After starting the season strong going 5-1 and moving to the top of the Big
Ten standings, the Indiana Hoosiers had fallen on hard times. Before Wednesday’s
game they had gone 1-7 over their last eight, were on a four game losing streak,
and had lost their last four at home (the first time that has happened since
the 84-85 season). As a team that has struggled on the road all year, Michigan
could ill afford to overlook their opponents. Still, with the problems Indiana
has had at home recently, this was a game the Wolverines should have had.
Things started out well offensively for the Maize and Blue, as its backcourt
players were on the mark in the first half. Daniel Horton knocked down two straight
3-pointers on his first two shots to give the Wolverines an 8-6 lead two minutes
into the game. Bracey Wright, who came into the game struggling mightily, answered
with a three of his own to give the Hoosiers a lead that they would hold over
the next few minutes. That’s when guard Lester Abram took control on offense
with a number of authoritative drives to the hole that resulted in field goals
or trips to the line. He scored 9 straight points for the Wolverines over a
three-minute stint ending at 8:39, helping his team keep pace, down 23-19. For
the rest of the half Michigan emphasized their low post presence and took advantage
of the mismatch they had over 6-2 power forward A.J. Moye.
Courtney Sims scored two consecutive buckets down low to bring the Wolverines
within one (24-23) before foul trouble sent him to the bench with 4:46 left
in the half. Chris Hunter came in and picked up right where Sims left off, scoring
the Wolverines next 5 points and tying the score at 28 before the two teams
headed into the half all knotted up at 31.
Marshall Strickland, who had nailed seven points down the stretch in the first
half, came out of the locker room firing and hit a three to give the Hoosiers
and early second half lead. Daniel Horton then nailed two more three-pointers
and teamed with Courtney Sims to give the Wolverines a 41-36 lead with 15:31
left in the game. Michigan looked poised to expand that margin until Strickland
came back with two more three pointers to curb the momentum and cut the lead
to one at 43-42. Amaker’s squad maintained the advantage for another few
minutes until Bracey Wright tied the score at 47 with a huge three pointer over
Bernard Robinson Jr. Strickland followed that up by giving the Hoosiers the
lead again with another trifecta.
The Wolverines continued to battle and were finally able to tie the game at
56 at the 1:48 mark on Robinson Jr’s only field goal of the game. Strickland
answered with yet another bucket, but on Michigan’s ensuing possession
Robinson drove baseline and stepped out of bounds to turn the ball over. The
Wolverine’s still had life as Donald Perry hit only one of his two free
throws with 29 seconds left to make the score 59-56, but Horton missed on his
subsequent three point attempt. The Maize and Blue still got one more reprieve
when Bracey Wright missed his free throw attempts, but Robinson Jr. air-balled
his 3-point attempt and the Hoosiers iced the game from the line, 61-56.
After the game Coach Amaker had some clear thoughts on what exactly went wrong.
“We thought defending the three-point line was going to be critical, and
they made eight three-pointers,” Amaker said. “I thought that was
the difference in the game. We fouled them; we bailed them out if you will,
in a lot of end-of-clock situations, and put Bracey Wright on the line when
the shot clock was running down. I thought those were the critical aspects of
the game. A.J. Moye played his normal tough game with 15 rebounds, and we weren't
very tough. I wish I knew how else to describe it. I didn't think that we were
very tough at the moments we needed to be. We were missing free throws when
they were there for us, and we certainly didn't have a good performance out
of Bernard (Robinson Jr.). I thought this was clearly one of the worst games
he's played all year, and we're not going to win many games on the road without
having Bernard Robinson show up.”
On the game Michigan was led by Sims and Abram with 13 points and 7 rebounds
apiece and Daniel Horton with 12 points and 4 assists. After shooting 12/27
(44.4%) in the first half, the Wolverines managed a paltry 7/24 (29.2%) in the
second. Strickland led the Hoosiers with 21 points and 4 assists. For the full
boxscore, click here.
Michigan finishes up the regular season on the road Saturday versus the Northwestern
Wildcats. Any NCAA tournament aspirations rest on winning that game along with
making a strong run in next week’s Big Ten tournament.