College Basketball

Michigan Basketball vs Illinois: 3 Takeaways from the Wolverines Loss

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 7:52 p.m. ET

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Michigan basketball had high hopes before the start of conference play, but after losing badly to Illinois, the Wolverines clearly have work to do.

Before Wednesday night against Illinois, Michigan basketball wasn’t great in Big Ten play. The Wovlerines were 1-2, but suffered two close losses.

Against Illinois, Michigan basketball was embarrassed. The Fighting Illini aren’t a bad team, but they are ranked lower in the KenPom rankings coming in and they dominated UM 85-69.

Illinois controlled the game inside and out-rebounded the Wolverines 30-17. They also shot a ridiculous 63 percent from the field. Michigan just couldn’t find a way to get a stop, which has been a continuing theme in recent games.

It was clear to see Illinois would have an advantage on the boards coming in. After all, Michigan ranked last in the Big Ten in rebounding margin, while Illinois is in the top five.

Yet, the lack of rebounding was still alarming. Michigan was just dominated inside and had no answer defensively as six Illinois players scored in double figures. In all, Illinois connected on 34 shots and 21 of them were assisted.

In some ways, the performance wasn’t all bad. The Wolverines shot better than 52 percent from the field overall and 50 percent from 3-point range. They made seven treys and only turned the ball over eight times, three less than Illinois.

It’s always hard to win on the road, but when your opponent shoot lights out, it’s going to be extremely difficult.

Some teams are good enough to overcome something like that, right now Michigan basketball isn’t one of them.

Here are the other important takeaways from Wednesday’s loss.

Defense still has major issues

During non-conference play, the Michigan defense struggled at times, but it seemed to be much improved, especially in wins over SMU and Marquette.

In fact, Michigan allowed more than 70 points just twice before the start of Big Ten play and that came in losses to Virginia Tech and UCLA. The Hokies scored 73, the Bruins 104.

But if you look at the Wolverines averaged points allowed for the entire season at this point, they are allowing 65 points per game. A pretty reasonable number, considering they are scoring 74.

However, since the start of Big Ten play, which has just been four games, Michigan is giving up 79.3. That number is just 2.5 better than the worst defense in the league. UM also has the worst field-goal percentage defense in the conference, so it’s safe to say, that end of the floor is no better than last season.

Certainly, things can change and they will need to soon, but right now, Michigan is back to being a bad defense.

Michigan needs more from the bench

Of course, the picture always looks rosier in non-conference play, when the teams you play are often ranked in the low 100’s, the 200’s or the 300’s. But, it certainly appeared as though Michigan basketball would have a little deeper bench than it does.

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GBMWolverine 17hMichigan Basketball Flops Against Illinois On The Road

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And now that the Wolverines are playing solid teams night in and night out, with no real cupcakes, it’s catching up to them. Against Illinois, the Michigan bench was outscored 28 to 9. In fact, two Illini players, scored 10 points or more off the bench, while four Wolverines combined for nine.

Yet, it was much the same story last Saturday in a loss to Maryland. The Terps got a solid 19 points from the bench. The Wolverines got just eight.

Now, bench points don’t necessarily decide every game, but when you are getting outscored by 10 or even 20 points, it’s not going to bode well for your chances of winning.

So guys like Duncan Robinson (when he’s not starting), Mark Donnal and Xavier Simpson need to step up.

Michigan really needs a win Saturday over Nebraska

After being ranked in the top 25 and putting together a pretty solid start to the season, it’s hard to believe that Michigan is 1-3, but that’s where the Wolverines find themselves.

It sounds bad, but it’s too early to panic, more than anything, Michigan just needs to get back in the win column, which it can do Saturday at home against Nebraska.

Before the start of conference play, Nebraska looked like one of the low-end teams in the league. But following wins over Indiana, Iowa and Maryland, that doesn’t appear to be the case.

At 3-1, Nebraska finds itself just a half game out of first place. It also means Michigan will need to be on point if it wants to beat the Huskers. The Wolverines certainly haven’t looked good in recent weeks, but they can still recover.

However, a third straight loss, on their home floor, would put the Wolverines at 1-4 and in a deep, deep hole, one that could prove hard to dig out of.

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