The Michigan men’s basketball team has seen more than a few games slip away in the second half this season.
In the Wolverines’ eight losses, they’ve been outscored by a combined 88 points in the second half — an average of 11 per game. Michigan is allowing 43 points per second half in its losses, and its defensive shortcomings down the stretch have cost the team a few games. The Wolverines held seemingly comfortable advantages against Seton Hall, Minnesota and Central Florida, only to blow those leads en route to losses.
Second-half struggles have come to define Michigan’s season so far, and Saturday’s trip to East Lansing was no different.
The Wolverines trailed by just four points at halftime following a back-and-forth opening 20 minutes. But coming out of the locker room, Michigan surrendered a 14-3 run that allowed No. 10 Michigan State to blow the game open.
And in Juwan Howard’s eyes, it had nothing to do with Xs and Os.
“Second half, there wasn’t anything schematically (the Spartans) were doing,” Howard said. “And I’m not taking anything away from their coach or coaching staff. But what they did was, which was pretty unique and special and I give them credit for, they came out as the most aggressive team, they most physical team. In the first half, we were punching and fighting, scratching and clawing. In the second half, we backed off. And that cannot happen.”
Howard went on to cite loose balls and 50-50 hustle plays as areas of weakness. He also criticized the four second-half offensive rebounds Michigan allowed, pointing out they led to layups, dunks and threes.
The Spartans entered with the Big Ten’s second-best transition offense, averaging just above 16 points per game in that category. But on Saturday, they torched the Wolverines’ defense for an eye-opening 28 fast break points. Michigan missed a handful of defensive assignments in transition, a sign of the frustrating yet correct mistakes that continue to linger.
Howard alluded to the notion that Michigan’s defensive shortcomings boiled down to effort. Standing over a podium in the Breslin Center media room, Hunter Dickinson echoed a similar sentiment.
“Defensively, we weren’t locked in all the way,” Dickinson said. “That was a theme for us. In the second half, we don’t usually play a full 20 minutes. Sometimes, we have some mental lapses that open the game up for the other team, and I think today was another example of that. (It’s) something we need to fix before we want to make any run at anything.”
The Wolverines didn’t lack aggression only on defense, though. At the other end of the floor, they struggled to turn offensive rebounds into second-chance points. Michigan grabbed 16 offensive boards compared to the Spartans’ six, but Michigan State still won the second-chance points battle, 11-10. After pulling down offensive rebounds, the Wolverines often looked for kick-outs and resets rather than putbacks.
For a team that primarily played through the post for much of the afternoon, that came as a surprise. Once the Spartans picked up on Michigan’s game plan, they began taking away the post entry passes — additional evidence of their advantage in the effort and physicality departments.
Granted, the Wolverines looked good for stretches on Saturday. But in the Big Ten, especially on the road in a rivalry setting, stretches aren’t enough.
“We competed, but we didn’t compete for 40 minutes,” Howard said.
Now, that leaves Michigan with little wiggle room if it still wants to achieve its lofty preseason goals.
“Every game from here on out is more or less a must-win for us,” Dickinson said. “There’s very little gray area for us to have these kinds of hiccups we’ve had.”
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