Michigan suffers 87-76 loss to McNeese State in buy game, falls below .500 on season

Michigan Wolverines basketball made 22 total field goals. McNeese State had 20 layups/dunks. The Wolverines turned it over 15 times and trailed by multiple possessions for the final 16 minutes of an 87-76 loss to head coach Will Wade‘s crew. Michigan is now 6-7 overall on the season, while the Cowboys moved to 11-2.

Here’s a recap of how the game unfolded.

First half

Michigan basketball had a sloppy start, prompting a head coach Juwan Howard timeout with a 6-3 deficit at the 17:25 mark. Sophomore guard Dug McDaniel began the game on the wrong note, with a turnover that led to a McNeese State layup on the other end. A few minutes later, another bad McDaniel pass led to a McNeese layup to give the Cowboys a 9-3 edge.

Back-to-back threes by graduate guard Nimari Burnett and McDaniel tied the game up at 9-9 with 16 minutes on the timer. A 25-footer by Burnett made it 12-9 Michigan just before the media timeout at 15:13 remaining.

Michigan began 5-of-7 from three-point range but had 6 turnovers in the first seven minutes. The Wolverines were 6-of-9 from the field at that point but had way too many giveaways.

The game was tied 17-17 before McNeese took a two-point lead with an and-one layup and made free throw by forward Cameron Jones. That play marked Michigan graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua‘s second foul. Graduate Tray Jackson entered the lineup in his place.

Michigan really struggled with Nkamhoua on the bench. With graduate Jaelin Llewellyn out with injury, the Wolverines didn’t have any guard depth and had to play four forwards at times.

Michigan went on a three-minute scoring drought and fell behind 27-21 after a quick 5-0 McNeese spurt highlighted by a DJ Richards Jr. triple.

McNeese opened up a 12-point edge with under six minutes to go in the half (35-23), before Michigan roared back with eight-straight points to get cut the deficit down to four points, 35-31. Redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter got a lot of run in the first half and scored five in a row with a transition layup and three-pointer during the surge.

Senior forward Terrance Williams II made his third triple of the game to give the Wolverines their first lead since just under the 14-minute mark. However, McNeese finished with five points in a row and entered the halftime locker room with a 40-37 advantage despite missing 10 field goal attempts in a row from 5:15 until there was under a minute to play.

The Wolverines had 10 turnovers that led to 11 McNeese points, the difference in the first half, not the 10 U-M made threes. McDaniel led the way with 12 points and 4 assists but gave the ball away on 4 possessions.

Second half

Nkamhoua started the half after sitting the final 12:22 of the first stanza with a pair of fouls. He had a tough time getting involved in the offense. He finally scored with a short jumper at the 17:33 mark.

Michigan trailed 49-43 at the under-16 media timeout. The Wolverines began the half 2-of-5 shooting from the field with a turnover.

The second half started similarly to the first half. Michigan called timeout at 13:16 after a 10-3 McNeese run that put it up 56-46. The Wolverines didn’t take care of the ball, with 3 turnovers in the first seven minutes of action. The Cowboys posted a quick 7 points off turnovers during that beginning stretch of the second half.

McNeese forward Christian Shumate finished a dunk in transition to give his team a 58-49 lead ahead of the under-12 media timeout. Michigan’s players appeared lifeless heading into the huddle, struggling to gain any ground as the midway point of the second half approached.

Michigan had cut back on the turnovers with 3 in the first eight minutes of the half, but it was only 4-of-12 shooting from the field and just 1-of-4 from three-point range. The Wolverines only had 5 made two-pointers, with this McNeese defense designed to take away shots at the rim.

The Wolverines kept treading water but didn’t cut into the McNeese lead, trailing 66-58 at the under-8 media timeout. Williams stayed hot with his fourth three of the game at the 8:06 mark, but McNeese answered with a CJ Felder layup over Jackson, who had a rough outing on both ends of the floor.

Michigan trailed 73-63 at the under-4 media break. The McNeese game plan paid off in the second half, allowing the Wolverines to fire from deep. They were cold, though, going 2-of-12 in the half to that point, while making just 6 two-point shots (and 8 for the game). On the other end, McNeese got to the rim with 19 made layups/dunks and 22 made shots inside the arc.

McNeese guard Javohn Garcia nailed a left-wing dagger three-pointer that put his team up 78-65 and all but ended Michigan’s hopes of a comeback victory. Many fans that stuck it out to that point headed to the exits at that juncture. The Wolverines hadn’t made a field goal in three minutes.

Michigan didn’t have any magic in it late and began fouling with 1:38 to go. The Wolverines had to commit three penalties to force McNeese to the charity stripe. The Cowboys made enough of their free throws to close out the 87-76 win.