The Michigan men’s basketball team was blown out by Indiana 80-61 on Jan. 15 at Assembly Hall in front of a sell-out Hoosier crowd.
Indiana at Michigan
Matchup: Indiana 12-13; Michigan 15-10
When: Saturday, 4 P.M.
Where: Crisler Arena
TV: Big Ten Network
“It’s just embarrassing to lose the way we did,” sophomore guard Darius Morris said after the game. “We don’t want that to happen. We can’t let that happen again.”
The loss came in the heart of a six-game losing streak for Michigan, and when Indiana was 0-4 in the Big Ten.
On Saturday, the Wolverines will seek revenge against the Hoosiers. In its last two games, Indiana (3-9 Big Ten, 12-13 overall) lost to Purdue and Iowa. The Wolverines, on the other hand, defeated Penn State on the road on Sunday and Northwestern at home on Wednesday.
In its first matchup against the Hoosiers, Michigan got off to a rough start and went into halftime trailing by double digits. The crowd got into it, and the Wolverines couldn’t dig themselves out of the hole because the Hoosiers rarely missed.
“They’re a good team, a very dangerous team,” junior guard Zack Novak said. “They lost to Minnesota by three — that’s a really good team. Northwestern — same thing. The way they can shoot the ball, the way they’ve been playing — they’re just really playing well. And the Big Ten’s just loaded this year. Every game’s going to be a battle, especially on the road, so you have to come ready to play.”
Indiana shot so well that Michigan rebounded the ball just 18 times because the Hoosiers didn’t miss many shots. The team shot 67 percent from the field.
“I can’t rebound if they aren’t missing any shots,” redshirt freshman Jordan Morgan said after the loss. “Everything that they put up just fell.”
Indiana’s shooting spree came from junior guard Verdell Jones III, who tallied 24 points — missing just one of his 10 field goals attempts
Jones, however, has been injury-prone this season. Dealing with an ankle sprain, he came in and out of the first matchup with the Wolverines but impressively still led his team in scoring.
Michigan was anything but impressive on the offensive end. The Wolverines shot a measly 23 percent from the field in the first half and finished shooting just 36 percent. They bricked 17 3-pointers on the night — the most that they have missed all season.
But the tide seems to be changing for Michigan. In their last two matchups, the Wolverines have shot a combined 50 percent. And though Michigan has been streaky all season, it’s finally showing some consistency toward the end of the season, especially after wins over Penn State and Northwestern in the past week.
“We’re on our game,” freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. said. “We’re just playing well as a team, we’re shooting well. We are just finally doing what we have done in practice and we’ve gotten two big wins.”