The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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40 THE WOLVERINE ❱ APRIL 2023 BY CHRIS BALAS I f you're looking for a theme to the 2022-23 Michigan basketball season, "What might have been" seems to be the best bet. The Wolverines finished 18-16 after a 66- 65 road loss to Vanderbilt March 18 in which they blew an eight-point lead in the last minute. The setback in the NIT second round was the latest devastating finish for a team that had so much promise and op- portunity but squandered too many op- portunities to close out games. In fact, the collapse was the seventh loss this season in which Michigan held a greater than 80 percent in-game win probabil- ity according to ESPN's game tracker. The site had them at 95.7 percent to win with 1:06 remaining — the exact time that junior center Hunter Dickinson missed a bunny at the rim that would have pushed the lead to 10 and pushed the win percentage up a few more points. Among the late collapses were three road conference games against teams that would make the NCAA Tourna- ment. The Wolverines lost a seven-point lead in the last 1:30 at Iowa, another seven-point overtime lead at Illinois, and a double-digit lead with just more than 10 minutes remaining at Indiana. The Vanderbilt loss, however, took the cake. Michigan was outscored 9-0 in the last minute and turned it over three times during that stretch. "We just gave them the game," Dick- inson said after leading the Wolverines with 21 points and 11 rebounds in the loss. Michigan only got one opportunity down the stretch, and that was when Vanderbilt finally took the lead. Fresh- man point guard Dug McDaniel's floater went off the front rim, and Dickinson's tip rimmed out after hitting glass. "Like Hunter said, we just gave them the game. They had pressure throughout the whole game, but towards the end we just kind of let up and gave it to them," McDaniel said. The Wolverines played without fresh- man wing Jett Howard and sophomore shooting guard Kobe Bufkin, both with reported ankle injuries. Howard missed the first NIT game, too — a 90-80 home win over Toledo — and opened ques- tions about his future after his dad, head coach Juwan Howard reported he'd seen a foot and ankle specialist. McDaniel carried Michigan in the first half against the Vanderbilt Com- modores, scoring 13 points in the stanza. The Wolverines nearly pulled it off de- spite playing with only one true guard the whole game but fell short again when it mattered most. "This summer, including me … we all have to get better," Juwan Howard said. "We have to get better on all levels when it comes to what we're going to do to help serve our team, to give us the best chance to be a competitive group … not taking away that today's game was a very competitive game. "… I appreciate the effort from our guys, particularly given that we lost two starters in Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin. I loved how our guys came out and com- peted. But in the end, those possessions … that's really painful." A DISAPPOINTING ENDING Michigan Basketball Blows Another Lead And Bows Out In NIT Second Round Juwan Howard's team struggled to close out games all season, a theme encapsulated by its one-point loss to Vanderbilt, 66-65, in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament in Nashville, Tenn. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL