BY BEN ESTES
Daily Sports Writer
Published January 22, 2011
From the opening tip, it was clear that the Michigan team that took the court Saturday night against Minnesota wasn’t the same group that got blown out at Indiana and Northwestern in its last two games.
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But improved play didn’t turn into a win for the Wolverines. The Michigan men’s basketball team fell to the 15th-ranked Golden Gophers, 69-64, at Crisler Arena.
The two teams’ offenses struggled much of the night, but each started trading baskets late as the Wolverines scrambled to get back in the game.
Michigan, though, just couldn’t get quite enough stops, continually cutting into Minnesota’s lead only to see the Gophers immediately respond.
Minnesota held Michigan scoreless from the 2:18 mark of the first half until there was 14:44 remaining in the game, and the Wolverines didn’t have a field goal in the second half until nearly seven minutes had elapsed after the break.
Early on, Michigan took control by taking advantage of Minnesota’s sloppiness. The Gophers had four turnovers by the first media timeout and finished with nine in the first half.
The Wolverines responded by firing from the outside. Junior guard Zack Novak made three 3-pointers in the first half — the last of which gave Michigan its biggest lead of the night at 24-15.
But Minnesota slowed down the Wolverine attack by switching to a 2-3 zone on defense. And while Michigan stayed mostly on the perimeter, the Gophers attacked inside, led by rugged forward Trevor Mbakwe’s 10 points in the half. Minnesota had 20 points in the paint for the frame, compared to just four points on five shots for the Wolverines — the Gophers finished with a 38-18 point advantage down low on the night.
And Michigan went just 5-of-16 from deep in the second period. By the time the Wolverines started looking inside for offense, it was too late.
Michigan fought until the end, finding itself down by just five points with 18 seconds left. But the young Wolverines could only watch as the Golden Gophers sealed the game from the free throw line, pushing Michigan's current-losing streak to six games.
