Michigan Basketball: 3 observations from Wolverines loss to Ohio State

Michigan basketball suffered a tough loss at home on Saturday to Ohio State and here are three observations from the Wolverines loss.

Playing its fourth game in a span of eight days, Michigan basketball looked sluggish against Ohio State and the Wolverines dropped a chance for a key resume-building win.

E.J. Liddell put on a show for Ohio State and poured in 28 points — nearly half of what Michigan basketball scored on its own — as the Buckeyes pulled away late for the win.

It’s a tough blow for Michigan. The Wolverines are now 13-0 on the season and 7-6 in the Big Ten. Michigan needs to go 4-3 to feel good about its NCAA tournament chances and dropping any game at home right now doesn’t help.

Fatigue probably was an issue for the Wolverines, especially since U-M got just 32 minutes total and four shot attempts from the bench — combined. But excuses don’t matter much at this time of year and we look at three observations from Michigan’s loss to Ohio State.

Ohio State’s star was better

This game was probably always going to come down to who played better: Liddell or Hunter Dickinson and on Saturday, it wasn’t even close.

Ohio State came out switching screens in an effort to take away Dickinson’s pick-and-pop attempts and it worked. Hunter was 7-of-17 and didn’t attempt a free throw or make a triple. As a team, the Wolverines made just 4-of-17.

Liddell, on the other end, just made shots. He did shoot under 50 percent but was 11-of-11 from the free throw line and his dagger three late seemed to end any hopes of a Michigan comeback.