Madison Square Garden is a tough lesson for the Michigan Wolverines

Michigan was plagued by turnovers throughout the game, particularly in the second half where there were 10 turnovers in the first 10 minutes.

NEW YORK – In the arena where players become legends, where artists become stars, Michigan basketball had a chance for someone to add their name to Madison Square Garden history.

The Wolverines led Arkansas by 15 points in the first half on Tuesday night, but fell behind by 18 points in the second half before fighting back within four in the final two minutes of the game.

A missed free throw by Tre Donaldson was thrown out of bounds by UM, but video review overturned the decision and gave the ball back to Michigan. That was crucial because on the ensuing possession, Roddy Gayle Jr. was fouled. He also made the first free throw, then missed the second, but this time Danny Wolf grabbed the offensive rebound and finally finished with a left-handed scoop to get within one with 1:28 to play.

After Michigan’s defense stopped, Donaldson turned the ball over by stepping on the baseline with 35 seconds left in the game. But the Wolverines got a reprieve when Arkansas’ Trevon Brazile was intentionally fouled and missed both attempts from the stripe.

That gave UM another chance, but Brazile had the last laugh when he stuffed Vlad Goldin with a hook shot in front of the rim with less than 20 seconds to play.

“I said to Vlad’s old teammate, ‘I never thought Vlad would get blocked like that,'” Wolf said. “I don’t want us to have another chance.

“I don’t think the game came down to that (stop).”

Brazile got away with the rebound and was fouled. This time he broke away from the stripe on the other end and set UM up with two putbacks and a final possession. May called a timeout with 3.7 seconds left in the game, UM passed the ball inside to Wolf, who threw a backdoor bounce pass along the baseline to Gayle Jr.

The ball fell to the ground, Gayle got his hands on it and threw it up one last time, but it bounced off the front iron and ended Michigan’s seven-game winning streak, an 89-87 loss.

“He got beat,” Arkansas coach John Calipari said of UM’s final game. “But if you lose 15 points, you’re never out of the game. You have an 18 point lead, They are never out of the game. You have to finish it. You have to make plays. You can’t believe this thing is over.

“(Brazil) misses two free throws. What does he do on the other end when he comes back? He blocked the shot. … (Davis) got hit at that back door. And what did he do? Instead of stopping, he struggled, jumping to the ground and tipping the object with his right hand. We win the game because of a play where he got beat, but it was an effort game.”

33 point flip

As Wolf said, the game wasn’t lost on the final two possessions.

If there was a time when the game was lost, it was from the 6:06 mark in the first half to when there was still 9:45 left in the game. Then a 36-21 Michigan lead turned into a 78-60 Arkansas lead, a 58-25 run by the Hogs.

“We had a good start and then got a little complacent,” said Wolf. “In the first half we were banging our butts against the glass, especially me… it’s easy to get behind when you’re playing against a team that’s so fast and so talented.

The snowball that was rolling downhill turned into an avalanche as Michigan once again had one of its turnover-producing stretches that have occurred frequently this season, even during the winning streak. In the first 9:45 minutes of the second half, Michigan had more turnovers (10) than shot attempts (9) as the Hogs outscored the Wolverines by a 33-11 margin.

Things went uphill from there, as UM found itself trailing by 18 – its largest deficit of the season – but quickly cut it to 12 when a wolf-and-1 preceded a long ball from Sam Walters.

Walters was 2 of 2 from deep, in part because May had a difficult time getting Will Tschetter on the floor.

The senior UM player had a heater in the first half, scoring 13 points in less than three minutes of play, giving UM a 15-point lead, but he only played seven minutes in the second half and didn’t shoot like he turned the ball over twice around.

“Danny Wolf, 14, 9 and 9; Vlad Goldin, 17 and 9; “Sam Walters, 2 for 2 (on 3s),” May said of why Tschetter didn’t play later. “It’s hard to accompany four of these guys out there together… But yeah, Vlad and Danny are the main reason.”

A 12-0 run less than three minutes into the game brought UM back within six before going within four on three separate occasions. The first two times came on put-back slams from Gayle Jr, who scored 13 points, and Nimari Burnett, who added 10 points.

The bright lights

Michigan had a handful of chances in the final two minutes with the game within one possession and was never able to complete the comeback. There were a number of small areas where UM lost the game – Arkansas won the battle on second-chance points (12-9), points from turnovers (21-17) and fast-break points (10-4).

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Madison Square Garden is a tough lesson for the Michigan Wolverines

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