Michigan basketball drops rematch against Michigan State, 70-64; Eli Brooks hurt early

Michigan basketball will still likely be a No. 1 seed in the NCAA tournament.

But the Wolverines certainly have not played to that standard the past week.

U-M dropped its second game of the week in an ugly 70-64 loss at Michigan State on Sunday afternoon.

The Wolverines shot just 41.7% from the field and played one of their worst offensive games of the season. The defense, meanwhile, had no answer for Rocket Watts, who hit a bevy of mid-range jumpers and led all scorers with 21 points.

The worst aspect of the loss for U-M, though, was the injury to starting guard Eli Brooks, who rolled his left ankle early in the first half and missed the rest of the game.

The Wolverines, who won the Big Ten title outright, will now wait until Friday for their first game in the Big Ten tournament.

Brooks' injury is a big deal

With the postseason so close, the Wolverines cannot afford to have Brooks miss an extended amount of time due to injury. The senior guard is crucial to what Michigan does on both ends of the court. This shouldn't be new to anyone, seeing as the Wolverines' first loss of the season (at Minnesota on Jan. 16) came without Brooks, who missed that game with a strained right foot.

This is simply a different team without him. The offense bogs down, the bench must stretch deeper and the defense certainly is not the same. Perhaps a healthy Brooks would have drawn Rocket Watts in this game as a permanent assignment after Watts scored a few quick points; instead, Watts had one of his best games of the season, scoring a game-high 21 points off the bench.

Two of Michigan's three losses have come when Brooks was injured; last season, the Wolverines struggled in a home loss to Wisconsin that Brooks missed due to a facial injury. Michigan will have to hope he can return in time for the NCAA tournament.

Post play ineffective

The Wolverines established a clear offensive advantage in the first matchup between these two teams by going down low to Hunter Dickinson. Dickinson scored 14 points on 6 of 8 shooting in Thursday's win, forcing Michigan State to send help — and opening things up for the rest of U-M's offense. Sunday, though, the Spartans found a way to limit Dickinson one-on-one. He struggled from the start of the game, making one of his first four shots with two attempts missing badly off the backboard. Michigan State's big men rotated often and seemed to always bring consistent effort when defending Dickinson; he did not establish great advantage while posting up and the Spartans' active hands led to at least three turnovers on attempted post entries. During one second-half stretch, Michigan's offense seemed lethargic and determined to feed the ball into the post at all costs. It was as ugly as the offense has looked all season long.

Michigan's two stars heat up late, but not enough

It was a game to forget for Wagner and Dickinson, who both struggled with their shooting and combined for five turnovers. The two made a late run to try and get Michigan back in the game by scoring 15 of 18 points at one juncture; that helped the Wolverines cut the deficit to just two. But overall, it was just an off day from U-M's two stars. Wagner shot just 4 of 12 and Dickinson 4 of 10.

CHAMPS: How Michigan has fared in NCAA tournament after winning Big Ten outright

Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball drops rematch against Michigan State, 70-64