For much of Wednesday night, Indiana did almost everything right in its bid to upset No. 23 Michigan in its Big Ten home opener under new coach Tom Crean.
When it was over, the Hoosiers were lamenting the missed shots, and an opportunity lost.
Michigan trailed by 20 points early in the second half but rallied for a 72-66 overtime victory over the Hoosiers, the consensus last-place pick in the Big Ten rebuilding from the disastrous Kelvin Sampson era.
The Wolverines (12-3, 2-1) trailed 44-24 early in the second half. But after a Devan Dumes turnover, they caught the Hoosiers at 59-59 on Laval Lucas-Perry’s three-pointer with seven seconds left.
Overtime was all Michigan. After Kelvin Grady’s three-pointer, Lucas-Perry’s basket made it 65-60 and the Hoosiers’ upset hopes were killed by 3 of 9 free-throw shooting in the extra five minutes.
“Free throws are one of the wonders of the world,” Crean said. “[But] we didn’t guard in the second half.”
Indiana (5-9, 0-2) took control early as the Wolverines missed three-pointers, the core of their offense. Michigan made only 3 of 18 in the first half, but went 9-for-22 in the game’s final 25 minutes.
Michigan coach John Beilein said he talked to his team about shot selection at halftime.
“The quality of the shot had to be good — we probably rushed a couple [in the first half],” he said. “The big thing is poise, poise, poise. … We didn’t quit.”
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tabannon@tribune.com
