Having played four of its last five—including two straight—away from Assembly, Indiana returned home on Saturday afternoon to welcome Dusty May and No. 24 Michigan into Assembly Hall.
The Hoosiers couldn't complete the double-figure comeback, falling in defeat to the Wolverines, 70-67, on Saturday behind a poor first half performance and more late-game miscues.
Here's how it happened on Saturday.
MICHIGAN OFFENSE POWERS WOLVERINES TO FIRST HALF LEAD
Coming into Saturday afternoon's contest, the Wolverines were averaging 82.2 points per game—good enough for fourth in the conference. Against Indiana, Michigan looked the part of a top 25 offense in the country.
The Wolverines came out firing on Saturday inside Assembly Hall, making five of their first six shots from the field and three of their first four looks from beyond the 3-point line.
That strong start shooting the ball allowed Michigan to take an early double-figure lead off of a Will Tschetter jumper with 14:36 to play in the first half. The jump shot from Tschetter capped off an early 11-0 run for the Wolverines in the game's opening minutes.
Guard Tre Donaldson gave Indiana plenty of trouble in the opening 20 minutes, scoring 14 points in the first half, while connecting on a pair of first-half triples.
When he wasn't scoring himself, Donaldson was setting up his teammates for easy looks after collapsing the Indiana defense. Donaldson tallied three first-half assists on Saturday afternoon.
As they usually are, Michigan's duo of 7-footers, Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin, were also problematic for Indiana. Wolf and Goldin combined for 17 points on 5-of-9 shooting from the floor. They also combined to pull down nine rebounds in the first half.
In the first half, Michigan posted 43 points, opening up a 16-point lead at the halftime intermission. The Wolverines shot 51.9% from the field and 5-of-12 (41.7%) from 3-point range.
INDIANA FIGHTS BACK INTO THE GAME
Indiana's double-figure halftime deficit on Saturday against Michigan marked the second time in the Hoosiers' last three home games that the cream and crimson trailed by double-digits at the halftime intermission.
Facing a 16-point halftime deficit, the Hoosiers were in need of a spark. For Indiana, that spark came in the form of Mackenzie Mgbako, the reigning Co-Freshman of the Year in the Big Ten.
Mgbako was quiet in the first half. He failed to score, missing all four of his shots from the field, including his lone 3-point attempt of the opening half. In the second half, he flipped a switch, looking much more like the player that was one of the top freshman in the conference a season ago.
Across the first 10:30 of the second half, Mgbako scored 13 points, going 4-of-4 from the field and canning his lone look from downtown.
It wasn't just Mgbako that contributed to getting Indiana back into the game, Anthony Leal was a major contributor on both ends of the floor as well.
Offensively, Leal contributed six second half points, including making his one attempt from deep. Defensively, Leal was tasked with the difficult assignment of guarding Wolf in the second half—when the Hoosiers played man-to-man. Leal collected two steals and was a pest defensively, contributing—as he typically does—in ways that don't always show up in the box score.
After a pair of Luke Goode free throws tied the game at 59-59 at the 4:08 mark of the second half, Indiana had officially made its way all the back.
MICHIGAN PULLS OUT THE WIN LATE
With 3:49 to play, at the under-4 timeout in the second half, Indiana and Michigan were all knotted up at 59 points apiece.
It was the Wolverines that scored first out of the timeout, a transition dunk from Goldin after the Hoosiers were unable to score on the other end.
After trading baskets back-and-forth for a couple of minutes, Indiana found itself in a familiar situation—in a tight game late, needing to execute.
Trailing by three, 66-63, with 26 seconds to play, Indiana called timeout to draw up a play. Out of the timeout, Mgbako got a contested look from the right win that rattled in and out. On the ensuing rebound, a jump ball was called with the possession arrow favoring the Wolverines.
After that, it turned into a free throw game with Indiana forced to foul to extend the game. With Michigan hitting its free throws down the stretch, the Wolverines were able to hold off the Hoosiers late in Assembly Hall.
FINAL STATS
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