

One from the Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd as Boo Buie was the final Wildcat introduced. An even louder chorus when he scored the game's opening bucket on a backdoor layup. Even more for him still when he drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer to become Northwestern's all-time leading scorer.

All a shorthanded Michigan basketball (8-19, 3-13 Big Ten) could do — without starting point guard and leading scorer Dug McDaniel (still out for road games on an adademic suspension), forward Olivier Nkamhoua (the Wolverines' second-leading scorer who underwent season-ending wrist surgery on Tuesday) and Will Tschetter (its leading reserve, out due to illness) — was delay the inevitable.

U-M led much of the first half, but Northwestern got a 76-62 victory Thursday, giving the Wolverines their 14th loss in 16 games. It's the worst stretch for U-M since the program dropped 15 of 17 during the 2007-08 season, John Beilein's first in Ann Arbor.

"It was hard, I can't kid you," Michigan coach Juwan Howard said of game prep. "There were times we only had six guys at practice that were available. Another moment we had eight guys available for practice. There was no T-Reed, no Will Tschetter, obviously Olivier was not there.

"But I loved our mindset coming in, I wasn't going to allow our guys nor were they going to allow themselves to be worried about who's not playing. We've got to control the controllable, the guys who suit up, I trust we have enough to go out and compete, it's just unfortunate we didn't win the ballgame."

Michigan was up nine with 6:35 to go before halftime, but NU closed with an 18-6 spurt for a three-point lead at intermission.

The Wildcats then extended their advantage to seven early in the half before Nimari Burnett went on a heater for the Wolverines. He scored eight straight, en route to a team-high 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting, to put Michigan up one, 44-43, with 15:36 to play, but wouldn't score again as he attempted just one more shot from the floor.

Meanwhile Buie — who was honored with a postgame video tribute before posing for pictures with family and then dancing with his teammates — wasn't the only Wildcat clawing at the Wolverines.

Brooks Barnhizer and Ryan Langborg terrorized Michigan on 3-pointers, combining to make eight of 14 attempts beyond the arc. After Buie made a pair of free throws, Langborg — whose 3 to close the first half gave NU its first lead since the opening minute — made two in a row to stretch it to a seven-point lead.

Langborg led the Wildcats with 20 points, Barnhizer netted a double-double (19 points and 12 rebounds) and Buie finished with 16 points and seven assists.

In addition to its usual contributors — Terrance Williams II finished with 13 points and seven rebounds and Tarris Reed Jr. added 13 points and five rebounds — U-M got production from a few irregular faces.

Tray Jackson, a Detroit native who transferred from Seton Hall before this season, set a career high at U-M with 10 points, Jace Howard scored five (after entering with just 11 all season) and Youssef Khayat made his first 3-pointer in nearly three months.

Williams, who missed the MSU game with illness, "dug deep and gave it his all," said Howard, while Reed and Jace each made just one practice this week. The Wolverines were also without offensive play-caller Howard Eisley; instead Howard worked with video analyst Jaaron Simmons to orchestrate the attack.

"Our guys always have brought the effort," Howard said. "I really appreciate the guys that came out tonight, gave it their all."

Ran out of gas late

It wasn't enough, however, as some regular issues cropped up again in the final 15 minutes.

After U-M took a lead on Burnett's 3, it went 6:11 without a field goal. By the time Reed connected on a jumper with 9:25 remaining, all it did was get the Wolverines' deficit back to single digits.

On the other end, Michigan allowed a virtual layup line. Northwestern had five straight scores via layups or dunks before Michigan called a timeout to try and regroup with 6:05 to play, down by 11.

"We gave up 20 extra possessions," Howard said. "Look at the stat sheet, (we shot) 22 of 44 from the field, they're 30 of 64, it's hard to win those games when you're going against a really good team like Northwestern."

It was for naught. Just 6 seconds after the resumption of play, Reed was whistled for an offensive foul, followed by a Barnhizer fadeaway jumper. After Jackson blocked a Matthew Nicholson layoff attempt, the Wildcats made their next five field goals before they called it good with a 20-point lead — 76-56 — and less than 100 seconds to play.

The Wildcats also won the battle in points off turnovers (22-3), points in the paint (36-24) and second-chance points (15-7).

"That discrepancy is kind of what won them the game," Burnett said of the shot attempts. "If we were able to get as many attempts as them, we probably would have won."

Another respectable start

The Wolverines got a free throw from Reed and a layup from Burnett before they began their 3-point barrage.

Williams and Jackson connected on consecutive 3-pointers, then Howard made a slashing layup and Jaelin Llewellyn added a spinning layup from the left block, before Williams drilled another 3 from the left wing, putting three fingers to his head as he capped a 16-3 spurt to put U-M up 11 early.

When Reed later bulldozed his way for a layup, it capped a stretch where U-M's offense made seven of 11 shots to take an 18-8 lead. It helped that, simultaneously, the Wildcats couldn't make a shot.

After Buie's opening layup, Northwestern missed 14 of its next 16 attempts; its only makes came on a dunk and a layup. Barnhizer's 3-pointer with 10:44 to go, Northwestern's 18th field goal attempt, was the Wildcats' first score from outside the lane. But then Buie's record-setting 3 made it 18-14.

Michigan wasn't deterred.

"Overall collectively, I loved our disposition on the floor," Howard said. "Offensively and defensively,"

Jackson added a tip-in, Khayat made his first 3-pointer since Nov. 24 (vs. Texas Tech) and just his second of the season, Howard added a 3 of his own from the left corner and Williams connected on a layup to make it 28-19 Michigan with 6:35 to play in the half.

That's when Luke Hunger made a pair of free throws and Nicholson threw down a dunk, bringing down a rain of cats and dogs — or just 'Cats — from long range.

Barnhizer connected on an open look from the left corner, Langborg added one from the right wing and then Buie knocked one down with a hand in his face to knot the game at 30 and cap an 11-2 NU run in 2:33.

Once more U-M punched back, Burnett hit a tough turnaround in the lane and then an even tougher 3-pointer coming off a curl to put the Wolverines up three, but Michigan couldn't hold the lead going into the break.

The Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the final 2:34, the last of which gave Northwestern one final look, which Langborg drilled from the left corner to put the Wildcats up 37-34 at the break.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball falls short after halftime in loss at Northwestern