With just over 14 minutes left in the first half and up five points, Texas Tech forward Warren Washington posted up against graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua. Not finding any way past Nkamhoua, Washington turned and threw up a contested fadeaway jumper, missing long.
As the shot clanged off the back rim, though, there were no members of the Michigan men’s basketball team anywhere near the hoop. Instead, sophomore forward Tarris Reed Jr. had lunged forward toward Washington in an attempt to block him, leaving his man — Red Raiders forward Darrion Williams — wide open for a putback layup.
The loose ball lapse was one of many on the night for the Wolverines, who gave up 13 offensive rebounds and 15 second-chance points en route to a 73-57 bludgeoning by Texas Tech. Michigan once again could not make its presence felt on the glass, handing its opponent extra opportunities to score.
“It’s not turnovers, we had eight turnovers,” Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli said. “It really wasn’t awful defense. It was just dominant, dominant, loose ball recovery. On the glass, didn’t see it coming.”
Given that they trailed the entire game, the Wolverines’ struggle on the boards was far from the only issue that they faced. But it certainly didn’t help that in a first half in which the Red Raiders held Michigan to just 21 points, the Wolverines allowed nearly half of that to Texas Tech on second chance opportunities alone.
It wasn’t just on traditional putback chances, either. With 1:23 left in the first half, Red Raiders guard Pop Isaacs pulled up for a midrange jumper. The shot ricocheted off the rim, sailing all the way out back to Isaacs. Texas Tech then took a 3-pointer, and the ball caromed back to Isaacs, who shot and missed again. Back to the Red Raiders the ball went, and finally, they finished the possession with a fourth-chance driving layup, extending their lead to 14 just before halftime.
Friday’s loss was just the latest in a growing trend for Michigan, too.
In its win over St. John’s on Nov. 13, the Wolverines dominated just about every facet of the game except the glass, allowing 27 offensive boards. In their loss to Long Beach State on Nov. 17, a missed box-out assignment on a late free throw allowed the Beach to hold off Michigan’s comeback attempt.
“Long shots, long rebounds, so we can’t just run straight under the basket,” Nkamhoua said after the loss to Long Beach State. “We have to be ready for those kinds of rebounds. And then collectively just a better job boxing out. If your man is not coming in, then sealing the big or helping somebody else box out if there’s a mismatch.”
Despite knowing where the rebounding lapses come from, and knowing what they need to do to fix it, the Wolverines still haven’t shown that they consistently can. Even against a Texas Tech team that’s over an inch shorter on average, they constantly found themselves losing loose ball chases and forced to defend extended possessions — all while gassed from playing in a barn-burner less than 24 hours earlier.
“There was nothing in our tank,” Martelli said. “And that’s ironic because before the game we showed them a video about emptying your tanks. But quite possibly we came in here with empty tanks.”
Empty tanks or not, though, Michigan only tired itself out further by failing to clean up on the defensive glass. And in a game where it had to scrap for every single basket, giving the Red Raiders plenty of extra ones to fill up their tanks didn’t make things any easier.