Michigan drops Battle 4 Atlantis finale to Texas Tech
The Michigan Wolverines fell to 4-3 on the young season on Friday night thanks to a 73-57 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in the Battle 4 Atlantis 5th-place game. The setback is U-M’s third loss in the last three games since starting the season 3-0.
Michigan’s trek to the Bahamas started with a 71-67 loss to Memphis on Wednesday night before rebounding with an 83-78 win over Stanford on Thanksgiving night. On Friday, the Wolverines were led by graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua‘s 16 points, while sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel chipped in with 12 points of his own.
Next up is a trip to Oregon on Dec. 2. Here’s the recap from Friday night’s finale in Atlantis.
First half
Texas Tech took a quick lead on a layup 16 seconds into the game before Michigan’s Olivier Nkamhoua answered with a jumper of his own. That would be the last time that the Wolverines did not trail in the game with the Red Raiders holding an 8-5 lead at the first media timeout. Tarris Reed hit a free throw that cut the lead to 8-6 before a 5-0 run from Texas Tech and Williams, who hit a three and a layup to extend the lead to 13-6 with 14:114 left in the half.
Terrance Williams hit a jumper to narrow the deficit to 13-8, which was answered at the other end of the floor with a Texas Tech dunk. Reed split another pair of free throws at 12:21 to cut the lead to 15-9 in favor of TTU.
Unfortunately, that would be the point where things began to spiral for Michigan. The Red Raiders went on a 9-0 run to balloon their lead to 24-9 at the 8:04 mark before Dug McDaniel ended a five-minute U-M scoring drought at 7:13. McDaniel got hot over the next minute, hitting a layup and a shot from the paint to help Michigan pull within 11 at 26-15 with 6:09 remaining.
After a pair of Texas Tech free throws, Tray Jackson hit a shot in the paint to bring the score to 28-17. Another 5-0 run followed from TTU, which was broken by a Williams free throw and a Youssef Khayat three-pointer to pull within 33-21 with 3:01 to go. The two teams combined for only one basket the rest of the way, a Texas Tech layup with 56 remaining that sent the game to 35-21.
There was some drama heading into the locker room with Michigan head coach Juwan Howard, serving as a bench observer while still recovering from heart surgery, was ejected from the game.
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Second half
The second half did not start any better for Michigan with Texas Tech rattling off a 5-0 run to take a 40-21 lead 20 seconds into the half. There were four technical free throws to shoot due to the Howard ejection, plus the ensuing possession for the Red Raiders.
Michigan hung in there for the first five minutes of the half, getting the lead down to 12 at 47-35 in favor of Texas Tech at 15:24. Nkamhoua’s presence helped give U-M a puncher’s chance after a three-pointer at 14:38 that had the score at 50-38. Unfortunately, a 13-2 run from the Red Raiders over the next four and a half minutes swung the game in the other direction. Texas Tech would lead 63-40 with 10:01 to go in the game.
Michigan worked itself back into chipping away at the lead, answering with an 8-0 run of their own thanks to a three from Williams, three points from Jackson and a layup from Nkamhoua, setting the score at 63-48 with 7:53 to go.
Over the next few minutes, the two teams would trade points and Texas Tech led 67-51 at the final media timeout at 4:00. Nkamhoua and Williams would hit a couple of baskets late, but Texas Tech was able to tread water and grab a 73-57 win over U-M.
Michigan vs. Texas Tech final box score
