Gut reactions to blowout road loss for Michigan basketball

It was another tough night for Michigan basketball. The Wolverines were defeated handily on the road against 14th-ranked Illinois despite a solid effort in the first half.

At one point, Michigan basketball, a 16-point underdog, was down just four points, 31-27 after a bucket by Nimari Burnett. Yet, Illinois closed the first half on a 16-2 run and that was that.

There were a few bright spots. George Washington IIi had some nice moments, both on defense, and with a nice assist in transition. The talent gap was too great though and with Dug McDaniel missing the game due to suspension, it's hard for the Wolverines to compete.

Tarris Reed continues to show promise and if he's still on the roster next season, he should be a nice piece. The same could be said for McDaniel, but it feels like it will be hard to retain either. And they definitely won't stick around if Juwan Howard is fired.

I'm not sure if that will be the end result, but as of now, it feels like we are waiting for a decision on Juwan's future, as well as the end of the season. I hope to see Michigan basketball win some games and think they can, especially at home.

However it ends though, big changes need to be made, even if Howard is retained. Here are the gut reactions from another blowout loss.

Gut reactions to Michigan basketball loss to Illinois

• I can't fault the effort. That's the best thing I can say about Michigan basketball on Tuesday.

• It's hard to believe Michigan made just a single 3-pointer. That seems statistically impossible.

• The last month has felt like rock bottom.

• A lack of guard depth has hurt this team for way too long.

• This entire program seems defeated. Hopefully, the saying about things getting darkest before the dawn is true, because this worse than I could have imagined.