3 reasons IU basketball lost to Michigan: A Sunday hangover as Hoosiers suffer letdown

BLOOMINGTON — IU entered its national TV game on CBS against Michigan with momentum. That momentum, created by a midweek emotional win over No. 4 Purdue, was wasted Sunday.

IU followed that signature win by getting blown out 80-62 at home by a Michigan team struggling to stay above .500. Across the entire game, IU led for a total of 95 seconds. IU had a chance to jump into the Top 25 with a win over the Wolverines. It instead lost in uninspiring fashion, a disappointing first home loss of the season.

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IU had ended one long losing streak with the win over Purdue on Thursday. But, the streak against Michigan continues. Here are three reasons why IU lost to Michigan for an eighth straight time:

IU forward Michael Durr said in a Saturday news conference he and his teammates had talked about not starting flat after the emotional high of Thursday’s court storming.

Very quickly, IU found itself down 21-9, then 29-13. Its shooting percentage was in the low-30s and Michigan seemed to be hitting everything.

The Hoosiers played an opening stretch that lacked energy, immensely so. It’s easy to fall flat after such an emotional high. The Purdue win was maybe IU’s biggest in years. It brought energy and a buzz back to Bloomington.

But that momentum didn’t carry over. IU found itself down early and spent the rest of game trying to dig out of a hole.

IU did not, at all, defend the perimeter

One way to kill any comeback? Allow the opponent to answer with a 3. Michigan seemed to do that every single time.

Or really as a whole, Michigan made seemingly every single opportunity it had on 3s. IU didn’t make it particularly hard, either. The Hoosiers played horrific defense on the perimeter.

Michigan made 11-of-17 3-pointers. At one point in the second half, Michigan was shooting 74% from deep. So many of those looks were wide open.

Caleb Houstan looked more like the highly touted five-star recruit he was coming out of high school. He made five 3s. Hunter Dickinson has developed into one of the nation’s best post players, but he proved to be another Michigan weapon from deep, making three 3s. He had 25 total points in a dominant effort.

IU never adjusted. As a whole, an IU defense that has been so stingy with regard to field goal percentage allowed, surrendered the highest percentage it has to any team all season: 57%

IU hung around for a while, but was never able to keep up with Michigan’s stellar shooting. IU shot 5-of-19 itself on 3s. It lost in blowout fashion because of it.

IU wasn't particularly good around the rim, where it has to be good

IU is not a great shooting team. Its offense in large part comes from points in the paint. IU had 32 — that did make up the bulk of IU’s offense.

But in turn it missed 14 lay-ups. IU shot 10-of-24 on lay-ups in the loss.

As IU was falling further and further behind as Michigan kept making 3s, it wasn’t helping itself at all on the offensive end.

IU had actually picked up its offense from the slow start all the way to shooting 39% for the game.

Trayce Jackson-Davis had 17 points. Xavier Johnson had 14. They tried to give some energy, any energy, to IU’s offense. Nothing worked. No one else on IU scored more than nine points.