Sadly: the Michigan Wolverines lost a talented player today in the face of…

Everyone who watched Michigan’s 72-70 loss to the New Jersey Institute of Technology on Saturday was in disbelief.

That is, everyone besides the Highlanders.

It would be incorrect to state that senior Daquan Holiday thought his team would defeat the Wolverines, who are rated No. 17, in the Crisler Center. To imply that he believed it never had a chance, however, is untrue beyond belief.

“It’s weird because the first person we saw in Michigan was probably a Michigan [fan], and he started shouting the battle song right in front of us,” commented the 6’8″, 205-pound power forward, who also grabbed six crucial rebounds in addition to scoring four points. “We interpreted that as personal. Everything is important to us.

“We entered the room with a grudge. We were aware that we had nothing to lose.

Holiday was accurate. As it had done fifty times in a row throughout his four-year tenure, NJIT had nothing to lose but another game. For the Highlanders, who came in at 2-5 with three of their losses coming by five points or less, the victory, however little, was crucial.

The 5’11”, 165-pound sophomore guard Damon Lynn, who scored 20 points, including 18 from three-point range (6-of-10), added, “We didn’t want to regret anything.” “We don’t come out here just to compete; we came out here to play every game like it’s our last. This was a major game, one of the biggest on our schedule.

“We really prevailed in the end.”

Ricky Doyle (2, 2), Kam Chatman (1, 0), and Mark Donnal (7, 2) all contributed 10 points and four rebounds for Coach John Beilein.

Although Donnal, a redshirt freshman, made two three-pointers, which undoubtedly helped, he did not contribute in the paint.

It didn’t help that Doyle, a true freshman, only attempted and missed one field goal. Doyle needs to work on being more assertive on the boards and in the post, just like Donnal did. There were opportunities for second-chance scoring, but Doyle did not take them.

On Saturday, the two 6’9,” 240-pound athletes left a lot to be desired.

It couldn’t have gone any worse for Chatman. The 6’7″, 200-pound true freshman got pushed around, didn’t look comfortable, and missed all six of his field goal tries. He scored only one point on a free throw.
The Wolverines must quickly improve their frontcourt if they hope to win many more games, even though it won’t happen right away. Not to take anything away from the Highlanders, but if Beilein’s forwards had played more, the score would have likely been different.