Takeaways from Michigan’s win over Indiana in Dusty May’s return to Assembly Hall

In a roller coaster of a game, the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines made enough winning plays late at Assembly Hall to beat the Indiana Hoosiers. Here are takeaways from Saturday’s game:

In a building head coach Dusty May is very familiar with, the No. 24 Michigan Wolverines came away with a tough-nosed victory at Assembly Hall, beating the Indiana Hoosiers on Saturday afternoon, 70-67.

As has been the case for about a decade now, this season has been a disappointment for Indiana. The Hoosiers had a 5-7 conference record heading into the game, along with a four-game losing streak. In the midst of this tumultuous season, the school announced head coach Mike Woodson is stepping down at the end of this season. Indiana will be searching for a new head coach for the third time since Tom Crean was fired in 2017.

Every time he has been asked about his Indiana ties this season, May has downplayed it.

“I have a very closed mindset during the season, where all I can think about is how do we play better,” May said after the win over Oregon . “My mom lives in Bloomington, it is what it is. I’m going in there trying to win a freaking basketball game and that’s it.”

Winning a freaking basketball game is exactly what Michigan did. While Michigan has depth concerns and gave up a big lead yet again, improving to 10-2 in Big Ten play is quite an impressive feat in May’s first year in Ann Arbor.

Here are takeaways from the win.

Tre Donaldson and Danny Wolf dominate

Michigan’s offensive surge was powered by Tre Donaldson and Danny Wolf, who made Indiana’s defense look like Swiss cheese at times.

Donaldson made his first three shots for a quick eight points to jumpstart Michigan’s offense. He used his speed to his advantage, darting to the rim with authority and giving Michigan easy buckets at the rim. He finished with 18 points, his highest point total since the Penn State win .

Wolf made play after play, showing off his NBA prowess and scoring at all three levels on his way to a team-high 20 points. When Michigan needed an offensive boost, Michigan went to its bread and butter, with Wolf finding Vlad Goldin on the pick-and-roll.

Wolf played especially well in those final minutes, with him, Donaldson and Goldin (18 points, eight rebounds) making just enough winning plays to help Michigan secure the win.

Michigan surrenders a big second-half lead yet again

After only turning the ball over four times total in the first half, Michigan turned the ball over four times in the first eight minutes of the second half. Those turnovers helped Indiana cut a once double-digit lead to just three points.

No lead appears to be safe, which has unfortunately become a common theme. Turning the ball over and having offensive lapses like the one Michigan went on when both 7-footers were on the bench helped the Hoosiers climb back.

A game of runs early followed by Michigan dominance in that first half

Michigan was red-hot to start this game, making five of its first six shots and jumping out to a 14-5 lead after going on a 9-0 run. That was capped off by a TOUGH fall-away from mid-range by Wolf.

After that hot start, Indiana came back to tie it at 16 before a 15-0 Michigan run put the Wolverines up well over double digits again.

Michigan kept making shots in the first half, knocking down 52 percent of its shots and 42 percent of its threes as the Wolverine lead ballooned as high as 18. U-M went into the half up 16 in complete control, but losing the majority of that lead in the second half was frustrating.

A quick note on the starting lineup, and is depth a concern?

Michigan made a slight change to the usual starting lineup, with Rubin Jones getting the start over Roddy Gayle Jr. Aside from hitting two clutch free throws, Gayle struggled in the Oregon win and has been in a bit of a funk the last two games.

Per Inside the Hall , May said in his pre-game radio interview he made the move so Gayle would be more aggressive in the second unit. Gayle didn’t do a whole lot in this game, but it touches on a larger issue for this basketball team.

Michigan as a team only had eight bench points in this one, touching on a larger issue that’s been brewing in recent weeks.

In recent weeks, Will Tschetter — who led the team in scoring with 17 points against Oregon and was the only bench player with more than two points against Indiana — has been the only bench player consistently producing.

Gayle has looked like a shell of himself in recent weeks, and Sam Walters has been struggling from three. L.J. Cason is on milk cartons all throughout Ann Arbor, and Justin Pippen has been decent, but only plays in five-minute stretches. Michigan essentially rolled with a six-man rotation on Saturday, which won’t be sustainable against better Big Ten opponents and in the NCAA Tournament.

Michigan is running out of time to find answers on the bench, but it may be time to start looking.

Up Next

This upcoming week is an important one for the Wolverines. U-M hosts No. 7 Purdue for a rematch after the beatdown in Mackey Arena, with that game tipping off on Tuesday at 7 p.m. on Peacock. After that, the Wolverines travel to Columbus to face a frisky Buckeyes team in Columbus (Sunday, Feb. 16 at 1 p.m. on CBS).