Michigan basketball draws comparisons to Michigan football after ugly loss to Illinois

ESPN's Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas were all of us Tuesday night as Michigan basketball suffered through a home blowout vs. Illinois.

The Wolverines entered the game on a seven-game winning streak and only one loss in 19 games. The Illini entered the game missing their best player, Ayo Dosunmu, who was injured in the team's sixth loss of the season, last week vs. Michigan State.

Illinois left Ann Arbor with a 76-53 win; the first time Illinois beat a top-two team on the road. Tuesday's win was the Illini's third in a row vs. the Wolverines, and one of U-M's worst home losses in the past 25 years.

"This is kind of stunning, Jay, don't you think?" Shulman said midway through the second half as Illinois, playing without its best player, went up 55-34 vs. Michigan.

"And to do it in this fashion," Bilas replied. "It's been a beatdown."

[ Michigan basketball's biggest star in its best year? Juwan Howard, coach of the year ]

There's not much shame in losing to the fourth-ranked team in the nation, which also may be headed for No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament, but Michigan fans were ashamed nonetheless.

ICYMI: The Wings busted out some "new" sweaters Tuesday.

I'm old enough to remember when this was a compliment.

Follow the Free Press on Facebook and Twitter for more news. Tyler Davis can be contacted at [email protected] or on Twitter @TDavisFreep.

Your subscription makes work like this possible. Get exclusive subscriber content and more here.

[ The Free Press has started a new digital subscription model. Here's how you can gain access to our most exclusive content. ]

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball fans embarrassed after awful loss to Illinois