Heartbreak. Absolute, abject heartbreak. It comes knocking for every team but one amid the madness of March.

This time it came for the Wolverines.

UCLA hung on by its fingernails in a gritty, gripping 51-49 tug-of-war, ending a thriller of a season for Michigan. It didn’t have to be. The Wolverines saw chance after chance down the stretch.

That’s what will hurt the worst.

Sophomore forward Franz Wagner’s desperation three-point attempt with nothing left on the clock glanced first off the backboard, then the back of the rim. It fell harmlessly but painfully away, setting off a wild celebration by the Bruins, the First Four squad on its way to the Final Four.

It also smacked the Wolverines with an ice-cold reality. No more shots. No more chances.

Wagner saw another three barely graze the net a moment earlier. Senior guard Eli Brooks, snagged the errant shot under the basket, tried to sweep it up and in with one motion, and missed. Grad transfer guard Mike Smith fired a three-point attempt off the back of the rim, prior to Wagner’s final, fateful miss.