Ferrell leads Indiana to upset of Michigan

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Guard Yogi Ferrell’s hot shooting helped Indiana upset No. 10 Michigan 63-52 Sunday afternoon in Assembly Hall.

Ferrell made 7-of-8 shots from 3-point range, establishing a career high for 3-pointers made, and finished with 27 points to lead all scorers. He was 8-of-10 from the field overall.

The students did not rush the court after the win, but left chanting, “Yo-gi Ferr-ell.”

“Once I hit the first couple,” Ferrell said, “they all felt good. Once I had an opening, I wasn’t really going to force it. Once I had an opening I was just going to let it fly.”

Michigan (16-5, 8-1 in the Big Ten) is the second top-10 team the Hoosiers (14-8, 4-5) have knocked off in Assembly Hall this season. They beat then-No. 3 Wisconsin on Jan. 14.

“That was a great college basketball game, there’s no question about it,” Indiana head coach Tom Crean said.

The loss is Michigan’s first in Big Ten play, and it snaps the Wolverines’ 10-game winning streak, the second longest streak in the John Beilein era. It is the Wolverines’ first loss since Dec. 14, when they lost 72-70 to No. 1 Arizona.

“I didn’t think we were going to go undefeated [in the conference],” Beilein said. “In the long run, we just have to grow from it and get better. This team really played well today. I don’t think anybody is going to beat them if Yogi goes 7-for-8.”

Michigan’s last lead came with 8:42 left in the first half. Indiana led the rest of the way, but the game was tied three more times.

“We know we beat an outstanding team and we’re proud of it,” Crean said.

After Michigan cut the deficit to 56-52 with 1:07 to go, Indiana responded with a layup, free throw and dunk to take control of the game.

The Hoosiers held a 61-52 lead with under 20 seconds to go when Indiana forward Noah Vonleh dunked a tip-in off of a missed free throw by guard Evan Gordon to put the exclamation mark on the victory for the Hoosiers.

Ferrell broke a 29-29 tie early in the second half with a 3-pointer off of an offensive rebound. Almost four minutes later, Ferrell brought Hoosier fans to their feet with his made layup that came off of an offensive rebound. The basket gave the Hoosiers a 37-31 lead with 12:35 to go.

Indiana, one of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten, finished with 31 rebounds, nine of which came at the offensive end. The Hoosiers had nine second-chance points.

Ferrell’s 3-pointer two possessions later forced Beilein to call a timeout as Indiana took a 40-33 lead with 11:27 to go. Ferrell left his wrist extended for a bit after making the shot.

Before he attempted two free throws at the 9:57 mark, the crowd in Bloomington chanted, “Yo-gi Ferr-ell.”

“That’s as good of point guard play – he only took 10 shots, had 27 points, and ran his team, even in shot-clock time he made big, huge shots,” Beilein said.

Michigan would never get closer than four points in the final 14 minutes.

Guard Derrick Walton Jr. finished with 13 points to lead the Wolverines. Guard Caris LeVert added 12 points.

The Wolverines scored a season-low 52 points. They entered the game averaging 77.2 points per game.

Michigan, whom Crean called “an assist team,” also only had eight assists. They had averaged 15.5 per game.

Gordon said Indiana’s key to limiting the Wolverines was the Hoosiers’ defensive communication. Crean said Indiana finished with 49 deflections and was proud of the Hoosiers’ defensive activity.

“We really held true to what we wanted to do defensively,” Crean said.

Ferrell also guarded Michigan’s leading scorer, guard Nik Stauskas, who only scored six points, his second-lowest total of the season. He came in averaging more than 18 per game.

“They take their quickest player and don’t let Nik get the ball,” Beilein said.

Michigan, the best 3-point shooting team in the conference at nearly 40 percent, shot just 3-for-13 from long range in the game. The Hoosiers also held the Wolverines to just 40 percent shooting from the field. Michigan had