Fab Five: Takeaways From Michigan's Loss At Iowa

Michigan Wolverines basketball fell to 11-6 on the season and 2-4 in the Big Ten with its latest loss at Iowa on Friday night.

Here's five takeaways from the game.

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There's really not a whole lot to say on the topic, other than to point out that Iowa shot 30 free throws, and U-M shot five. The officials — Terry Wymer, Robert Riley, and Rob Kueneman — were calling a foul seemingly every time Iowa center Luka Garza was touched in the paint. He shot 13 free throws, and made 11.

Obviously, sometimes one team is going to foul more than the other. But 30-5 is almost impossible, unless there a number of bad calls, which there were Friday night.

After the game, U-M head coach Juwan Howard was asked if looking at the discrepancy in fouls is frustrating.

"Yes, yes, it is," he said. "It's very frustrating. That’s a big reason I got a tech. I was very upset.”

You can't blame Howard for getting a technical foul after letting the refs have it. The 27 made free throws for Iowa were a big reason why they came out on top, and we have no problem saying it.

Coming into the game, opposing bigs in conference play were averaging 29.8 points per game on the Wolverines. Something had to change.

Howard recognized it, and did make some adjustments. Garza scored 44 points on Dec. 6 in Ann Arbor. He had 33 Friday. U-M didn't show it had enough to shut him down, or even slow him down, but they did throw different looks at the Big Ten's leading scorer.

The differences were evident from the beginning. Where the Wolverines wouldn't help in the post coming into the game, Friday, U-M was bringing a help defender from the perimeter. Senior guard Zavier Simpson was the most effective in frustrating the post, but the help wasn't enough. U-M was slow in its rotations, and let some Hawkeyes cut right in front of their faces at times. Iowa scored a way-too-high 1.286 points per possession, and 90 points is too many to give up.

It's not quite the well-oiled machine on defense that it had been in the two seasons prior under John Beilein and assistant Luke Yaklich. That's not to take the blame off of the players, either. U-M lost multiple good defenders from last season that were going to be hard to replace. Even so, one would like to believe the Wolverines can get more out of this group, even when junior forward Isaiah Livers isn't out there.

What started out the season as a good defensive team is now ranked as the 52nd most efficient defense in the country. Trying out different things against Iowa was a start, but there's more adjustments to make. Livers' return will be even more of a boost. Here's hoping it's Wednesday night against Penn State at Crisler.