Fab Five Takeaways: Michigan Basketball Takes Its First Lump At Minnesota

No. 7 Michigan Wolverines basketball suffered its first loss of the season, 75-57, at No. 23 Minnesota.

Here are our five biggest takeaways from the game.

RELATED: Videos: Juwan Howard, Michigan Players React To Minnesota Loss

RELATED: Minnesota Hands Michigan Its First Loss Of The Season, 75-57

RELATED: Box Score

After struggling last week in Ann Arbor (five points on 2-of-9 from the field) Minnesota junior center Liam Robbins had the best game of any player on the floor, posting 22 points on 8-of-13 shooting and eight rebounds in 22 minutes. The thing that really lifted Minnesota was his huge second half, in which he scored 16 points and hit all three of his attempts from deep.

Robbins won the battle of the bigs against Michigan freshman center Hunter Dickinson, who had 28 points in the first meeting but notched just nine on Saturday, which stands as his lowest total of the season and first time he hasn't finished with double-digit scoring numbers.

The player of the game for Michigan was senior guard Chaundee Brown, who started 74 games in three years at Wake Forest but made his first career start for the Wolverines due to senior guard Eli Brooks being out with a strained foot.

Brown scored 14 points on 6-of-12 shooting, with three rebounds. This wasn't anywhere near his best game of the year, but Brown was the only one on Michigan's side that really played with that same energy they had been bringing night in, night out leading up to Saturday. He competed, as always, on defense and hit some key shots to keep the Wolverines hanging around.

Brooks held Minnesota redshirt junior star point guard Marcus Carr to 5-of-16 from the field in the first meeting. Carr finished this game with 18 points on 6-of-18 shooting — not much better on the surface — but he got in the lane way more, and he was much more effective as a distributor, dishing out six assists and running the offense smoothly. He created leverage for his teammates without having to go up against Brooks.

Head coach Juwan Howard tried some different things to try to fill the void, but he didn't have the answers Saturday. Freshman guard Zeb Jackson is just flat out not ready to play against a top-25 team on the road. In his nine minutes, he had a tough time staying in front of his man on defense, while going 0-for-3 from the floor with two turnovers on offense.

Additionally, the Wolverines' offense was certainly missing Brooks' steadying hand. A player that models his game after an ultra-consistent player like Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Brooks is the ultimate 'glue guy,' and on a night where Michigan was awful in many areas, the Wolverines could've used his presence.