CHAMPAIGN, Ill. _ By the time Michigan and Illinois took the court on Wednesday night, road teams had gotten off to an 0-9 start in Big Ten play.
The No. 5 Wolverines made it 0-10.
After falling into a 12-point hole with under four minutes to go, Michigan's late comeback attempt fell short and it couldn't buck the trend in a 71-62 loss at State Farm Center.
Senior center Jon Teske finished with 16 points and junior guard Eli Brooks and junior forward Isaiah Livers each scored 12 for No. 5 Michigan (8-2, 1-1 Big Ten), which was whistled for 17 second-half fouls and shot 3 for 18 from 3-point range.
Kofi Cockburn had 19 points and 10 rebounds to lead Illinois (7-3, 1-1), which snapped a four-game losing streak to Michigan and went 14 for 20 from the free-throw line in the second half. Ayo Dosunmu added 14 points, Andres Feliz 13 and Giorgi Bezhanishvili 12 for the Illini.
After a back-and-forth battle in the first half where neither team was able to get much separation, Illinois was the first to start gaining some traction.
The Illini used a 10-2 spurt that ended with a layup by Bezhanishvili to turn a tie game into a 42-34 advantage with 15:02 to play.
Livers hit a 3-pointer to cut it to five, but Michigan struggled to come up with much of a response after that as the empty possessions and fouls piled up. With the Illini in the bonus, Cockburn made four straight free throws to widen the gap to 54-44 with 9:06 remaining.
Livers and Brooks hit a pair of tough shots to keep Michigan within striking distance before an emphatic baseline dunk by Bezhanishvili and a layup by Cockburn made it 66-54 with 3:13 remaining.
After struggling the entire half to put together a run, Michigan used a late surge and ripped off an 8-0 run that featured three-point plays by Teske and sophomore guard David DeJulius to cut it to 66-62 with 2:06 to go.
But that's as close as it would get as Michigan missed its next three shots.
The first half was a typical slug-it-out grinder where the teams traded blow after blow, with the lead changing nine times and five points being the largest margin over the opening 20 minutes.
Michigan took its largest lead, 11-8, following five straight points from Teske on a 3-pointer and mid-range jumper off a pair of Zavier Simpson assists at the 15:04 mark.
Illinois, on the other hand, continued to pound the glass and attack the rim before using a 6-0 run to pull ahead 22-17 with 7:42 left in the half. Trent Frazier capped the spurt with a jumper, which was the first basket the Illini made outside the paint.
The Wolverines responded with a 9-2 run that featured five straight points from Livers to claw back ahead, 26-24, at the 4:31 mark. Given the first-half trend, though, it didn't last long.
Despite scoring just one basket the rest of the half, shooting 2 for 12 from 3-point range and losing rebounding battle, Michigan trailed only 30-28 at the break.
