ANN ARBOR, Mich. — No. 2 Michigan Wolverines basketball (18-2, 13-2 Big Ten) fell to No. 4 Illinois (19-6, 15-4 Big Ten) Thursday night at Crisler Center.
Here are five takeaways from the game.
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1. Player of the game: Trent Frazier
Trent Frazier would not be denied.
The Illinois senior guard from Wellington, Fla., saw his team up 11 points at halftime on the No. 2 squad in the country, and decided to stick the fork in the Wolverines in a second half where he dropped 16 of his game-high 22 points on the night.
Frazier is quicker than most guarding him, and Michigan played right into his hands by getting up into his face at the half-court logo, only before he routinely made a move and got right past his defender, gained leverage and broke down the Wolverines' defense as a whole — time and time again. Freshman guard Andre Curbelo did the same, finishing with 17 points (8-14 FG) in 19 minutes.
Down junior guard Ayo Dosunmu, a contender for Big Ten Player of the Year, Frazier and others stepped up, and Michigan had no answers or adjustments.
2. Illinois dominated Michigan on the glass
The final rebounding numbers essentially tell the story: Illinois grabbed 42 total boards to Michigan's 26.
They were quicker to the glass — quicker to everything — and made Michigan pay with 22 second-chance points off of 12 offensive rebounds. The Illini rebounded 35.3 percent of their own missed shots on the night, an embarrassing stat that Michigan head coach Juwan Howard will likely use to motivate his players with going forward.
Sure, Illinois leads the Big Ten in rebounding margin (10.1), but Michigan is second (7.2) and knew it had to win the game on the glass to, well, win the game.
3. A lot went wrong offensively for Michigan
Illinois deserves the bulk of the credit for slowing down Michigan's usually prolific offense. Head coach Brad Underwood had his players applying furious ball pressure, denying passes on the wing and being physical with cutters — which took the Wolverines out of their comfort zone and usual spots.
