The Final Four preview between Michigan basketball and Duke devolved into a slugfest, as we predicted it would, with both teams battling to reach the 60s.
Michigan shot 40 percent from the field. Yet, the Wolverines shot just 53 percent on 2-point attempts. Even worse, they made just 24 percent of their 3-point attempts.
Jokes aside about the Nike basketball, the Wolverines will be shooting with a different ball in March than they use in home games, so maybe they do need more practice with it.
Missed shots didn't help Michigan. It's hard to win a game when you shoot 24 percent from 3-point range, but that's not where the Wolverines lost the game.
How Michigan basketball lost the game against Duke
Michigan lost it in the paint. Aday Mara and Morez Johnson both dealt with foul problems in the first half. Mara only played 22 minutes. He made all four shots and scored 10 points. Maybe if he had been able to play 5-10 more minutes, it would have impacted the outcome.
That's not to say Michigan would have won the game. Duke won the 2-point battle 57 to 54 percent. They also scored more points in the paint and had more second-chance points.
Duke pulled down 12 offensive rebounds. Michigan only had seven. The Blue Devils pulled down more than 30 percent of their misses. U-M was barely over 20.
Essentially, Duke did to Michigan what the Wolverines have done to 25 other teams on the schedule. Michigan wasn't able to overcome that with 3-point shooting or elite defense. The offense never looked comfortable, or at least as comfortable as Duke did.
The bigger concern is what Michigan will do against a team similar to Duke? There aren't many of them, but Illinois has the size of Duke. They are up next Friday. They shoot the ball extremely well, too.
Dusty May talked about things the Wolverines can learn from the loss. But can they learn to be more physical than Duke? Because if these teams meet again, the same things that decided the game on Saturday, will decide it in March.
Michigan better be ready. They weren't on Saturday night.