Despite a great opening 20 minutes on the road in East Lansing, Michigan was defeated by the Michigan State Spartans, 81-62, on Tuesday night. The loss marked the ninth loss in the last 10 games for the Wolverines, which now fall to 7-14 on the season.
Now 2-8 in conference play, Michigan sits a game back from Rutgers, the current 13th team in the league standings.
Here are three takeaways from the fourth consecutive loss.
Solid first half kept strong MSU crowd nervous
The first 20 minutes of Tuesday night's game were some of the best minutes of basketball that Michigan has played all season. Without Dug McDaniel, the Wolverines kept the Spartan fans worried for most of the first half.
Michigan held a two-point lead at halftime in large part due to 60.9 percent shooting from the floor and 55.6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Jaelin Llewellyn was on fire from distance, making all three of his attempts from long range. He finished the first half with 12 points and did more than a serviceable job filling in for the suspended Dug McDaniel.
Michigan also had balanced scoring from its four other starters along with Tray Jackson, and the Breslin Center crowd was increasingly more nervous as the first half went on.
Despite strong first half, Michigan falls apart after halftime
As any Michigan fan who has watched the Wolverines play this season could've predicted, Juwan Howard's squad fell apart in the second half and blew the rivalry game in a matter of 10 minutes.
Michigan's two-point halftime lead quickly turned into a double-digit deficit early in the second half, and the Wolverines couldn't muster a comeback. With or without McDaniel in the lineup, Michigan's bench isn't deep or developed enough to be able to come back from any deficit larger than just a few points.
Instead, the Spartans began to slowly stretch their lead while they wore down the Wolverines in the second half.
After shooting north of 60 percent from the field in the first half, Michigan converted on just 25 percent of its shots from the floor in the second half. Additionally, the Wolverines shot just 27.3 percent from distance.
As has happened far too many times this season, Michigan lost any sort of momentum or juice it had early in the game by the start of the second half.
Eleven guaranteed games left
There are 11 guaranteed games left in the 2023-24 Michigan men's basketball season, and it likely feels like 11 too many. The Wolverines have lost twice as many games as they've won, and they have been the bottom dwellers of the conference for the majority of the season.
With 10 games to go in the regular season, Michigan still has games against Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Northwestern, along with tough road games against Rutgers and Ohio State.
The team will also get at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament — where it will likely play in the first round on Wednesday.
There are no guaranteed wins in Big Ten play, and it appears this Michigan team could struggle to get to 10 wins.
McDaniel will make his return to the court on Saturday, Feb. 3 at home against Rutgers.
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