The struggles of the Michigan Wolverines’ basketball offense was the story in its 51-49 loss to UCLA tonight in the Elite Eight, with the Maize and Blue only hitting 39 percent of their shots.
A game that was there for the taking ended — perhaps fittingly — in a scoring drought from the field for Michigan over the final minutes, with U-M missing its final eight shots and only hitting two of its last 11 attempts.
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Nobody played particularly well offensively, with freshman center Hunter Dickinson concluding as the leading scorer with 11 points. No other player even scored in double figures.
A few of the team’s usual offensive catalysts were nowhere to be found tonight, specifically fifth-year senior point guard Mike Smith and sophomore guard Franz Wagner — the former finished with three points and the latter just four, going a combined two-of-17 from the field.
With eight points, senior guard Eli Brooks was actually tied with junior forward Brandon Johns and senior guard Chaundee Brown as Michigan’s second-leading scorer. It was evident from an early juncture that points would be hard to come by, with U-M wrapping up the first half with just 23.
“When you don’t make shots, it makes things more difficult,” Brooks said in the postgame press conference.
One of the aspects that made the Maize and Blue so potent this season was the way they consistently performed at a high level, with tonight of course being the exception. The loss to UCLA was one of the poorest outings the team turned in all season, and Brooks was asked if it’s harder to swallow the loss knowing the Wolverines didn’t play their best ball.
“UCLA played extremely hard,” the senior said, understandably not giving a direct answer. “They earned that win and we won’t take anything away from them, because they made everything challenging.”
Michigan’s locker room was unsurprisingly a somber one after the game, especially with so many seniors and fifth-year seniors on the roster. Brooks said there wasn’t any sort of speech or addressing afterward from any of his Wolverine teammates, but instead “more individual moments.”
“Coach [Juwan Howard] addressed the team and people individually and talked to them, but that was about it.”
Howard has had a positive mentality all season long, and while nobody outside the locker room heard what his message was tonight, it’s safe to say it was likely one of reinforcement.
What the Maize and Blue achieved this season was incredible, with the club winning the Big Ten regular-season championship outright and coming within a shot of the Final Four … after being picked to finish slightly above the middle of the pack in the conference coming into the year.
The group also overcame the inconvenient two-week pause in late-January/early-February and stayed together mentally to regain their form following the untimely debacle.
“The adversity we had this year, and the adversity everyone went through this season [were some of my biggest takeaways from this year],” Brooks said when asked to reflect on the campaign as a whole.
“How close this group was and how locked in and mentally tough we were all season [were some other takeaways I had]. There were a lot of opportunities where we could have made excuses and took the easy way out, but we never did that.
“We played hard every single game. There were a lot of sacrifices to be made throughout this season just to get through the year. It was worth it because we had a great group of guys and got to play the game we love, but it was difficult.”
With the 2020-21 season now in the books, the focus immediately turns toward the future. All seniors and fifth-year seniors (and every other player) are allowed to return next year after the NCAA gave student-athletes an extra season, with the Wolverines having a plethora of veterans who will need to make a decision in that regard … including Brooks.
“That’s a conversation to be had in our exit meeting,” Brooks explained while discussing the possibility of potentially returning. “I’ve talked about it with my family and have weighed different options, but I haven’t come to a conclusion.
“I can only speak for myself.”
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