The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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T he timing could not have been worse. One night after Ohio State won the national championship in football, its basketball team hosted a group of Wolverines that remained untested on the road by upper-eche- lon Big Ten squads. It got ugly, early, in front of a rau- cous crowd in OSU's Value City Arena. Cold shooting by Michigan and overpowering athleticism by Ohio State created a 15-point half- time deficit, and the Buckeyes just ran away from that point, leading by as many as 28 in a 71-52 win. Afterward, Michigan's frustration became evident. "The energy was kind of weird out there," junior guard Caris LeVert told MGoBlue.com. "We didn't come out with the necessary energy to win — which is why they went on that run before halftime. We just didn't do what was necessary to win that game." Junior guard Spike Albrecht added: "We didn't match their inten- sity from the start. And you are not going to win in the Big Ten on the road if you don't play harder than the other team." The effort end of it came as a bit of a stunner to the upperclassman cap- tains. Albrecht, noted for scrambling and diving on the court for loose balls in Michigan's home win over Minnesota just three days earlier, ad- mitted he was taken aback by the fact that the Wolverines didn't push back harder. "Definitely a surprise and even disappointed," Albrecht said. "Guys like Caris and myself are veterans, and when the energy level is low we have to say something. We didn't do that tonight. "Usually Ohio State, with the big MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Blowout Loss In Columbus Leaves U-M In Recovery Mode Head coach John Beilein vowed that the Wolverines would learn from their 71‑52 loss at Ohio State Jan. 13, and get better from it as a result. PHOTO BY PER KJELDSEN