ANN ARBOR, Mich. _ A rough shooting display in the first half. A 16-point deficit. A near winning 3-point shot at the buzzer.
No. 5 Michigan shook it all off in a top-10 matchup with No. 10 Oregon that went down to the wire.
Yet, the Wolverines' comeback fell short as they missed three shots in the final 34 seconds in a 71-70 overtime loss Saturday at Crisler Center.
Freshman wing Franz Wagner had 21 points, sophomore guard David DeJulius 14 and junior forward Isaiah Livers 13 for Michigan (8-3), which was playing its fourth top-10 team in six games.
Payton Pritchard finished with 23 points and came up huge late in the second half and in overtime for Oregon (9-2). Anthony Mathis added 19 points and Chris Duarte had 11.
Following a wild finish to the second half in which Oregon and Michigan traded baskets in the final minutes, the trend continued in the extra session. The Wolverines struck first as Wagner buried a 3-pointer for a 66-63 lead with 4:44 to play.
After Oregon countered as Pritchard scored back-to-back layups to give the Ducks a one-point edge, Wagner struck again with a layup to give Michigan a 68-67 edge at the 3:27 mark.
Following a layup by Oregon's Francis Okoro, Michigan had a chance to regain the lead but sophomore forward Brandon Johns Jr. missed two critical free throws.
Oregon pushed the lead to 71-68 following another and-1 layup by Pritchard with 1:14 to go. DeJulius countered with a running floater to cut it to one and forced a turnover to give Michigan a shot to win it with 34 seconds to go.
DeJulius missed a running floater in the lane but Oregon knocked the ball out, giving Michigan one last chance with 10 seconds to go. But senior guard Zavier Simpson's hook shot missed and a tip-in didn't drop as time expired.
After going scoreless in the first half, Livers erupted out of the break. He scored 11 straight points for Michigan with three 3-pointers as the Wolverines started to come to life and pulled within 39-34 with 16:22 to play.
But every time Michigan appeared to be the cusp on seizing momentum, Oregon came up with an answer. The Ducks countered two of Livers' deep balls with one of their own and used a three-point play to push the lead back to 45-39 at the 13:15 mark.
Michigan kept pushing and eventually broke through. The Wolverines ripped off a 10-1 run that Wagner capped with a 3-pointer to beat the shot clock to go on top, 51-48, with 7:46 to play.
From there, the teams traded blows and the lead three times in what became a rollercoaster finish. Pritchard scored back-to-back baskets in the paint to put Oregon back up, 58-55, with 2:53 remaining.
Michigan pulled within one three times before a layup by Brandon Johns Jr. with 25 seconds left tied it at 63. A last-second 3-pointer by Mathis didn't beat the buzzer and was waved off, sending it to overtime.
Oregon showed no ill effects from having to travel across the country for an early tip time. The Ducks flew out the gates and hit shots all over the court, from tough layups to step-back 3-pointers. They buried three 3-pointers during an early blitz to jump out to a 15-5 lead with 14:27 left in the first half.
Michigan's offense struggled to get into gear against Oregon's matchup zone. After making two of their first four shots, the Wolverines hit a shooting stretch where they missed 14 of their next 15 shots over an 11-minute span. The stretch also featured a five-minute scoring drought and an eight-minute stretch between made field goals.
Oregon continued to torch the nets and used a pair of 3-pointers from Mathis to pull ahead, 25-9, with 7:07 left in the half.
The Wolverines started to chip away at the deficit thanks to a huge boost from DeJulius, who provided instant offense off the bench. He sparked a 12-2 run that he started and ended with a 3-pointer to cut it to 29-23 at the 1:52 mark.
Michigan had a chance to pull even closed but a missed dunk led to a tough jumper by Pritchard and a 31-23 Oregon lead at the break.
