Michigan squanders first-half lead, struggles down the stretch in 72-70 loss to Wake Forest

Michigan Wolverines basketball held a 13-point lead with 8:37 to go in the first half, but Wake Forest turned it on late in the first and into the second stanza, winning 72-70 Sunday afternoon in Greensboro. The Demon Deacons, who were favored by 1 point at tip-off, are now 3-0, while Michigan moves to 1-1.

The Wolverines’ next game will be Friday against TCU at Crisler Center. TCU is 2-0 with wins over Florida A&M and Florida Gulf Coast.

Here’s a recap of how Sunday’s game unfolded.

RELATED
• Dusty May’s feedback after Michigan season-opening win, Sam Walters’ quick release, more

First half

Michigan came out firing three-pointers, with 5 of its first 6 field goal attempts coming from long distance. Graduate guard Nimari Burnett got the Wolverines on the board with a deep triple from the right wing, and junior point guard Tre Donaldson made a pull-up three.

Michigan led 8-6 with 15:55 to go, with graduate center Vladislav Goldin also chipping in with a layup. Junior forward Danny Wolf had 2 turnovers in the first 3:10 of game time, but he did assist on the Goldin layup.

Michigan started to put the clamps on defensively, with Wake Forest missing 6 of 7 field goals and going on a 4:53 scoring drought. The Wolverines surged to a 10-0 run, with graduate guard Rubin Jones adding a big spark off the bench. He played great defense and hit a pair of threes, putting Michigan up 11-6 and 14-6 to get the run going. Freshman guard L.J. Cason also came off the bench and made an impact, drilling 2 free throws after getting fouled on a strong drive. The Wolverines held an 18-6 edge at the under-12 media timeout.

A layup from Wake Forest’s Juke Harris stopped the 10-0 Michigan run at the 10:41 mark. The two teams went back and forth for a stretch, with Michigan’s bench continuing to make an impact. Sophomore forward Sam Walters drilled a three, Cason made a jumper in the lane and Jones had a layup off an out-of-bounds play. Michigan was shooting 50 percent from the field while holding a 25-14 lead at the 7:54 media timeout, but Wake Forest had made 4 of its last 5 field goal attempts at that point.

Wake Forest dealt with foul trouble, with three starters — forward/center Efton Reid, guard Hunter Sallis and forward Tre’Von Spillers — all sitting with two fouls. The Demon Deacons found some offense, though, and Michigan dealt with turnover issues. The Wolverines led 27-21 at the 3:22 media timeout, after a layup by junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., who drew a first-half charge, stopped a 9-0 run by Wake.

Walters continued to make a big impact. He had a strong rebound, ripping it away from a Demon Deacon, and then hit a three from the right wing. Sallis reentered the game and answered by dunking off a lob for an and-one to make it 30-24 at the 2:33 mark. Walters hit another triple, and Cason finished a layup in transition.

Michigan led 35-24, but in the blink of an eye, Wake Forest went on a 10-0 run, highlighted by a pair of threes, including 1 by Davin Cosby with 1.2 seconds left in the half. Michigan head coach Dusty May called his use-it-or-lose-it timeout at that point, setting up an inbounds to Donaldson, who banked in a three at the buzzer.

The Wolverines led 38-34 at halftime. They shot 50 percent in the first half, making 8 triples on 17 tries, but turned the ball over 9 times. Wake shot 39 percent from the field, including 3-of-13 from long range, and had 8 offensive rebounds.

Second half

Wake Forest came out hot, led by Spillers, who had 10 points in the first 5:16 of the second half. He made 2 triples in that stretch, after having made only made 2 threes in his career entering Sunday.

Gayle was active driving early on, making a layup and 2 free throws after drawing a foul. Michigan was getting to the rim but didn’t hit a three in the second half when it trailed 49-47 with 14:37 to play.

Michigan took back the lead and was up 52-49 at the under-12 media timeout. Burnett drilled a three with the assist to Donaldson, and Cason had a strong take in semi-transition, finishing through contact. Wake Forest was on a 2:53 scoring drought at that juncture, due in part to Spillers missing a wide-open three.

Michigan went cold shooting the ball, going on a 2:58 scoring drought while missing all 6 field goal attempts in that span, and Wake led 61-57 at the 7:53 mark. Wake made 14 of its last 18 field goal attempts at that point, dating back to the first half.

Wake used another 10-0 run to take its largest lead of the game, six points (63-57) at the 6:09 mark. Michigan answered, though, and made it a back-and-forth affair. After a rough start to the game, Goldin made 2-straight layups, one on a pick-and-roll with Wolf and the other off a long pass in transition from Gayle.

Michigan’s crowd got into it, chanting ‘Let’s go blue,’ as Sallis hit a jumper in the paint to put Wake up 65-61 with 4:36 to go.

Michigan faltered down the stretch, though, with back-to-back turnovers — Wolf traveling and Gayle slipping and letting go of the basketball, leading to a Spiller dunk — hurting the team’s cause. Michigan also had a shot clock violation, a missed layup by Donaldson in transition and allowed 2 offensive rebounds in the final three minutes.

Wake fouled up three points multiple times, including with 1.7 seconds to go and Jones driving up the floor. He made 1 free throw and purposely missed the second, but Michigan didn’t get a real look at the buzzer.

Wake Forest came away with the 72-70 victory.

Michigan vs. Wake Forest box score