Michigan was denied a second overtime in Minneapolis when Dawson Garcia sunk a buzzer-beating shot from just inside half court. The Wolverines had their chances to make sure a shot like that didn’t matter.

But some recurring issues (plus a new one) doomed Michigan in Thursday night’s 84-81 loss to last-place Minnesota.

“We had said it coming in: ‘You can’t overlook anybody in this league,’” Michigan forward Will Tschetter said on the postgame radio show. “We obviously overlooked them tonight.”

‘Uncharacteristic’ offensive performance

The Wolverines entered the game leading the country in 2-point shooting at 63 percent. They shot just 17 of 40 (43 percent) inside the arc against Minnesota, with the figure even worse when considering only shots labeled in the box score as dunks or layups.

“Credit Minnesota; I thought they played with physicality,” Michigan coach Dusty May said on the radio. “I thought they put bodies on us. They collapsed on a lot of those drives. One of the reasons we’ve played so well at the rim is because when (teams) do collapse we’ve made the next pass and the next play, and tonight we challenged multiple bodies at the rim several times. That was just uncharacteristic of us.”

Several Wolverines missed shots at the basket they usually make. Starting center Vladislav Goldin entered the game with the top field-goal percentage among Big Ten players (63 percent). He made just 5 of 15 shots.

“Vlad’s played in a lot of basketball games and I’m just gonna chalk this up to (it) just wasn’t his night,” May said. “I thought he had several good looks that just didn’t drop. And on the nights when the ball is just not dropping, you can’t give up the offensive rebounds and you can’t turn it over. You just can’t do all those in the same game.”

Another close loss

Thursday’s three-point defeat was Michigan’s most lopsided loss of the season. Michigan’s four losses have come by a combined eight points.

Mistakes are magnified in games like that. Turnovers have been a problem for Michigan most of the season. Michigan’s total on Thursday (13) wasn’t egregious, but a sloppy start “set the tone” for the game, May said.

Midway through overtime, after Danny Wolf had set up Goldin for dunks on two straight possessions, something went awry on Tre Donaldson’s pass to Nimari Burnett, and the ball ricocheted out of bounds.

Michigan’s rebounding was also fine overall but not good enough in May’s eyes. The Golden Gophers grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, including one they had no business getting that led to a 3 to open the overtime scoring.

“Our defense, our ability to rebound the basketball when it really mattered was I think ultimately the difference,” May said.

Though more of a gut punch in the moment, close losses are a better sign for a team than blowout losses. And it’s not like the Wolverines haven’t been able to win any close games. They beat Wisconsin and Iowa by two points each, and trailed USC and UCLA in the second half before pulling away.

The bigger issue is that the Wolverines have blown double-digit leads in all four losses. They were up 10 with 12:50 to go on Thursday. They led Oklahoma by 11 in the second half, and held 13- and 15-point first-half leads over Wake Forest and Arkansas, respectively.

Michigan’s inability to put away Thursday’s game was especially surprising since Minnesota was 0-6 in the Big Ten.

Impressive homecoming

Though he didn’t sound thrilled to talk about it, Tschetter played well for Michigan in a homecoming game. The redshirt junior scored 15 points in 23 minutes off the bench. He made three 3-pointers and had 11 points in the first half.

“He’s consistent with his effort and energy,” May said. “(He) made some big shots. I thought he was poised around the rim. I thought he was a real bright spot.”

Tschetter is from Stewartville, a small town about 100 miles south of Minneapolis. The TV broadcast noted he had about 100 family members and friends inside Williams Arena on Thursday.

“Obviously it’s great to be able to come home and play in front of people that have grown up watching me,” Tschetter said. “But obviously ridiculously disappointed with a few things I did myself, the team, and just the overall game.

“We’ve just got to get back to the fundamentals of who we are, how we’ve won games in the past. Got to get back to being unselfish, rebounding the freakin’ basketball and just things like that.”

Michigan (13-4, 5-1) hosts Northwestern (11-6, 2-4) on Sunday. The Wildcats won on Thursday (at Maryland) on an overtime buzzer-beater.

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MANKATO, Minn. (KEYC) – This is year two of the Minnesota DNR stocking Hiniker Pond with rainbow trout.

Minnesota’s lake trout opener for lakes outside of the boundary waters is Saturday, Jan. 18. Jackson Jirik and Tony Peregrin talk to Waterville Fisheries Supervisor Craig Soupir.

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