It’s easy to forget that Jordan Morgan is a part of the youth movement that defines the Michigan men’s basketball team this season.

The Detroit native is just a redshirt freshman, but his solid 6-foot-8, 240-pound frame belies his youth — as has his solid play so far in his rookie campaign. Morgan is fourth on the team in scoring and his 6.1 rebounds per game is second only to junior guard Zack Novak.

But in the Wolverines’ recent games against stiff competition — and again Wednesday night in Michigan’s 68-64 loss to Ohio state — Morgan’s inexperience was on display.

The forward has been unable to stay out of foul trouble. Against the Buckeyes, Morgan was subbed out eight minutes into the contest after tallying his first foul. And just one minute after reentering the game, Morgan picked up his second and had to sit out the rest of the half.

By the 9:15 mark of the second half, Morgan had picked up his backbreaking fourth foul, preventing him from having any real impact the rest of the night.

“You know, you want to be in the game to help your team out,” Morgan said after the game. “Sometimes it just doesn’t go your way. It’s definitely frustrating because you know you can help your team defensively.”

The problem for the young Wolverines is there isn’t much depth behind Morgan on the bench. Redshirt freshman forward Blake McLimans has seen his minutes sharply decrease since the early part of the schedule, as it appears he’s still at least another year away from being a contributor.

And freshman forward Jon Horford is still learning — something that was demonstrated in the "coaching moment" he shared with Michigan coach John Beilein after making a mistake in the first half against Ohio State.

As a result, freshman Evan Smotrycz has been getting more minutes at the center position. And though the 6-foot-9 forward has above-average height, Smotrycz is far from an ideal center — he’s much more comfortable as a wing forward, shooting from the perimeter, evidenced by his 4-for-6 performance from 3-point range against the Buckeyes — and he admitted as much after the game.

“It’s always a little uncomfortable (playing the center),” Smotrycz said. “It’s not what I’m used to, but this will help. Everyday in practice I switch from (the) four to (the) five just so I can get used to it, so it’s coming.”

And Wednesday was perhaps the worst possible night for Michigan’s most physical forward to play just 19 minutes. After all, Ohio State has the powerful post tandem of freshman star Jared Sullinger and senior Dallas Lauderdale.

Michigan did a decent job on Sullinger, limiting him to 12 points and seven rebounds. The Wolverines often doubled on him or switched to zone defense, which limited Morgan’s one-on-one opportunities with Sullinger and provided him with help to decrease the chance of a foul.

But Michigan was a step slow in recovery, and as a result of its collapsing defense, the Buckeyes were able to find open spots on the floor all night. The team shot 50 percent from beyond the arc and 52.4 percent from the field, led by guard Jon Diebler’s three 3-pointers. Smotrycz required even more help than Morgan, and Ohio State was able to exploit the Wolverines' undersized frontcourt.

The defining sequence came when Morgan exited the game with Michigan down 41-38 in the opening minutes of the second half. The Wolverines quickly tied it up, but then couldn’t stop the Buckeyes. Sullinger abused Smotrycz one-on-one in the post on a powerful drop step and dunk finish to put Ohio State up, 50-41.

Morgan re-entered, but the Buckeyes’ Aaron Craft added another 3-pointer before Michigan could score again and Ohio State enjoyed its biggest lead of the night. It proved to be too much for the Wolverines.

And offensively, Morgan was a complete non-factor, failing to tally a single point. In such a close contest, his physicality in the post was necessary for the Michigan offense to operate at its best.

But it didn’t happen.

“(Morgan)’s got to keep learning,” Beilein said. “It’s difficult — when you play a kid of (Sullinger’s) size — its just difficult to keep good post position and stay between him in the basket, and not be caught in almost miscellaneous fouling situations, where you’re wrong place, wrong time.”