The No. 24 Michigan men’s basketball team has far surpassed its preseason expectations. Now, with the latter half of the season underway, those expectations have shifted. With ranked wins over Xavier and Wisconsin at the beginning of the year and dominant play from 7-foot big man duo Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, the Wolverines grabbed people’s attention.
And with that attention comes higher standards. On the surface, Michigan is right where it needs to be. It’s 17-5 overall and 9-2 in the Big Ten, tied for second place with No. 9 Michigan State and just behind No. 7 Purdue in the conference rankings.
When you take a closer look at the Wolverines’ games, a clear pattern emerges: a slew of close contests. Michigan has been in 10 games decided by four points or less, with four coming in its last five games. When such a small margin has dictated half of your season, your season’s fate is at the mercy of a few possessions.
Before the Wolverines’ most recent loss to the Boilermakers — a humbling 91-64 trounce — its previous four losses had been determined by eight points total. Five of their last six games have been decided by four points or less: Wednesday against Oregon (80-76), Saturday at Rutgers (66-63), Jan. 27 against Penn State (76-72), Jan. 19 against Northwestern (80-76), and Jan. 16 at Minnesota (81-84 OT). While Michigan has won four of those five, the ongoing trend of playing in close games is unsustainable if they want to challenge for a championship.
Wednesday’s 80-76 win over Oregon was another example of the Wolverines struggling to put teams away. Michigan built a double-digit lead in the second half, only to see it dwindle in the closing minutes. While they escaped with a win, the same late-game issues that plagued them all season were again on display.
“Just super happy with the win,” Wolf said postgame. “I think Big Ten games are hard, no matter which way you look at it. You gotta protect home court. I think it’s just a common theme that we get these big leads, but we just really, really got to stop beating at it. We got these leads — myself included — (we) really just got to focus on the team and just got to push them out. But nonetheless, I’m grateful to get a win against a very good team.”
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