Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned in costly loss to Illinois

Michigan basketball suffered an awful loss to Illinois Saturday and here are three things we learned about the Wolverines and their NCAA tournament hopes.

Michigan basketball was desperately in need of a boost Saturday against Illinois and the Wolverines, who have been free falling needed a win against the Fighting Illini, badly.

And once we saw Isaiah Livers warm-up and work his way into the starting lineup, it seemed like there was a better chance of getting it. Livers wasn’t necessarily himself early on, but he did score seven points and drilled a clutch 3-pointer in the second half that gave the Wolverines a one-point lead.

That was the high point but minutes later Livers re-aggravated his injury and it seemed to suck the life out of Michigan basketball. David DeJulius started to get things going, connecting a big trey and a floater that helped give the Wolverines the lead.

Yet, they simply couldn’t finish and to be blunt, Michigan basketball choked. U-M missed five free throws in the final minutes and with around a minute to go and Michigan up three, Franz Wagner, one of the team’s best shooters, missed two.

Jon Teske also missed a bunny, actually, he missed about 50, with about 30 seconds left, then the Wolverines watched Illinois hand them their fourth straight defeat, something that hasn’t happened since the 2014-15 season when was the last time Michigan missed the NCAA tournament.

Can Michigan basketball get off the mat? We take a look here and three things we learned Saturday.