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Quick reaction: Putting Michigan's loss to Auburn in perspective

Anthony Broomeby: Anthony Broome03/29/25anthonytbroome
NCAA Basketball: NCAA Tournament South Regional-Michigan at Auburn
Mar 28, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Michigan Wolverines center Danny Wolf (1) shoots against Auburn Tigers center Dylan Cardwell (44) in the second half of a South Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament at State Farm Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-Imagn Images

ATLANTA – The Michigan Wolverines saw the season come to an unfortunate end on Friday night in a 78-65 loss to the No. 1 seed Auburn Tigers in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. U-M walks out of this season with a lot to feel good about in the aggregate, but the loss was a bitter pill to swallow, especially with a 9-point lead in the second half.

TheWolverine.com’s Anthony Broome discussed the showing in a quick postgame recap, where too many mistakes snowballed and led to a Michigan loss.

 ”At halftime they were in the fight,” Broome said in the postgame reaction. “All you could ask is that they stayed in the fight. They were in the fight. They gave themselves a chance to win and, and they come out in the second half, and I won’t say start hot. Keep scratching, keep clawing. And within the first seven and a half minutes of that second half, you hold a nine point lead against, you know, the top overall team in this NCA tournament, a group that lost it a bit of late, and we saw, you know, glimpses of what Auburn slipping would look like in this game.

“Unfortunately, what you saw and how it’s juxtaposed against the two teams that’ll play Sunday… because they saw Auburn tonight, saw Michigan State twice this year. Michigan just did not have enough firepower. Not enough depth, not enough shot-making or fearlessness from the guards. Auburn was a deeper team. Auburn was a group that I think for a lot of this game played down to Michigan. And not that Michigan was some scrappy underdog, but. It’s a group that a couple weeks ago they didn’t think they’d be here. They just kind of got outclassed and outgunned by a one seed [when it mattered most].

 ”That was just a one-seed flexing its muscle. That was fearlessness. That was kind of an unflappability that got them to this point. But I do think in order to achieve something special, you have to go through some stuff. I think there has to be some heartbreak and Michigan needs to get better, tougher. Need to get more physical, need to shoot the ball better. There’s not an area on this team or in this program that cannot be upgraded this off-season. That work begins now, and we’ll talk about all that in time.”

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