The Michigan basketball team made history Sunday, it just wasn't the kind it wanted.

The Wolverines honored four seniors during pregame ceremonies at Crisler Center, but not even those positive vibes were enough to end their losing skid as they continued their worst defensive season in the 21st century and fell 85-70 to Nebraska.

Michigan was 12-0 in Ann Arbor against Nebraska prior to Sunday.

The Huskers, powered by Keisei Tominaga who narrowly missed a career-high with 30 points, shot 12-for-17 from the floor on the afternoon, and led by double figures nearly the entire second half. Their big men did the rest of the work in the paint, as Josiah Allick scored 15 points on 6-for-6 shooting and Reink Mast added 12. Bryce Williams also scored 10.

U-M's adjusted defensive efficiency (107.1) ranked No. 185 prior to Sunday on kenpom.com, the program's worst since the metric has been kept beginning in 1999.

With the loss, Michigan (8-23, 3-17) has lost more games this season than in any year in history, surpassing the mark under John Beilein (10-22) during his first season. U-M also ends its regular season having lost eight straight games, and 18 of its past 20, dating back to a non-conference win on Dec. 16 over Eastern Michigan.

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Dug McDaniel scored a team-high 17 points for Michigan, all in the first half however, and Terrance Williams II had 14 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Williams was the focal point of senior day. He was celebrated early and often by teammates and staffers, who held up five fingers during his introductions, pleading for a return for a fifth season.

Michigan ends its regular season in last place in the Big Ten for the first time since 1966-67, its first round Big Ten Tournament opponent is to be determined (Penn State, Ohio State or Maryland).

Shucked in second half

Nebraska, which was playing for a double-bye in the Big Ten Tournament, led much of the first half but could never get its lead out to double digits in the opening 20 minutes.

That changed quickly in the second half as the Huskers picked up where they left off at the break, making three of their first six shots of the half before ripping off five consecutive buckets. All five players on the court wearing red scored during the run, as Nebraska put together a 15-2 stretch in less than five minutes to mount a 20-point lead, 70-50, when Allick made a layup with 13:37 to play.

Michigan gave one last push with a 10-2 run − an And-1 by Williams, a layup by Reed, a free throw on a technical foul by Youssef Khayat and two free throws by Tray Jackson − as Nebraska went nearly five minutes without a field goal, but a Bryce Wiliams layup ended an 0-of-5 drought and put Nebraska up 14.

Michigan's defense was much better in the second-half, but couldn't capitalize as it shot just 9-for-28 from 3 on the game.

McDaniel, who scored 17 points in the first half on 6-for-8 shooting, went scoreless after the break and missed all five attempts.

Defense optional to start

U-M opened the game ripping the nets, as it made each of its first three shots and five of its first six attempts. Reed Jr. connected on the opening bucket and Will Tschetter added a mid-range jumper three minutes later, but outside of that the bulk of the damage early was done from long range.

Williams hit a long ball from the corner, McDaniel made one in transition, Burnett added another from the right wing and then Williams canned his second of the game less than six minutes in. The Wolverines started 6 of 9 from the floor and 4 of 6 from long range, but only held a two-point lead at the first break because of porous defense.

The Huskers also made 6 of their first 9 shots, five of which came in the paint as they outscored the Wolverines 10-4 down low in the early going. Their deficit was just two when they caught fire after the first media timeout.

Tominaga, who already had five points, made a long ball in McDaniel's face to take the lead, before he hit a scooping baseline drive which put Nebraska up three. After a U-M long ball miss, Tominaga got the rebound and took matters into his own hands as he dribbled up court and with two feet in the middle of the Block M at half court drained a 35-footer to go up 22-16.

Though U-M would respond with a Burnett layup, a pair of defenders over-helped on Tominaga the next defensive possession to not get burned again; so once he got the ball it was a simple tip-pass to CJ Wilcher for another wide-open Nebraska long ball to build the lead back to seven.

However McDaniel, not to be outdone, would keep Michigan in it with a hot shooting half of his own. He drilled a contested three on the next possession and later added a scooping layup after a Tray Jackson offensive rebound and put-back to get Michigan within two, 27-25.

Nebraska would use a 9-3 spurt to get the lead back out to eight points, 36-28, before the sides traded four-point runs and McDaniel got hot again. He hit the first of his three long balls in less than three minutes of game time with 4:34, then after Tominaga hit one of his own, McDaniel hit a pump fake to create separation and then drilled another to get Michigan within five.

Two minutes later, McDaniel made his last of the which got U-M back within 46-43 and gave him a career-high (17) in first half points as he went 5-for-6 from long range in the opening half.

Despite shooting well from the floor at 55% (16 of 29) and from long range at 53% (8 of 15), Michigan would trail at the break due to its inability to get stops. The Huskers shot a red-hot 70% (21 of 30) for the half, which included 50% (6 of 12) from long range while more than half their points (26) came in the paint.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball sets loss record in 85-70 blowout vs. Nebraska