Michigan 74 Indiana 63: Three Keys | Final Box Score | Specialty Stats

A shorthanded Hoosier squad went on the road for the first time in a month and ran into a first half buzz saw.

Hot early shooting by Michigan allowed the Wolverines to run out to a 32-13 lead, and Indiana spent the rest of the game playing catch up.

Indiana suffered its first loss in Big Ten play. IU is now 12-3 overall, and 3-1 in the conference. The Hoosiers will return to action on Friday night at Maryland.

THREE KEYS TO THE GAME

1. Falling behind early finally caught up with Indiana. We warned you. The trend was not sustainable against elite competition. This time the deficit ballooned to 19 in the first half, and the opponent was the best since Duke. That is just too much to overcome, especially on the road. Two early fouls on both Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford certainly didn’t help the cause. Indiana kept pushing and got the game down to 57-50 with 10:54 remaining, but the sustained excellence required to finish the comeback wasn’t there.

2. Indiana gets nothing from bench. Literally nothing. As in zero bench points on the day. The injuries caught up with IU in Ann Arbor. With starting point guard Rob Phinisee out, De’Ron Davis unavailable with a bad ankle, and several others injured longer-term, there just weren’t enough viable options for the Hoosiers. Juwan Morgan and Romeo Langford were excellent despite their foul troubles, but Indiana had few other alternatives against the Wolverines.

3. Michigan’s defense lives up to the hype. Nothing came easy on the offensive end for Indiana. The Hoosiers only turned the ball over seven times for the game, but that’s not Michigan’s style. The Wolverines are fundamentally sound and always in the right position. That forced the Hoosiers to take a lot of contested shots. IU shot about 10% below its season average from the field, and scored just two fast break points the entire game.