For about 12 minutes on Sunday, things seemed very similar to what Michigan was doing against Cleveland State in the opener.

Wolverines jumped out to a 25 to 12 lead.

It felt like every Wake Forest move, Michigan had a counter.

Every punch came with a Wolverines counterpunch, and then Wake Forest found a way to bounce back.

They turned what was a 13-point deficit into a one-point

deficit until Trey Donaldson's half court heave to finish the first half. Second half,

Wake Forest had more answers. They had the ability to come up with an offensive rebound when needed,

to get a stop when needed, and to hit a three when needed. Michigan, it was a tail of two halves in a

lot of ways, 50% to 34.5% overall from the floor. Seven, do you mean, eight of 17 from three in the

first half to two of 16 in the second half. And Wake Forest just got enough. They made their free

throws. They got their defensive stops and they overcame some foul trouble to find a way. It did feel easy on Monday because that was

an all-timer of an offensive performance from Michigan. One of the best field goal percentage

ever. Most lopsided wins since 2017, all of it. But Michigan scheduled hard. They scheduled

a challenging non-conference to give them a look at what games

in March could be. So yeah, nothing is going to be easy with this schedule. And certainly that's

the case now that they have a loss on their resume. It's a chance to learn, a chance to grow,

and a chance to see how they can channel that early success into more consistent

success against better teams. I don't think there's any reason to panic or worry. This was just

a tough two-point loss in a semi-away venue against a team that, like Michigan, expects to be

dancing come March.

Michigan couldn't quite hold on to that 13-point lead.

They fall to Wake Forest on Sunday.

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