ANN ARBOR, Mich — Michigan’s Senior Night was far from a memorable one.
Once the pregame ceremony wrapped up and the ball was tipped off, there wasn’t much for the Crisler Center crowd to cheer about over the opening 20 minutes.
The Wolverines stumbled out of the gate, trailed by double digits early and ultimately couldn’t overcome a woeful first half as a late rally fell short against No. 24 Iowa, 82-71, in the regular-season home finale on Thursday.
Sophomore center Hunter Dickinson finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds, fifth-year senior guard Eli Brooks scored 17, freshman forward Caleb Houstan added 11 points and grad transfer guard DeVante’ Jones 10 for Michigan (16-13, 10-9 Big Ten).
Keegan Murray scored 23, Kris Murray and Jordan Bohannon each added 19 apiece and Tony Perkins had 13 points for Iowa (22-8, 12-7), which shot 52.6% from the field (30-for-57) and made 11 3-pointers to deliver a blow to Michigan’s NCAA Tournament hopes.
After struggling to make shots, get stops and falling behind by as much as 18 in the first half, the Wolverines made a charge behind freshman forward Moussa Diabate and Dickinson out of the break.
Dickinson scored on an offensive putback and Diabate threw down a dunk in transition to make it 49-36 with 18:12 to go. Bohannon quickly answering and drained back-to-back 3-pointers in a 24-second span to put the Wolverines in a 19-point hole.
Dickinson and Diabate teamed up once again, with Dickinson converting a three-point play, blocking a shot, and finding a cutting Diabate for a dunk pull the Wolverines within 55-41. But the Hawkeyes kept countering and Keegan Murray splashed a 3-pointer to go back up by 19 with 11:14 remaining.
The Wolverines kept pushing and started to string together stops with an 18-6 run. Senior forward Brandon Johns Jr. ended a stretch of seven unanswered points with a dunk and basket in the paint. Jones splashed a 3-pointer to cut it to single digits, 71-62, at the 5:34 mark. By the time Dickinson capped the flurry with back-to-back baskets in the paint, the Wolverines clawed within 73-66 with 3:00 to go.
But Michigan’s late surge ran out of steam. Kris Murray sandwiched a 3-pointer and a layup around back-to-back turnovers as the Hawkeyes held off the Wolverines down the stretch.
It didn’t take long for Iowa to put a damper on the festive night. The Wolverines struggled to score on the interior, with the Hawkeyes swatting away three shots in the first two-and-half minutes, and couldn’t get anything to drop from the perimeter as they missed 12 of their first 15 shots.
Iowa, meanwhile, had no problems getting into an offensive groove. Keegan Murray drained his first three attempts from 3-point range and needed less than eight minutes to reach double figures in scoring as the Hawkeyes jumped out to a 20-8 lead with 12:05 left in the first half.
Iowa kept scoring at will and Michigan had no answers on either end. Kris Murray started giving the Wolverines fits, blowing by Johns for an uncontested dunk to put Iowa up, 26-11, and force a Michigan timeout.
The Wolverines mustered a response with Brooks sparking a 7-0 spurt with a 3-pointer from the wing and floater to cut the deficit to eight, but they couldn’t sustain the momentum. Iowa quickly widened the lead with an 11-1 run where nothing went right for Michigan.
After Dickinson missed a shot where he thought he was fouled, Bohannon drained a deep 3-pointer on the other end. After Diabate couldn’t handle a pass and turned it over out of bounds, Kris Murray scored at the basket. Then after freshman guard Frankie Collins had a layup attempt roll off the rim, Perkins grabbed an offensive rebound, drew a foul, and made two free throws to give Iowa a 39-21 lead at the 3:30 mark.
Brooks did his best to chip away at Iowa’s lead and drained back-to-back 3-pointers to help cut it to 13 before Michigan ended the half with a turnover, an airball and a 47-30 deficit.
