As it turns out, bad offense beats bad defense.

The worst defense in the Big Ten, Michigan, and the worst offense in the Big Ten, Rutgers, met Saturday afternoon at Crisler Center, where the Wolverines’ season continued to spiral to depths of futility unseen in decades.

The Wolverines led the Scarlet Knights by 15 in the second half, but even that lead was not safe as Steve Pikiell's club put together a 37-12 run over the final 17 minutes to not just steal the win, but ultimately cruise to it, 69-59.

U-M has a five-game losing streak for the second time this season, and has dropped 10 of its past 11.

"Best answer I can give you right now is what stops the bleeding is pride," coach Juwan Howard said. "Pride to have the mindset to go out and wherever the play is, if it’s one of those roll-your-sleeves-up, get-your-knees-dirty — those are the type of plays we need.

"You got to have a certain level of fight and commitment to playing physical, starting with the basics, boxing out and pursue the basketball. If you box out, your opponent won't get the basketball, which also helped key that run."

Michigan led by 12, 51-39, before the Scarlet Knights outscored the Wolverines, 30-8, over the final 12:43. Michigan (7-15, 2-9 Big Ten) made just one shot in 10 attempts from the field down the stretch and committed four turnovers.

In total, the Wolverines shot just 9-for-28 (32.1%) in the second half, including going 1-for-11 (9.9%) on 3s.

They held the Scarlet Knights to 2-for-13 shooting from 3-point range but couldn't weather the late collapse as Rutgers dominated on points in the paint (40-20), points off turnovers (19-4), second-chance points (18-6) and fast-break points (8-2).

Rutgers got nine offensive rebounds in the second-half, leading to 12 points while U-M had three offensive boards but didn't capitalize on any of them.

Olivier Nkamhoua scored 14, Tarris Reed Jr. had his second career double-double with 12 points and 15 rebounds and Dug McDaniel added 10 points.

"We come out strong in the first half almost every game, in the second half we let it die down, so coach was upset and rightfully so," Reed said. "It's up to us. Second half, we have a great opportunity to extend the lead or come out tougher than them, but I guess they wanted it more.

"I'm not sure (what's going wrong). I really can't tell you."

Derek Simpson scored a game-high 19 points with six assists and five rebounds for Rutgers, Cliff Omoruyi added a double-double (15 points and 11 rebounds), Mawot Mag scored 15 and Jeremiah Williams finished with 10 points and five rebounds.

Second half collapse

Rutgers got the game within seven points soon after halftime, before U-M ripped off a quick 8-0 run.

Reed hit a layup, McDaniel drilled a 3-pointer and then Reed dropped off a no-look, behind-the-back bounce pass to Nkamhoua, who made the layup despite the foul and then connected on the free throw to extend U-M's lead to 15, 47-32, with 17 minutes to play.

However, as has been the case so many times this year, U-M's defense was unable to hold the lead.

"It became a compound mistake, once the ball is not going in for you offensively, then you get into your thoughts and forget what to do on the defensive end," Howard said. "Then when a team scores, that's when the doubt comes in. That's what was displayed during that stretch run."

But it didn't happen to close the game, when U-M scored two points in the final 7:19.

Down by 15, the Scarlett Knights scored seven quick points to get within eight.

After Reed and McDaniel made consecutive buckets to extend the lead back to 12, four different Rutgers players made shots — layups by Williams and Andre Hyatt, a jumper by Simpson and a dunk by Omoruyi after Tray Jackson tried to steal an inbound pass and whiffed — as part of a 15-4 push to get within four points, 51-47.

U-M responded with a dunk by Nimari Burnett, a midrange jumper by Will Tschetter and a turnaround in the lane by Nkmahoua, but the Scarlet Knights made seven of 10 shots during the middle 10 minutes of the second half to continue their push.

By the time Simpson drilled a 3-pointer with 6:53 left, the contest was back within one possession, 57-54. It only got worse for U-M.

Omoruyi hit a pair of free throws and Simpson hit a jumper as part of a three-point play to take the lead. Rutgers never trailed after that, as Mag followed with a pair of free throws and Omoruyi threw down a dunk to give Rutgers a 65-57 lead with 3:06 left — part of a 14-0 spurt in less than four minutes.

A Nkamhoua jumper cut the lead to six, 65-59, but U-M got no closer as Rutgers finished with an 18-2 flurry.

"You just have to look yourself in the mirror and say, 'It starts with me first,' " Howard said. "During those moments of who's going to take charge and be a leader when things are getting out of whack, I searched around and watched faces.

"They're not supposed to be happy, but it didn't look like they were sure of confidence."

Reed's red-hot half

The Wolverines opened the game with perhaps their best five minutes of 2024. It wasn't just a hot shooting start like Tuesday's loss in East Lansing. Instead, they moved the ball effectively to create sustainable looks and, at long last, played aggressive, fundamentally sound defense.

After falling behind after a pair of free throws, U-M ripped off a 14-2 run the next 4:45. Burnett hit a 3-pointer from the right wing and McDaniel drilled one from straight away before U-M's bigs got to work down low.

Reed ripped down an offensive rebound and made the putback, Nkamhoua did the same, and then Reed did so again to make it 12-4 before the first media timeout.

On the other side of the break, the bigs got their two-man game going, operating a give-and-go on the right block leading to an open Reed layup and a 14-4 lead. The two certainly deserved their offensive success, based on their individual defensive efforts.

Reed started the game with a swat of Omoruyi, a sign of things to come. He later swatted a drive by Gavin Griffiths, a jumper by Mag and then a slashing layup by Jamichael Davis with U-M up 12 late in the half. Reed finished with five blocks in all.

Nkamhoua had his moments as well, drawing a charge early in the period and making all three of his shots from the field in the half. Only some untimely turnovers kept U-M's lead from growing more lopsided.

There was a 4:30 stretch in the middle of the half where U-M committed six turnovers in six different ways — a moving screen on Reed, a reckless cross-court pass by Nkamhoua and a travel by Williams among them — but the Scarlet Knights couldn't take advantage on offense.

U-M's defense, which entered Saturday last in the Big Ten, held Rutgers' offense, which entered Saturday also last in the Big Ten, to 12-for-31 shooting (38.7%) in the first half, which included a 1-for-7 (14.3%) mark on 3s.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan's epic spiral continues in baffling 69-59 collapse to Rutgers