Takeaways from Michigan’s loss to Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational

After leading for most of the game and dominating on the interior, the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines fell to the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners after Jeremiah Fears converted a clutch four-point play. Here are the takeaways from the loss:

On a late Wednesday night in Charlotte, North Carolina, the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines led for most of the Jumpman Invitational and had victory in their sights to give the No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners their first loss of the season.

But then, freshman Jeremiah Fears made the play of the game.

Michigan falls to 8-3 after the stunning 87-86 loss.

The SEC has, rightfully so, gotten a lot of hype thanks to how good of a start the conference as a whole has gotten off to, and the No. 14 Sooners have a legit chance at winning that league. Heading into this matchup, OU was one of the highest-ranked teams on KenPom (38th) Michigan has faced this season. The Sooners entered this game as one of the few undefeated teams in the country, with a 10-0 record with a Quad 1 win over Arizona.

This was the last big non-conference test for the Wolverines, and in a tight game, Michigan withstood a late Oklahoma run and made winning plays down the stretch in an impressive victory. But the Sooners made the biggest shot of the game.

Michigan led for the majority of this contest, and played really well down the stretch of this one. But crazy shots happen, the Wolverines only made four threes, and they turned the ball over too much to a Sooner team that took advantage.

Here are some takeaways from the close win.

Turning the ball over at the worst possible time

The Wolverines led for the first 34 minutes of game action and had control of this game for the majority of it, even jumping out to an 11-point lead at one point in the second half. During that portion of the game, they took care of the ball real well, showing real progress from the turnover issues earlier in the season.

But like the flu during finals season, those turnover issues showed up at the worst possible time. Oklahoma went on a 9-0 run late in the second half, in part because of Michigan throwing the ball away to help the Sooners get some easy buckets in transition.

Those turnovers put Michigan in a two-possession hole for key minutes in the second half, but Michigan tightened up on defense and made some big shots down the stretch, with Oklahoma giving the ball away at crucial points late in this one.

That turnover total (10) easily clears Michigan’s season average of just over 15 turtest entering this game, but a few costly second half giveaways were enough for Oklahoma to grasp momentum.

Area 50-1 invades Charlotte

Michigan had a slight height advantage in this ranked match-up, and they took advantage early and often.

Vlad Goldin easily had his best game since joining Michigan, scoring a new career-high 26 points, including 16 in the first half, to go along with 10 rebounds and two blocks. He wasn’t just finishing easy looks created by Danny Wolf, he made some TOUGH shots in the post.

Goldin is a good player on his own, but the seven footer he shares the floor with brings out the best in him. Wolf finished this one with another impressive stat-line (15 points, 10 rebounds, five assists with only two turnovers). He was a constant source of offense in the first half especially, showing once again that he may be Michigan’s best shot creator.

The chemistry between these two is off the charts.

Turning the ball over at the worst possible time

The Wolverines led for the first 34 minutes of game action and had control of this game for the majority of it, even jumping out to an 11-point lead at one point in the second half. During that portion of the game, they took care of the ball real well, showing real progress from the turnover issues earlier in the season.

But like the flu during finals season, those turnover issues showed up at the worst possible time. Oklahoma went on a 9-0 run late in the second half, in part because of Michigan throwing the ball away to help the Sooners get some easy buckets in transition.

Those turnovers put Michigan in a two-possession hole for key minutes in the second half, but Michigan tightened up on defense and made some big shots down the stretch, with Oklahoma giving the ball away at crucial points late in this one.

Overcoming that late run and winning a tight game like this will help Michigan in the long run. But with how often turnovers can rear their ugly heads against this team, unfortunately no lead is safe.

Shifting momentum in the second half

The Sooners through their best punch to start the second half, and Michigan responded with a run that swung momentum in their favor.

The five-point lead that Michigan entered the half with was wiped away with five quick points in the opening minutes of the second half. The Wolverines refused to let Oklahoma take charge, though, going on an 11-0 run over a three minute stretch to help Michigan jump out to a commanding double-digit lead.

After Oklahoma battled back, the Wolverines turned the pace of the game up to 11, thanks to Tre Donaldson (14 points) providing a burst to put Michigan back up double digits. That burst gave Michigan a nice cushion

We saw the Wolverines’ struggle towards the end of the first half bleed into the start of the second half in their recent loss to Arkansas , so it was nice to see Dusty May’s squad avoid falling into that hole again by taking care of the ball, getting to the rim and finished their free throws. They just couldn’t come away with the victory.

Winning on the boards and in the paint

One of the areas of focus for the Wolverines in the eight days off was improving on the glass, and the Wolverines rebounded well in this one, while also dominating in the paint.

Michigan won the battle on the boards (37-32) while also having way more points in the paint (50-28). Grabbing 15 offensive rebounds certainly helped the Wolverines quite a bit. And it wasn’t just Michigan’s big men either; Michigan did a good job driving the basketball and getting good shots around the rim.

On a night where the Wolverines didn’t make a lot of threes (4-of-28), they needed to execute inside the arc and they did exactly that.

Up Next

This was Michigan’s last non-conference game against a Power 4 team before Big Ten play starts next up, the Wolverines have two buy games to close out the calendar year against Purdue Fort Wayne (155th on KenPom) on Dec. 22 before hosting Western Kentucky (108th) one week later on Dec. 29.

The Purdue Fort Wayne game tips off at 1 p.m. on B1G+, while the Western Kentucky game tips off at 8 p.m. on Big Ten Network.