NEW YORK “”mdash; Vaunted national power no longer.
The No. 4 Bruins took their first loss of the season on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, dropping a 55-52 stunner to an unranked Michigan squad in the semifinal of the 2K Sports Classic.
The Bruins (2-1) only managed 23 second-half points and turned the ball over 17 times against the Michigan zone.
It was not the expected outcome as a Duke-UCLA final was a foregone conclusion by many. But the Wolverines (3-0) played the spoiler role to perfection.
“You have to give Michigan all the credit,” said coach Ben Howland. “I’m disappointed in a lot, but I understand that we’re a very young team.”
Turnovers squashed any momentum the Bruins gained off of several strong defensive possessions late in the second half.
With less than three minutes remaining in the game and the Bruins down 49-48, solid defensive pressure forced Michigan to miss a rushed 3-point attempt. Redshirt junior Michael Roll picked up the board, but senior point guard Darren Collison turned the ball over in transition, leading to a fast-break Michigan layup to push the lead to three.
But trouble for the Bruins started long before then.
After taking a 29-23 lead into the locker room, UCLA started the second half by giving up a 10-2 run to the Wolverines within four minutes.
Michigan hit two 3-pointers while the Bruins botched three layups, and suddenly the Bruins were staring at a deficit for the first time. The turnovers and missed opportunities in the paint killed the Bruins, who constantly had to play catch-up to a Michigan team that shot 62 percent in the second half.
“I thought our intensity picked up in the second half, but they just seemed to hit the right guys,” Collison said. “They were hitting their shots.”
Michigan’s top-scoring threats, sophomore guard Manny Harris and junior forward DeShawn Sims, combined for 33 points, 20 of which came after the break. For most of the night, Harris was freshman Jrue Holiday’s responsibility on defense, occasionally being guarded by Malcolm Lee.
Holiday and Lee held Harris to five points in the first half but he recovered, posting 10 after halftime.
“I think he was being more aggressive instead of trying to pump fake and go to the rack,” Holiday said. “He was knocking down his shots.”
That was the story of the second half for the Wolverines who refused to give up small leads in the final 20 minutes.
“We came out with the same game plan, but they were making tough shots,” said junior forward James Keefe. “They had a hand in their face.”
The Bruins were only able to put up 13 points through the first 12 minutes of the second half, often struggling to get the ball inside against the Wolverines 1-3-1 zone.
In one possession around the nine-minute mark, Collison and Josh Shipp passed to each other above the key at least six times, looking for an opening in the zone. Nothing was there, and when Shipp tried to force it in, he turned the ball over.
Then again with eight minutes left, a poor offensive possession opened up opportunities for the Wolverines.
Alfred Aboya took one of his four charges, allowing the Bruins a shot to take the lead. But Shipp committed an offensive foul about 35 feet away from the hoop and gave the ball right back to Michigan.
Bruin guards combined for 14 turnovers on the night.
“Towards the end, we started to be a little too aggressive,” Collison said. “I take full responsibility for the turnovers.”
The Bruins will now take on Southern Illinois University today in the consolation round. They will hope to get back on track with a win and put this upset behind them.
“We’re a new team compared to where we were last year,” Howland said. “It’s Nov. 20, so we’ve got to bounce back tomorrow.”
Follow the Daily Bruin on twitter for breaking news alerts.