Stu Douglass missed a turnaround three pointer at the buzzer that nearly helped Michigan pull off a dramatic upset in Illinois on Wednesday.
Michigan trailed Illinois 54-52 with under 15 seconds left when Evan Smotrycz missed a three point attempt from the wing that would have given Michigan the lead with about 3 seconds left. The rebound found its way to Douglass, whose spinning, left-handed heave just fell short on the front of the rim as time expired.
Demetri McCamey scored 18 points for Illinois (17-9, 7-6) as the Illini held on to fourth place in the Big Ten Conference.
Jordan Morgan scored 12 points and grabbed seven rebounds for Michigan (16-11, 6-8), who had won five of its last six games in a push to make the NCAA tournament. Darius Morris added 11 points and seven assists.
Michigan shot an abysmal 2-of-18 from three, a key cog in John Beilein’s Princeton offense. Douglass was the worst offender, hitting just one of his eight attempts on a 2-for-11 overall effort for the junior guard.