College Basketball

Is Michigan learning, or are late-game woes a troubling trend?

Updated Nov. 30, 2022 9:46 p.m. ET

College Football and College Basketball Writer

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Time froze along the Michigan bench as the final buzzer sounded at Crisler Center, the collective gaze of an entire team burning holes in the officiating crew.

Head coach Juwan Howard flicked his eyes to the left, toward the nearest referee, and then stared straight ahead when the realization that no foul was forthcoming washed over him like a wave of disappointment. Howard’s son, Jett Howard, stood nearby with his shoulder shrugged, arms at right angles and palms pointed skyward after his last-second 3-point attempt was smothered on a play with enough contact that few could have argued if the whistle blew.

But the only sounds were a few beats of expectant silence followed by cascading boos from a surprisingly rowdy crowd following a 9:30 p.m. tipoff in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Wolverines had blown an 11-point halftime lead over No. 3 Virginia to squander their best stretch of basketball this season in a 70-68 loss that will be viewed as a massive opportunity missed come March. A single field goal and two turnovers from Michigan (5-2) in the final 3:27 offered the Cavaliers enough of a window to snare an important nonconference victory and ensure their undefeated start (6-0) will extend into December.

"I think it means that, you know, we obviously are one of the top teams in the country," center Hunter Dickinson said in a postgame news conference when asked to reflect on his team’s narrow defeat against a highly ranked opponent. "I know we had a loss early in the season too, and we were playing some (other) teams tight, but I think today was a really big step for us just to go out there and show the country that we are one of the best teams in the country, going toe to toe with the No. 3 team in the country.

"Even though it wasn’t the outcome that we wanted, I think it will be a really good building block."

That’s one way of looking at it, and perhaps over time the rose-tinted glasses Dickinson shared with Howard — who echoed the comments from his star center — will prove the proper lenses through which to characterize a hard-fought loss to an opponent that’s already beaten a pair of top-20 teams in No. 5 Baylor and No. 19 Illinois. The alternate view is far more unsavory for the Wolverines: Tuesday’s defeat to Virginia was yet another second-half collapse following a 2021-22 season chock-full of them.

The combination of a fairytale run to the Elite Eight during Howard’s first postseason in 2021, and an incoming recruiting class that ranked among the top three in the country produced sky-high expectations entering last season. Michigan entered the year No. 6 in the preseason Associated Press poll and climbed as high as fourth before a series of unflattering defeats expunged them from the rankings by the second week of December. From that point forward, the only numbers the Wolverines had next to their name were seedings in postseason tournaments.

Over time, Howard’s team developed a confounding habit of playing well in the first halves of games only to unravel through poor defensive performances in the second. Opponents averaged 41.9 points in the second halves of Michigan’s 15 defeats last season, with Central Florida, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana all scoring 46 points or more. Villanova, which eventually toppled the Wolverines in the Sweet 16, was the only team to beat Michigan without netting at least 35 points in the second half.

"I think that’s a theme for us, you know?" Dickinson said last January after Michigan State ripped off 44 second-half points in a blowout win over Michigan at the Breslin Center in East Lansing. "In the second half, we don’t usually play a full 20 minutes. Sometimes we just have some mental lapses that open the game up for the other team."

In contrast to their listless defeat at Michigan State, the Wolverines played with admirable effort and intensity against the Cavaliers on Tuesday. They made seven of their first 13 attempts from beyond the arc to build a double-figure lead despite entering the game shooting just 31.8% on 3s. They didn’t surrender a single offensive rebound in the first half and outscored Virginia in second-chance points, fast-break points and bench points. Dickinson and Jett Howard combined for 25 of the team’s 45 points.

But with the second half came an offensive malaise containing field goal droughts of three minutes and seven minutes — during which the veteran Cavaliers reclaimed control of the game. Virginia scored 36 points after halftime on 46.4% shooting and got to the free-throw line more than twice as often as it did in the first half. Point guard Kihei Clark scored 11 of his 16 points in the second including a perfect 6-for-6 on free throws. Dickinson and guards Dug McDaniel and Jaelin Llewellyn combined to commit seven fouls in the second half after being whistled for just two in the first.

A stretch of three consecutive turnovers by McDaniel (charge), power forward Terrance Williams II (charge) and small forward Jace Howard (lost the ball out of bounds) around the eight-minute mark coincided with a four-point spurt by Virginia that gave the visitors their first lead since 13:41 remained in the opening half. The Cavaliers would stay ahead of, or tied with, Michigan for all but 62 seconds of the final seven minutes.

"In this game of basketball there are going to be some possessions that you’re not going to always love," Howard said. "There are going to be some possessions where you do well and you’re able to capitalize, and there’s going to be some possessions where you don’t."

The final minutes of Tuesday's game skewed toward the latter as Michigan’s chance for a season-altering upset shriveled. A swooping hook shot from Dickinson clanged off the rim with 1:01 remaining. A poor pass from Llewellyn was stolen by Reece Beekman with 16 seconds remaining. A final 3-point heave from Jett Howard was blocked as the buzzer sounded and an arena’s worth of fans pined for a game-saving whistle.

Instead, the Wolverines are viewing their narrow defeat to third-ranked Virginia as a step in the right direction. But time will tell if it was just another collapse.

"When we come out with the effort that we did today for 40 minutes," Howard said, "I love our chances versus any college team in the country."

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