EVANSTON, Ill. — It might be the only place where boos are actually cheers, and they came loud and often.
One from the Welsh-Ryan Arena crowd as Boo Buie was the final Wildcat introduced. An even louder chorus when he scored the game’s opening bucket on a backdoor layup. Even more for him still when he drilled a 25-foot 3-pointer to become Northwestern’s all-time leading scorer.
All a shorthanded Michigan basketball (8-19, 3-13 Big Ten) could do — without starting point guard and leading scorer Dug McDaniel (still out for road games on an adademic suspension), forward Olivier Nkamhoua (the Wolverines’ second-leading scorer who underwent season-ending wrist surgery on Tuesday) and Will Tschetter (its leading reserve, out due to illness) — was delay the inevitable.
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U-M led much of the first half, but Northwestern got a 76-62 victory Thursday, giving the Wolverines their 14th loss in 16 games. It’s the worst stretch for U-M since the program dropped 15 of 17 during the 2007-08 season, John Beilein’s second season in Ann Arbor.
Michigan was up nine with 6:35 to go before halftime, but NU closed with an 18-6 spurt for a three-point lead at intermission.
The Wildcats then extended their advantage to seven early in the half before Nimari Burnett went on a heater for the Wolverines. He scored eight straight, en route to a team-high 15 points on 6-for-8 shooting, to put Michigan up one, 44-43, with 15:36 to play.
But Buie wasn’t the only Wildcat clawing at the Wolverines. Brooks Barnhizer and Ryan Langborn terrorized Michigan on 3-pointers, combining to make eight of 14 attempts beyond the arc. After Buie made a pair of free throws, Langborn — whose 3 to close the first half gave NU its first lead since the opening minute — made two in a row to stretch it to a seven-point lead.
Langborn led the Wildcats with 20 points, Barnhizer netted a double-double (19 points and 12 rebounds) and Buie finished with 16 points and seven assists.
In addition to its usual contributors — Terrance Williams II finished with 13 points and seven rebounds and Tarris Reed Jr. added 13 points and five rebounds — U-M got production from a few irregular faces.
Tray Jackson, a Detroit native who transferred from Seton Hall before this season, set a career high at U-M with 10 points, Jace Howard scored five (after entering with just 11 all season) and Youssef Khayat made his first 3-pointer in nearly three months.
Ran out of gas late
It wasn’t enough, however, as some regular issues cropped up again in the final 15 minutes.
After U-M took a lead on Burnett’s 3, it went 6:11 without a field goal. By the time Reed connected on a jumper with 9:25 remaining, all it did was get the Wolverines’ deficit back to single digits.
On the other end, Michigan allowed a virtual layup line. Northwestern had five straight scores via layups or dunks before Michigan called a timeout to try and regroup with 6:05 to play, down by 11.
It was for naught. Just 6 seconds after the resumption of play, Reed was whistled for an offensive foul, followed by a Barnhizer fadeaway jumper. After Jackson blocked a Matthew Nicholson layoff attempt, the Wildcats made their next five field goals before they called it good with a 20-point lead — 76-56 — and less than 100 seconds to play.
Another respectable start
The Wolverines got a free throw from Reed and a layup from Burnett before they began their 3-point barrage.
Williams and Jackson connected on consecutive 3-pointers, then Howard made a slashing layup and Jaelin Llewellyn added a spinning layup from the left block, before Williams drilled another 3 from the left wing, putting three fingers to his head as he capped a 16-3 spurt to put U-M up 11 early.
When Reed later bulldozed his way for a layup, it capped a stretch where U-M’s offense made seven of 11 shots to take an 18-8 lead. It helped that, simultaneously, the Wildcats couldn’t make a shot.
After Buie’s opening layup, Northwestern missed 14 of its next 16 attempts; its only makes came on a dunk and a layup. Barnhizer’s 3-pointer with 10:44 to go, Northwestern’s 18th field goal attempt, was the Wildcats’ first score from outside the lane. But then Buie’s record-setting 3 made it 18-14.
Michigan wasn’t deterred. Jackson added a tip-in, Khayat made his first 3-pointer since Nov. 24 (vs. Texas Tech) and just his second of the season, Howard added a 3 of his own from the left corner and Williams connected on a layup to make it 28-19 Michigan with 6:35 to play in the half.
That’s when Luke Hunger made a pair of free throws and Nicholson threw down a dunk, bringing down a rain of cats and dogs — or just ‘Cats — from long range.
Barnhizer connected on an open look from the left corner, Langborn added one from the right wing and then Buie knocked one down with a hand in his face to knot the game at 30 and cap an 11-2 NU run in 2:33.
Once more U-M punched back, Burnett hit a tough turnaround in the lane and then an even tougher 3-pointer coming off a curl to put the Wolverines up three, but Michigan couldn’t hold the lead going into the break.
The Wolverines turned the ball over three times in the final 2:34, the last of which gave Northwestern one final look, which Langborn drilled from the left corner to put the Wildcats up 37-34 at the break.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball comes up short after half in 76-62 loss to Wildcats
