Michigan beat up in the paint, on the glass, falls to Illinois, 88-73

Michigan Wolverines basketball surrendered 13 offensive rebounds that led to 16 second-chance points, 20 made shots at the rim and 22 free throws in an 88-73 loss to No. 14 Illinois Thursday night at Crisler Center.

Michigan trailed by one point at the half and the same amount with under 14 minutes to go, but the train went off the rails with Illinois out-scoring U-M 51-37 in the second half and 40-26 in the final 13 minutes.

U-M is now 7-11 overall and 2-5 in Big Ten play. Illinois moves to 14-4 and 5-2 in the league.

Here’s a recap of how the game unfolded.

First half

Michigan sophomore forward Tarris Reed Jr. had a mismatch with Illinois guard Marcus Domask on him on the first possession, and easily scored over him to give the Maize and Blue a 2-0 lead. Illinois fired out to a 7-0 run after that, though, making 3 of its first 4 field goals including a triple from forward Coleman Hawkins. The Illini led 7-2 at the 15:58 media timeout. Guard Ty Rodgers made 2 free throws out of the timeout to make it 9-2 early. A Quincy Guerrier put-back dunk put the Illini up 11-2, also marking their 3rd offensive board of the night.

Michigan made a mini run with four-straight points with a free-throw-line jumper from Reed and a runner from sophomore guard Dug McDaniel. McDaniel hit a triple with just over 13 minutes to go to cut the deficit to five, 13-8.

Michigan senior forward Terrance Williams II missed a layup that turned into a wide-open transition three from Gurrier on the other end. Graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua hit a three and graduate guard Jaelin Llewellyn made a layup to answer, making it 18-15 Illinois. The Illini held a 20-15 advantage at the 10:23 mark, at which point head coach Juwan Howard called timeout.

Illinois held a 24-21 lead at the under-eight media timeout, after Reed made a layup to make it a three-point game. Both teams were playing efficient offense, shooting 45-plus percent from the field with 1 turnover a piece.

Graduate guard Nimari Burnett picked up his second foul at the 5:06 mark, with Illinois leading 27-25. He went to the bench with Llewellyn replacing him.

Domask began to heat up late in the half, with four points and an assist in less than a minute stretch. He did travel the next time down, though, with Michigan taking over possession at the 2:38 mark, down 35-31.

Down 37-33 with just over 30 seconds to play, Nkamhoua kicked the ball out of the post to Llewellyn, who hit a contested three and drew a foul but missed the free throw. Michigan got a stop on the other end, making the Illinois lead 37-36 at the break.

Nkamhoua (9 points), Reed (8), McDaniel (8) and Llewellyn (7) led the way in the scoring column for the Maize and Blue. Hawkins paced all scorers with 10 points, while Domask added six first-half points. The Wolverines shot 50 percent from the field, while Illinois was at 45 percent. The difference was the Illini’s 7 offensive rebounds and 8 second-chance points.

Second half

Illinois started the half by getting a stop, before Domask was fouled by Reed on the other end, making one of two free throws to go up 38-36.

Michigan tied it up at 38-38, before the Illinois surged out to another early-half 7-0 run. Howard called timeout after a Domask layup at the 16:25 mark, with Illinois up 45-38.

Illinois continued to draw help by getting into the paint, with Domask hitting wing Luke Goode for a wide-open top-of-the-key tripe to make it 48-40 with under 16 minutes remaining. Illinois was out-scoring Michigan, 11-4, in the second half to that point.

A right corner triple from Nkamhoua pulled Michigan within three with under 15 minutes to go, after Williams was fouled underneath. It was 48-45 Illinois at that point.

Michigan got it to 48-47, but Illinois took a four-point lead after a questionable out-of-bounds call allowed it to retain possession, leading to an and-one from Justin Harmon. After a Goode three, Harmon steal and dunk in transition and Rodgers layup, the Illini suddenly had a 58-47 advantage with 11:33 to play. Illinois scored 10 points in the matter of a minute and 14 seconds. McDaniel happened to be on the bench for just that stretch.

Illinois continued to overpower Michigan inside. Its 33rd and 34th points in the paint came on a Guerrier second-chance bucket. The Illini had 11 offensive boards that led to 12 second-chance points at that juncture, leading 63-49 with over eight minutes remaining. Michigan hadn’t scored in over two minutes, missing its last 8 field goal tries.

Illinois led 65-49 at the under-eight media timeout. Both teams had shot 17 second-half field goal attempts to that point. Illinois made 10 to Michigan’s 4. The Illini were on a 17-2 run over a 4:48 span.

Michigan made it a 10-point game (71-61) with just over four minutes to play and had the ball in transition. However, Nkamhoua turned the ball over inside and Illinois scored on their 18th made shot at the rim for the game, making it 73-61 with 3:54 to go, with Illinois calling timeout.

Michigan couldn’t gain any traction, even two and-ones by Reed, and an and-one and layup from Williams in a two-minute stretch. Illinois led 80-71 with a minute and a half to play. The Wolverines played pressure defense and continued to foul to no avail, and Illinois won 88-73.