It appears Michigan basketball's fortunes in the Battle 4 Atlantis won't be as good this time around. The Wolverines went 3-0 when they last appeared in the tournament in 2019, and they shot up the national rankings following the perfect week.

Michigan's hopes of winning the tournament for the second time in the Juwan Howard era were erased on Wednesday night when the Wolverines were ousted by the Memphis Tigers, 71-67.

Here are three takeaways from the tough loss.

Michigan fans likely feel duped having watched the last two games after how this team looked during its first three games of the season. Through the first three games of the season, Michigan was outscoring its opponents by an average of 93-69.

In the last two games, though — which have both been losses — Michigan has scored just an average of 76.5 points, while giving up more than 82.5.

After three games of looking like a surefire NCAA Tournament team and a potential Big Ten conference frontrunner, Michigan has looked like it belongs on the outside of the bubble looking in, and near the bottom of the Big Ten standings.

Offense has been hard to come by, and defense has arguably been even worse. Of course, Memphis made plenty of tough shots from beyond the arc, but Michigan did allow a wide-open triple in a critical moment late in the second half.

The first three games were fun, but it's time to pump the brakes on Michigan being a pleasant surprise. This team still has plenty to work on.

Just minutes before Michigan's tip against Memphis on Wednesday night, the Michigan basketball social media team announced that Tray Jackson would get the start over Terrance WIlliams II. However, the social media team was oddly wrong with the release, and Williams got the start, just like he had in each of the team's first four games this season.

But Williams was essentially a no-show in the loss, scoring only two points, both of which came at the free throw line late in the second half.

He finished the game 0-5 from the floor and 0-4 from deep with only four rebounds. He finished the game with a +/- of -12, which was the worst on the team. This essentially means in moments when Williams was on the floor, Michigan was outscored by 12 points by the Tigers.

Meanwhile, although it wasn't Jackson's best performance, he totaled seven points in just 20 minutes of action. Comparatively, Jackson's +/- was -1, which was good for 11 points better than Williams.

Although it was a mistake, perhaps Michigan's social media team was on to something. It could be time to make a change in the starting lineup.

Dug McDaniel undoubtedly had his worst game of the season on Wednesday night. He went scoreless in the first half, and he looked outmatched by many of Memphis' bigger, taller guards.

He shot 0-5 from the floor and 0-2 from deep and racked up two fouls in just 14 minutes on the floor.

However, the second half was a completely different story for the sophomore guard. He played all 20 minutes in the second half and scored 13 points on 5-10 shooting.

McDaniel carried Michigan to a near comeback victory after Olivier Nkamhoua fouled out, but the bid ultimately came up just short.

Although it was McDaniel's worst game of the season, he still finished with 13 points, seven rebounds and three assists on the night. If McDaniel's off nights this season see him finish with 13 and seven on a regular basis, Michigan should be in a pretty good position with all of the other pieces around him.

Now in the losers' bracket, Michigan will take on the loser of Arkansas and Stanford on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET.

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