The pregame release from Concordia University listed the Michigan men’s basketball team’s record at 6-2, even though the Wolverines had actually won just five games coming into Monday night’s matchup between the two schools.

It appeared, then, that the game was already conceded to Michigan, the Divison-I institution with an enrollment more than 40 times greater than that of its NAIA Division-II counterpart Concordia.

No one told that to the Cardinals, though.

Concordia refused to quit Monday night, hanging around throughout a game expected to be more of a blowout before finally falling to the Wolverines 86-65.

“I’m sure none of us expected that type of excitement when they saw this game on the schedule,” Michigan coach John Beilein said after the game. “Being a former Division II coach, which I equate to an NAIA school (like Concordia) … whenever we played Division-I teams, we had a good plan. We could stay with teams, and that’s what Concordia did today.”

Michigan (6-2) appeared to be the far superior team both physically and athletically as soon as both squads came out for warmups. And when the Cardinals’ first shot turned into an embarrassing airball, they appeared to be in for a long night at Crisler Arena.

The Wolverines held a 17-6 advantage at the first media timeout. But Concordia (5-5) stayed in it, cutting the score to 27-22 with 7:14 left in the first half and entering the break with just a 10-point deficit.

And the Cardinals continued to fight in the second half. When forward Ryan Walton hit a jumper with 11:28 remaining, they once again found themselves down just five points. But Michigan eventually pulled away, going on a 9-0 run to take a 75-57 lead with 6:48 remaining to effectively ice the game.

The Wolverines were adamant that they weren't overlooking the small-school opponent, and that it was more just a matter of their own poor play.

“You have to keep getting better as the game goes on,” junior guard Stu Douglass said. “I think the message was there … We definitely didn’t underestimate them in the second half. We knew what they were capable of.”

Michigan couldn’t seem to find a rhythm defensively. The Wolverines had no answer down low for Concordia’s Rocko Holmes, who finished with a career-high 29 points. Beilein even compared the 6-foot-5 Holmes to former NBA pro Charles Barkley in how managed to leverage his way to spots in the paint despite his underwhelming size, repeatedly calling him “crafty.”

Flustered by the Cardinals' shooting, the Wolverines rarely doubled Holmes, as they knew that 3-pointers could keep Concordia in the game and didn't want to see him find open shooters when passing out of the lane.

Holmes consistently got the ball deep in the post and scored over whoever was guarding him. On top of that, Michigan had trouble calling out switches on Concordia’s screen-heavy sets, another issue related to the Wolverines' youth and something Beilein emphasized as needing improvement.

“They scored a lot of points, and we’ve been very prideful in our defense this year,” Douglass said. “We just didn’t come out and communicate as well we should’ve.

“(With) their motion, I don’t think we expected to have to communicate so much on screens and slips and all those sorts of things," he said. "I think we just underestimated how much work we had to do on the defensive end.”

Redshirt freshman forward Jordan Morgan paced the Wolverines with 23 points. Sophomore point guard Darius Morris scored 19 and added 12 assists, while junior guard Zack Novak pulled down a career-high 14 rebounds to lead the team.

But Beilein pointed out that Michigan is only getting contributions from those players and one or two others right now, as many of the team’s young players are struggling to find their way.

“But we’re going to be young all year long, it’s not going to stop," Beilein said. "We’ll just get better at being young.”