CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — For the second game in a row, regulation was not enough time to decide a winner Michigan basketball.
Down by seven with 2:06 left in the game, the Wolverines went on a 7-0 run to tie the game on Jett Howard’s 3-pointer with 45.6 seconds left in regulation. Hunter Dickinson he tried to make a hookey in the last seconds, but missed the mark.
In overtime, Howard — in his first game back after missing the previous two contests with an ankle injury — hit a long ball from the exact same spot he had at the end of Michigan’s first possession in regulation. Michigan would push the lead to seven with 1:49 left in overtime, but like the Illini before them, it didn’t hold.
Illinois closed the extra period with a 7-0 run of its own, Terrence Shannon’s layup with 26.5 seconds left to tie the game and force another extra period.
Matthew Mayer scored the first seven for Illinois, while Dickinson countered with Michigan’s first six to pull within one. Shannon missed a long ball with 15 seconds to play, but got the offensive rebound and made both free throws.
Michigan ran its third down late in the game, but Joey Baker hit an open 3-pointer as Michigan fell 91-87.
Dickinson, who scored six times for UM in the first overtime, led the way with 31 points and 15 rebounds. Kobe Bufkin, who went on a personal 8-0 run when UM trailed by nine midway through the second half, scored 23, while Howard, who fouled out late, added 15.
Mayer had the best result for Illinois with 24 points and seven rebounds, followed by Shannon with 22 points and seven rebounds, Ty Rodgers with 14 points and seven rebounds and RJ Melendez with 12 points.
Michigan (17-13, 11-8 Big Ten) drops to No. 1 in the Big Ten with one game remaining, at Indiana, Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (CBS).
Additional frames
Howard’s long ball put the Wolverines up by three, before Melendez’s layup brought the game within one. Dickinson would score Michigan’s next six points on three consecutive free throws before Howard’s two free throws put UM up 81-74.
Shannon answered with an And-1 jumper, Rodgers hit a reverse layup and then Shannon hit another bucket to tie the game with less than 30 seconds to play.
Mayer hit a 3-pointer and a reverse layup to go up by five early in the second overtime, before a pair of Dickinson free throws. After Mayer made another layup, Dcikinson made a layup and an And-1 hook shot, but missed the free throw to tie the game with 41 seconds left in the game.
Shannon made three of four free throws the rest of the way for Illinois, which has now beaten Michigan in six straight.
A key part in the second half
The game was tied at 41 before a 9-0 run by the Illinios made it a 50-41 game.
Juwan Howard wanted to call a timeout and twice glanced at the timeout while arguing with himself, but knew he couldn’t – the Wolverines had already used three in the first half. The first when Jett Howard lost control of the ball and went after it to save possession. Another when Howard decided to silence the Illini crowd after a thunderous shot by Sincere Harris that gave the Illini a two-point lead.
Then the third, seemingly for no reason, with 11.1 seconds left in the opening period.
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Michigan and Howard couldn’t stop the clock, but Michigan sophomore Kobe Bufkin didn’t need to. UM answered Illinois’ blitz with a 10-0 run of its own, including eight straight Bufkins, to take a one-point lead, 57-56.
Illinois responded with a 12-4 run of its own to take a seven-point lead twice, but could never put me away from the Wolverines.
Quick start, sloppy finish to the first half
Michigan had no trouble getting into the offense early on. Hunter Dickinson and Dug McDaniel buried back-to-back long balls on two of Michigan’s first three possessions before McDaniel’s mid-range jumper made it 8-2 with less than three minutes left.
Shortly after the first media timeout, a healthy Jett Howard made his first mark on the game. The freshman took a dribble from McDaniel, turned the corner and threw down a high dunk to give the Wolverines a 12-6 lead with 15:21 left in the half as Michigan made 5 of its first 8 shots.
But the offense has since stalled, mostly due to turnovers. Michigan, which entered the game No. 12 in the nation in turnovers (9.9 per game), he committed eight in the first 20 minutes, which was just enough to throw the Wolverines out of rhythm and go 6-for-22 from the floor over the final 15:20.
The Illini shot just 12-for-33 (36.4%) in the first half, but turned the ball over just three times and had timely runs.
Down by four, Luke Goode, Dain Dainja and Matthew Mayer made three shots in four possessions, the last of which was a 3-pointer by Mayer that temporarily gave Illinois its first lead, 21-20, before Mayer was called for a technical foul and the game quickly tied at 21.
From there, both teams kept their cool. Williams had a rebound for Michigan before Dickinson’s layup put UM up 25-21. But the Wolverines would go without a field goal for the next 4:48, as Illinois went on a 6-0 run to take the lead, then didn’t trail until the end of the half.
Tied at 31 with 15 seconds left, Saginaw native Ty Rodgers threw down a putback dunk to give Illinois a 33-31 halftime lead.
Contact Tony Garcia at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @realtonygarcia.
This article originally appeared on the Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball suffered a crushing 2OT loss, 91-87, to Illinois