Michigan pulled off the ultimate rope-a-dope to slog its way into having a chance to win at Illinois. The Wolverines trailed for almost the entire second half but had a shot to win the game at the buzzer. Hunter Dickinson’s post touch missed.
After a five-minute overtime, it had another chance to miss the game and answered with another miss, a Joey Baker three that didn’t fall.
Eventually, the Illini outlasted the Wolverines in a classic back-and-forth shootout, 91-87. The Wolverines’ final opportunity to tie the game late in the second overtime didn’t even draw iron after a perfectly designed sideline out-of-bounds set.
It was a terrific game for a neutral, but yet another close loss for a Michigan team with a long list of those they want back. A classic performance by Hunter Dickinson and Kobe Bufkin was wasted because the Wolverines couldn’t find that one extra possession they needed to steal a win on the road.
All that Juwan Howard’s team would have hoped for in Champaign was a shot to win. They got two and neither went down.
In this recap
- Player bullets on all 8 players: Hunter Dickinson, Kobe Bufkin, Jett Howard and 5 more
- 500 more words of analysis
Recap
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