Is Michigan blowout loss to Arizona State a wake-up call or a warning sign?

Michigan fans were incredulous when the ESPN BPI, a game predictor of sorts, gave Arizona State a 50-50 chance of beating U-M Thursday night in Brooklyn. Turns out it was wrong, as expected … only not the way most would have thought.

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ASU, a team that struggled with Tarleton State, lost to Texas Southern, and barely beat VCU Wednesday took the fight to the Wolverines Friday in an 87-62 win that really wasn’t even that close. 

For the second time this year, Michigan faced a player with something to prove personally. It was Emoni Bates and EMU first — he got his in a loss. This time, former U-M point guard Frankie Collins got his shot. Though he didn’t hurt the Wolverines as much — 4 points, 4 turnovers, 4 fouls, and 5 assists — he got the last laugh with the win. 

“It was marked on my calendar since Coach [Bobby] Hurley called me when I hit the portal,” Collins told reporters after the game. “It was definitely a game I was looking forward to, and I was happy about us getting to this point.”

Hurley hasn’t exactly proven himself at ASU. He made the most of a high-profile moment, however, in having his team ready to play. 

Michigan, though, came in a bit fat and happy. Junior center Hunter Dickinson even predicted a 20-point win publicly on a podcast. Instead, ASU took the fight to the Wolverines and played it like an NCAA Tournament game. 

Some of the Wolverines were simply overwhelmed, especially at the guard positions. Others treated it like an AAU game, firing shots and going into “defense optional” mode.

Credit Arizona State for making some tough shots. Half the time, though, they were way too comfortable.

“They looked forward to the matchup. You can just tell with the way the game started,” Howard said. 

“I will say this — I didn’t do a really good job of preparing our guys. I’ll take full responsibility for this one. Every game is a teachable moment. When you win, you learn. When you lose, you learn. We’re going to learn from this and we’re going to grow from this game.”

Which is about all he could say after this one.

The concern, though, is that there are weaknesses they might not be able to fix with current personnel. Jaelin Llewellyn is not comfortable at this point. Frosh Dug McDaniel will be much better in time, but he’s not there yet, and sophomore shooting guard Kobe Bufkin just isn’t hitting shots. 

At one point, the trio was 1-for-22. 

The Sun Devils collapsed on Dickinson when Michigan started to play through him, and that disrupted the entire offense. Unlike the Pitt game the night before, they rarely got good looks. 

“You’ve got to give Arizona (State) credit for how they came out. They were prepared. They brought the energy. They made shots,” Howard said. “Some of the shots were uncontested, which was disappointing. But there were times when they made shots that were contested because of the confidence level that they had.”

Part of that — again — was because they were able to get to their spots. Michigan is going to have trouble with the dribble drive this year, and last night was another example.  

Some of the problems can be fixed, and if the past is any indication, Howard and Co. will help them improve. Others they’re going to have to play through and try to overcome in other ways. 

But if guys don’t want to defend or bring the energy, go through the motions … well, the bench is the coach’s friend. Doesn’t matter who it is.

“Getting beat like that is pretty embarrassing,” Dickinson said. “You don’t want to have that kind of wake-up call, but it happened. I feel like it will level us and kind of bring us back down to earth that obviously we can’t just roll the ball out there and play and expect to win.”

They never should have felt that way, obviously. The number of stunning upsets already in the early going of this college basketball season is proof enough. 

Now, though, it’s behind them. It’s how they respond — coaches on down — that will determine what this team is in 2022. 

As bad as Thursday night was, it was only one game. At the same time, there were a lot of red flags.

Adversity has struck Michigan basketball earlier than expected this year. It will be interesting to see the response.