Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from a hideous loss to MSU

Michigan basketball refused to get taken to the woodshed in East Lansing and got within striking distance, but wound up drawing the short stick in a painful rivalry loss to Michigan State.

It was an ugly first half for the Wolverines who shot 1-9 from beyond the arc and netted 18 points at intermission. Missed shots and Michigan State’s defense were the reason why they couldn’t do much more in the frenzied Breslin Center.

The Spartans threatened to blow it open in the opening moments of the second, but Michigan wouldn’t let them pull away. Michigan basketball closed to within four but didn’t get any further as they tasted defeat in East Lansing by six, 59-53.

Here are the three takeaways.

1. Michigan basketball shot 3-20 from triple

When you shoot like this you are not going to win the contest, plain and simple. 15% for the record and only 19 field goals were made on the afternoon. Michigan basketball had to feel lucky to even be able to be in it late even though they shot so poorly. In the end, it’s another loss by single digits to an unfriendly opponent and atmosphere.

It’s a season-low for points scored at 53 and snaps Michigan’s momentum that they were coming into Saturday with. The Maryland and Penn State wins were nice, but this group had to steal one on the road against a tournament contender like Michigan State. It’s their first loss in the Big Ten and sixth overall, with plenty more to come.

Dug McDaniel had the worst performance of his young career. He pitched in zero and the ball was in Kobe Bufkin’s hands during crunch time. Bufkin played better and putting the leather in his hands was the right thing to do by the staff. McDaniel will see brighter days, but Saturday in East Lansing was not one of them.