The Michigan men’s basketball team hung around longer than it did on Thursday. But as has been the case for months for the Wolverines, futility proved inevitable Sunday afternoon.

With dreadful shooting, sub-par post defense and a glaring lack of depth, Michigan’s putrid season continued with an 84-61 loss at Ohio State. 

The defeat pushes the Wolverines to 3-16 in league play, setting a program record for conference losses in a season, and 8-22 overall, which ties a program record for most losses in a season. Michigan now has as many losses by at least 15 points (eight) as wins this season.

In the game, the Wolverines shot just 36.5 percent from the field, 5 for 18 from 3-point range and had 20 fouls and 18 turnovers to 20 made field goals in the game. Ohio State (8-11 Big Ten, 18-12 overall) doubled the Wolverines up in paint points, 40-20, quadrupled Michigan in bench points (40-10) and scored 52 points in a dominant second half that put an at-times close game out of reach.

It was the second straight game where Michigan never held a lead, and will make for a long, week-long layoff ahead of its home finale against Nebraska last week. The Wolverines have their first seven-game losing streak since the 2004-05 season, and have now lost nine straight road games by an average of more than 20 points per game.

A matchup between two of the worst teams in the Big Ten, the Buckeyes and Wolverines looked the part early on. The two teams combined to make just three of the game’s opening 12 field-goal attempts of the game with three turnovers, and Ohio State took a 4-2 lead into the fifth minute of the game. The Buckeyes After a difficult beginning, they picked up their game and defeated the Wolverines 10–2 seven minutes in, as Michigan’s post-heavy game plan backfired.

Michigan recovered from its humiliation at the hands of Rutgers on Thursday night, albeit slowly, as it never shot at a comfortable pace. Nevertheless, Ohio State’s poor outside shooting (2 for 12 on field goals other than dunks and layups in the first half) allowed the Wolverines to stay in the game. Michigan came within one point on several occasions during the game, but never having the upper hand. With 10:53 remaining, Terrance Williams II made two free throws to make it 10-9. Then, with 3:35 remaining in the half, a 3-pointer by Williams put Ohio State ahead 25–24.

The Buckeyes responded with a 7-1 run, but ultimately didn’t play much better than Michigan on either end of the court, and entered halftime with a 32-27 lead.

Ohio State didn’t deliver the kind of knockout punch other teams have handed Michigan early in the second half, but the Buckeyes did open the half with a 10-0 run to take a 15-point lead with 17:05 to go. Michigan Youssef Khayat, who played some crucial bench minutes, led the Wolverines in a great 7-0 run to respond, but they were never able to cut the margin below seven points. And then, with seven minutes remaining, Ohio State’s 14-0 run turned a 62-51 lead into a 76-51 laugher with 3:42 remaining. Michigan’s floor gave up at that point.

The Wolverines shot 10-for-30 from the floor in the second half and committed nine turnovers, while Ohio State made 15 of 21 baskets, including nine more dunks and layups, to win handily.

Next Sunday, Michigan will play Nebraska at home to wrap out the regular season.