Takeaways From Michigan's Tough Road Loss In Columbus

Michigan was down just three at the half against Ohio State and was tied with the Buckeyes with just under seven minutes to play. The final result — Ohio State 77, Michigan 63. The Wolverines hung around but OSU simply shot it too well from distance for anything other than a home win to take place.

1. Ohio State shot its way to victory: The Buckeyes only shot 47% percent from the field to Michigan's 45%, but they knocked down 11-of-21 from distance for a 52% conversion rate. Ohio State is a very good three-point shooting team, but that mark is 15 percentage points higher than their season average. A 38% shooter in Duane Washington Jr. went 5-of-7, which is around 71%, and the Wesson brothers knocked down 6-of-8, a 75% clip, including two absolute prayers that banked in at the end of the shot clock with less than five minutes to play. Michigan, on the other hand, shot just 27% from deep, going 7-of-26 from three-point range. With all other meaningful stats being pretty close, that type of discrepancy is exactly what leads to a 14-point win for one team. Today, that was Ohio State at home.

2. Franz Wagner has become one of Michigan's best players: It's probably still Zavier Simpson or maybe Isaiah Livers when he's on, which he wasn't against Ohio State, but Wagner is definitely in the discussion these days. He went for 18 points and 10 rebounds against the Buckeyes and was the only Wolverine making his three pointers — he went 4-for-8. Over the last five games, Wagner is playing more minutes than anyone not named Zavier Simpson and is leading the Wolverines in scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (7.6 rpg). His versatility on defense and ability to contain opponents because of his length and IQ are also noteworthy.

3. The sophomores seem to have regressed: Early in the year, I thought Colin Castleton was going to be a major factor for Michigan come tourney time. Instead, in the month of February, Castleton averaged just 4.7 minutes per game and barely made a mark on the stat sheet. David DeJulius and Brandon Johns Jr. have carved out nice roles for the Wolverines off the bench but neither were a factor against the Buckeyes on the road. Johns played just eight minutes and did not score, while DeJulius logged 14 minutes and only chipped in two free throws. DeJulius and Johns combined for just seven points in Michigan's loss against Wisconsin despite playing 21 and 32 minutes respectively. If Michigan wants to win Big Ten Tournament and NCAA tournament games, DeJulius and Johns need to be much more prominent in the box score. They've shown that they have it in them, but they need to be more consistent. Castleton isn't going to play as much as the other two, but he'll need to show up like he did against Rutgers if he wants to be a factor.

4. Isaiah Livers is forcing it: It's been a tough year for Livers. The junior has missed 10 complete games and parts of a couple others, and he's now been just a bit off for the last two games. He was fantastic in his first game back from the ankle injury against Purdue, logging 36 minutes and scoring 19 huge points to lead Michigan to a victory in West Lafayette. Thursday against Wisconsin and today against Ohio State however, not so much. Over these last two games, Livers is 5-of-21 for just 15 points and has only grabbed eight total rebounds. He's also hunting for his looks, which is necessary at times, but then putting up ill-advised, contested shots, leading to that poor percentage. When Ohio State's entire starting five outscores Livers, you're going to get an outcome like we saw today.

What stuck out to you? What was the biggest surprise of the game? Comment below!!!