Michigan basketball is far from the first team to fall victim to a Breslin Center tsunami.
The mid-Michigan gymnasium can erupt like a volcano, it’s known to wash away opponents game plans like a hurricane. No matter the meteorological metaphor, U-M’s 81-62 road loss to rival MSU Tuesday night would not in-and-of-itself be reason enough to write off a season.
However, when it’s the fourth defeat in a row, caps a 1-7 month of January (Michigan football won more games in January than the basketball team) and also represents the ninth loss in 10 games, well that’s a different feeling entirely.
Worse yet, it happened the same way so many have before, a second-half defensive collapse.
MSU outscored U-M 53-27 over the final 21:18 of Tuesday’s game, which included a 34-6 edge in the paint, a 17-4 margin in transition, 11-4 advantage in points generated off turnovers as the Spartans shot 60% from the floor (21 of 35) after the break.
“I’m not going to give up on it,” Howard said of improving his team’s defense. “It’s what’s been successful for us (in years past). I know it’s got to be a staple of who we are and that’s what’s going to keep us competitive in our league, because our league is very tough.
“The Big Ten, it’s going to reveal who you really are, because of the level of talent and coaching in this league.”
ANOTHER ONE: U-M hoops collapses, this time in an 81-62 rout by Michigan State
Michigan (7-14, 2-8 Big Ten) certainly doesn’t like what has been revealed, as the Wolverines’ spiral to the Big Ten basement came on a night where its chief rival not only strengthened its foothold on what will likely be a 26th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, but the face of the university, Tom Izzo, earned his 700th career victory.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines are almost guaranteed to miss March Madness for the second consecutive season for the first time since its decade-long drought from 1998-2008.
Miscommunication and mental breakdowns
There’s almost no point in re-hashing the first half other than to perhaps try and feel a little better about things. Jaelin Llewellyn, who said postgame he’s still not quite 100% himself as he works his way back a torn ACL, played 35 grueling minutes as he filled in for the team’s lead guard, Dug McDaniel, who’s currently suspended for away games.
It’s the heart Howard has desired to see from his team.
Brace around his leg, the grad transfer knocked down a nifty floater to give U-M a 15-8 lead early, and also canned three of his long ball attempts in the opening 20 minutes, the last of which put U-M up 35-28 in with 1:42 left in the first half.
“I respect him and how he’s conducted himself throughout the process,” Howard said. “Anytime he steps on the floor, no matter what minutes or what role, you know he’s going to give it his all. I’m not the only one, I know his teammates admire and respect how he’s handled himself.”
However, from there, MSU made the adjustments U-M did not.
The Spartans had active hands in passing lanes, switched and rotated using effective communication and had guards hedge down in the paint when bigs received the ball down low to act as pests.
They were able to “move on a string” as U-M likes to call it, a help-side defender always there to prevent a blow-by dribble, but not so far off his man he couldn’t recover on a kick-out beyond the arc.
“They really got out, got into the gaps and when we put the ball down on the floor as we tried to drive, turnover,” Howard said. “Or post-entry pass, turnover. … It’s a possession game. You give up the ball, teams make you pay on turnovers. That’s going to put yourself in a tough spot.”
WHAT IS THE CORE ISSUE: Michigan basketball knows it has a problem, but can’t seem to solve it
But even beyond the fact U-M shot just 25% in the second half and had more turnovers (7) than made field goals (6), it’s its defense, something often seen as predicated on heart and tenacity more than the offensive end, that has Howard truly frustrated.
Prior to the Iowa game, Howard told reporters the emphasis was not letting the Hawkeyes get transition 3s − that’s exactly how it scored two of its first three buckets, a sign of things to come.
On Tuesday, the game plan was to slow Tyson Walker, who Howard called ‘the head of the snake’. In order to beat MSU, that has to happen, but as U-M’s head man pointed out, that doesn’t mean forget about everything else; like Jaden Akins, who made a career-best 7 of 10 3-pointers for a career-high 23 points.
“Jaden got free looks because of miscommunications, mental breakdowns,” Howard said. “We can’t allow guys to get ignited with confidence and those shots that Jaden made were mental breakdowns.”
‘What the hell is my bad?’ We’re past that.
At this point, the season feels lost, with everybody around the program searching for answers.
It’s seemed to weigh on those in the locker room and is perhaps one reason why close losses early − by 4 vs. Memphis, by 3 at Oregon, by 3 vs. Indiana, by 5 in 2OT vs. Florida, by 2 vs. Minnesota, even by 6 vs. Penn State − have turned into lopsided losses of late.
The Wolverines have dropped their past four games all by 10 points or more and by an average of 18 points per game and many have had a similar theme.
Michigan was down just one vs. Illinois with less than 15 minutes to play last week when it went on a 15-2 run in five minutes to put the game out of reach.
The Wolverines led Iowa last week by nine early in the first half and even held a slight lead at the break, but immediately gave up a 10-0 run out of the gate to fall behind by eight. After getting the lead back to one, they then allowed yet another 15-4 Hawkeyes push late to seal their fate.
Tuesday in East Lansing, it was a 21-4 push from the end of the first half to the beginning of the second, which turned a seven-point lead into a 10-point defecit as MSU never looked back.
“It’s those droughts, those droughts where it’s like mentally we lose it,” Howard said. “Is it confidence? Is it the basics? I think it’s a little bit of both. We’ve got to get down to the basics. Boxing out — guys are flying in, we watch film and we scout, our staff, our managers, our support staff does a fantastic job of identifying those areas of what we need to prepare for and work on in practice. Then there’s a miscommunication on a defensive assignment.
“The guys will tell you in the locker room, you always hear about ‘my bad’, well what the hell is my bad? We’re past that. Take ownership of it and fix it. We’ve got to fix it.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball desperate for answers after another collapse
