All eyes in Crisler Arena were fixed on a crumpled figure lying at the base of the basket.

With less than nine minutes to play in last night's game, Ohio State's Jamar Butler drove to the basket and finished a lay-up to cut Michigan's lead to one. But it wasn't the basket that deflated the Wolverines. It was the familiar sight of one of their teammates lying on the floor in pain.

Junior Dion Harris fell hard to the ground after he slid from the baseline to try to step in front of Butler, with the Wolverines up 73-72.

As Harris limped to the locker room with the assistance of his teammates, so did Michigan's chances of winning the game. When the Detroit native left with 8:29 remaining in the second half, No. 19 Ohio State surged ahead to steal a 94-85 victory last night.

"You never want to see one of your best players go down," Michigan senior Chris Hunter said. "It was tough, but it was no excuse. We needed to come out and execute better."

No. 22 Michigan (6-4 Big Ten, 16-5 overall) seemed disoriented without Harris on the floor. The Buckeyes (6-3, 17-3) converted five Wolverine turnovers into easy buckets.

"We turned the ball over a couple of times unnecessarily," senior Graham Brown said. "We were just a little loose with it for a stretch, and that really made (the momentum) sway towards their way."

And just like that, the Buckeyes were up 76-73 and would never look back.

The Wolverines continued to be flustered, struggling to find many open looks. Without Harris on the court, the Buckeyes shrunk their perimeter defense to limit Sims's touches.

Sims finished with 26 points on 13-for-16 shooting. But after Harris went to the locker room with a sprained ankle - he's officially listed as day-to-day - Sims didn't find the bottom of the net the rest of the night.

"We didn't have the (outside) threat out there, and they started playing off some of our guards," Sims said. "It was tough for our guards to get me the ball."

On the other side, Ohio State routinely found someone streaking to the basket for a lay-up or dunk. Dials, who the Wolverines limited to just one point in the first half, found himself open along the baseline numerous times. He finished the night with nine points on 4-for-10 shooting.

In the first half, the Wolverines came out the aggressor and jumped out to an early 21-8 lead. Harris and Sims carried Michigan. Harris hit his first three shots - all of them from beyond the arc - and Sims dominated Dials in the low post. The duo scored 17 of the Wolverines' first 21 points.

"Our emphasis in the beginning of the game was to get me the ball," Sims said. "We knew that Dials couldn't foul because there was no one under him. He had to back off and not play as aggressive defense as he wanted to."

But the Buckeyes fought back and trotted into the locker room with a six-point lead. Ohio State did most of its damage from downtown, where it hit 14-of-16 at one point after missing its first two.

The Buckeyes ran their guards off screens to free them on the wing, in the corner and on the top of the key. And Butler, J.J. Sullinger and Je'kel Foster didn't miss any of those open looks. The trio finished the first half shooting a perfect 8-for-8 from beyond the arc.

"Our defense was something that really hurt us today," Brown said. "That's something that we haven't had in (the) past, and it's something that we have to improve on. The last couple of games, we just haven't had it on defense. I don't really know what to say."

The Wolverines entered the game already down two men. Lester Abram remained sidelined with a severe high ankle sprain, and freshman Jerret Smith didn't suit up after he was diagnosed with mono. Smith is out indefinitely, while Michigan coach Tommy Amaker said Abram would not play on Saturday.

Although Michigan suffered a devastating blow when Harris went down with an ankle sprain, the team knows that they still have five more conference games to play.

"This is like a slap in the face, realizing that we aren't as good as we thought we were," Sims said. "We need to get back to the way we were playing, blue-collar basketball."

Ohio State 94

Michigan 85