It's hard to suffer a more crushing loss in January.

Michigan blew a late lead against Illinois, missing five consecutive free throws with a chance to close out a much-needed win. In the final moments of a tie game, Jon Teske got a favorable matchup in the post on Giorgi Bezhanishvili only for his hook shot to rim out. The Illini's Ayo Dosunmu, isolated on Zavier Simpson, then drilled a tough midrange jumper with 0.5 seconds left to complete the Wolverine collapse.

To make matters far, far worse, Isaiah Livers returned to the court after a six-game absence only to suffer what appeared to be a reaggravation of his groin injury in the second half. On an eerily similar play to his initial injury in December, Livers fell awkwardly after drawing a foul on a transition dunk attempt, grabbed at his groin in obvious pain, and struggled to get upright. While he stayed in the game to shoot free throws, he immediately exited thereafter, and his only subsequent appearance was for M's final inbounds pass, which bounced harmlessly off Franz Wagner's hands.

a picture says a thousand words [Campredon]

To add to the frustration, Michigan again did much of what they needed to do to win the game, only to be betrayed by poor shooting on one end and their inability to contain a star player on the other. The Wolverines turned the ball over twice all game. Twice! In a massive departure from the first matchup, they doubled up Illinois on the offensive boards 10-5. They outscored the Illini in the paint, shut them out on the fast break, and limited standout center Kofi Cockburn to five points on 2-for-9 shooting before he fouled out.

Michigan attempted five more field goals, six more three-pointers, and ten more free throws than Illinois; Illinois made one more field goal and equaled the Wolverines in three-pointers and free throws. Once again, it felt like a miracle every time a Michigan three found its mark; they finished 4-for-17, and that wasn't a bad finish after going 1-for-11 in the first half.

Simpson's 17 points weren't enough to overcome a lack of help [Campredon]

The offense sputtered along thanks to yeoman's work from Simpson, who repeatedly worked his way into the lane for a team-high 17 points on 7-for-12 field goals; unfortunately, his 3-of-6 mark from the line included an empty trip that could've put the Wolverines up four points after the final media timeout.

Instead, Dosunmu—who'd finish with a career-high 27 points—blew by Simpson to tie the game a couple possessions later. David DeJulius took the lead back with a pretty baseline floater, then Michigan had two more chances to stretch the lead at the line; Austin Davis bricked the front end of a one-and-one, then Franz Wagner missed two bonus free throws after pulling down a critical rebound that drew Cockburn's fifth foul. Trent Frazier tied the game at the line by converting both ends of a one-and-one after a Teske reach-in, setting up the game's final sequence.

Michigan now has a number of pressing concerns. Two straight home losses have dropped them to 11-8 overall and 2-6 in the Big Ten; falling twice in a row at home now has them squarely on the NCAA tournament bubble. While there's still plenty of time to make it games, it's hard to see how they'll accomplish that if Livers has to miss time, and it's hard to feel good about his status considering he appeared to reaggravate his injury after only 19 minutes back on the court. With or without Livers, someone—preferably multiple someones—needs to make a dang jump shot.

While a date at Nebraska on Tuesday should provide some respite, it's also a game Michigan can little afford to lose.

[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]