Michigan basketball players lament brutal loss to Rutgers: 'Good lesson for the younger guys'
Michigan basketball faces an uncertain future after a 62-50 loss to Rutgers in the Big Ten Tournament. A 17-15 season could either continue with a trip to the NIT or end abruptly after 5 losses in the final 8 games. The only known is that an NCAA Tournament appearance is likely not happening for the first time since 2015.
The Wolverines went the first 19 minutes of the second half with only a single field goal after leading at halftime. Several players had their worst efforts of the season, headlined by a rough day at the office for sophomore guard Kobe Bufkin. He finished the day with 9 points and 7 turnovers, which was a low point for him this season.
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“Give credit where credit is due,” Bufkin told the media after the game. “Obviously Rutgers is a very good defensive team. Personally, I felt like I probably played my worst brand of basketball on the worst day to play it. Seven turnovers are unacceptable. But give credit where credit is due. They’re a very good defensive team.”
The lowest point of the game for Michigan came down 40-39 in the second half. Rutgers guard Derrick Simpson hit on his first of two free throw attempts but missed the second. Not a single Wolverine made an effort to box him out – namely freshman Jett Howard, who appeared to miss his assignment. The three-point sequence kicked off a 12-0 run for the Scarlet Knights.
That would be the margin they won by, for those doing the math at home.
“It is a little deflating,” junior center Hunter Dickinson said. “Just miscommunication between us, the guys out there. That’s something we practice a lot. Unacceptable. The coaches emphasize it in practice and in timeouts of one guy declaring the shooter, one guy pinching in. So that’s just on the players on the floor to do a better job of communicating to one another.”
For Dickinson, this season has been like a trip through the Twilight Zone. During his first two years on campus, Michigan advanced to the Elite Eight and Sweet Sixteen in 2021 and 2022, respectively. This season, they will not get the chance to do so.
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The only way it becomes digestible is if it is a learning experience. The season has been full fo them.
“I think it was just a really good lesson for the younger guys because we had a pretty young team,” Dickinson said. “So I think it was just really good experience for them to realize how much these opportunities mean and how quickly they can go, especially once you get to March when you’ve only got one game. Like Coach always says, one-game series.
“So you’ve just got to play your heart out. Every little mistake really adds up in the end, so you’ve got to try to take every possession and have that possession mean everything for you.”
Selection Sunday is a few days away, and Michigan will probably not hear its name called. The NIT field should be set shortly after that. We do not know if this is the last we have seen of this group of Wolverines. But if it is, what a sour note to end on.
