Michigan Basketball loses to Arkansas 89-87 in the Jimmy V Classic at MSG

NEW YORK – They say all good things must come to an end, and that’s doubly true for Michigan basketball in the world’s most famous arena.

The Wolverines built an early 15-point lead over Arkansas at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night, but were unable to maintain that lead for the second straight game.

This time, they couldn’t come back after blowing the lead, losing to Arkansas, 89-87, in the Jimmy V Classic in front of stars like New York Knicks forward Karl-Anthony Towns, Philadelphia 76ers point guard Tyrese Maxey and even former UM -Head coach Juwan Howard, who sat on the sidelines.

The Hogs used a remarkable 59-26 run from midway through the first half to midway through the second half to turn a double-digit deficit into an 18-point lead and never trailed the rest of the way.

“This clearly shows that we can’t stop playing,” said Vladislav Goldin, who finished the game with 17 points and nine rebounds. “We saw it against Iowa, we saw it against Arkansas. We can’t stop playing because any team can beat anyone. We have to do a better job of retaining possession one possession at a time. That’s all I can say.”

It’s not like Michigan went down without a fight. In fact, the Wolverines made seven straight field goals in the second half and went on a 20-6 run to get within one point later with 1:39 to play.

After a defensive stop, Tre Donaldson turned the ball over with 35 seconds to play, but Arkansas missed two free throws, giving UM another chance. On the ensuing possession, Goldin was beaten at the rim by Trevon Brazile (who had missed both freebies) with 20 seconds left in the game.

On the other end, Brazile then made one of two free throws, giving UM two rebounds and one final possession.

Dusty May called a timeout with 3.7 seconds left and got the ball to Danny Wolf, who tried to find Roddy Gayle Jr. on the backcut, but the ball fell to the ground. Gayle managed to get the ball back and got him off balance, but he failed.

“The timing wasn’t perfect, that’s it,” May said of the mistake on the final shot. “I thought Davis wanted to get a finger on it, I obviously wish we had it back… it was charged to what we were looking for. Obviously I think everyone in the locker room usually points at themselves and what they could have done better, so I do the same thing.”

The loss ends a seven-game winning streak this season for Michigan (8-2, 2-0 Big Ten) and an 11-game winning streak in the building known as the “Mecca of Basketball” after the Wolverines turned the ball over 17 times.

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Early on, Michigan appeared to be on its way to its fifth straight win after the Wolverines went on an early 24-6 run following a string of 11 straight field goals, but Tuesday’s game was a roller coaster ride from start to finish .

Wolf nearly achieved a triple-double with 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists, Will Tschetter and Gayle each scored 13 and Nimari Burnett added 10 for UM.

“I think it was a great environment, you play games like that,” Wolf said. “Shows you a lot about your team. There are a lot of things we can clean up and improve and it’s good to have these games early. That’s what we said about losing at Wake Forest and then winning seven in a row.”

“Here we are faced with a tremor, but it shows us what we have to do to end the non-conference.”

Frenzy in the first half

Michigan opened the game with two turnovers and managed just two of its first seven shots before a feed from Wolf to Goldin for a dunk cut UM’s early deficit to 8-7.

This began an impressive streak of 11 field goals in a row. The next three came from Burnett, who scored at all three levels with a mid-range shot, a reverse layup on a backdoor baseline cut and a transition 3 on a feed from Donaldson. After a fade from Wolf, Tschetter came off the bench and lit the MSG court on fire.

He started with two free throws before hitting consecutive 3-pointers – first from the right wing, then from the left corner. That led to a steal from Rubin Jones, a layup from Gayle and then another Tschetter 3-pointer from the right wing as UM went on a 24-6 run to take a 29-14 lead.

However, Arkansas had Adou Thiero, who also caught fire in the world’s most famous arena; He hit a jumper, a layup and a 3-pointer on consecutive possessions to keep Arkansas in the game before it was their turn to heat up from the floor.

“Adou Thiero shouldn’t have played for us tonight,” Calipari said after the game of the big man, who battled an illness but still scored 13 points. “I asked him for 10 minutes and he gave me 21.”

The Hogs had five in double figures, including freshman Boogie Fland with 20 points and seven assists, DJ Wagner with 15 points and five assists, Brazile with 15 and Jonas Aidoo with 11 and seven rebounds.

Calipari’s group made nine of the next 11 shots from the floor, finally coming within one with an Aidoo dunk in the final minute of the half before Sam Walters fired a long ball to give UM a 49-45 lead at halftime.

“I was so happy after halftime,” Calipari said after the game. “We could have had 25 points less, but we only had four points less.”

Pigs hot half

Michigan played one of its sloppiest four minutes of the season in front of the goal, missing its first four shots from the floor and turning the ball over five times.

Arkansas didn’t get off to a red-hot start, making just three of its first eight attempts before DJ Wagner and Johnell Davis hit a floater and a three-pointer from the wing to cap a 12-0 run and take a 57-49 lead. The Hogs just didn’t stop making shots as they hit 8 of 9 midway through the half, including three long balls, to take the lead, 73-60.

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Michigan Basketball loses to Arkansas 89-87 in the Jimmy V Classic at MSG

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