ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The IUPUI basketball team had upset on its mind in the opening game of the 2K Classic on Sunday afternoon (Nov. 13), but yielded a crippling run at the end of the first half before falling, 77-65. Senior Darell Combs paced three Jaguars in double-digits with 22 points and classmate Matt O'Leary finished with 13 in the loss. Kent State-transfer Kellon Thomas chipped in with 10 points and three assists. 

Fishers-native Zak Irvin led four Wolverines in double-digits with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting and Moritz Wagner and Derrick Walton Jr. finished with 13 apiece. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman added 12 and D.J. Wilson had seven points, 14 boards and five blocked shots off the Michigan bench. 

"They're a really complicated offense to guard, especially on one day of prep," IUPUI Head Coach Jason Gardner said. "I thought we did a good job of fighting and scrapping and staying in (the game), but that's a good team. I thought we did a good job of forcing them into some tough shots, but we didn't always finish the possession by getting the (defensive) rebound. 

"That was the difference in the game. We gave up too many second chances and too many easy putbacks."

While Michigan (2-0) and Head Coach John Beilein's system is known for terrific perimeter shooting, it was the Wolverines' size and strength on the interior that gave the Jags fits on Sunday. Michigan outscored IUPUI 19-2 in second chance points and won the glass, 40-31. 

IUPUI (0-2) looked vastly different than the team that lost by double-digits at Eastern Kentucky in the opener as the Jags surged out to an 18-11 lead behind Combs' hot start. His first trey of the game capped an 8-0 run to give the Jags their largest lead of the day before Walton responded with a bucket. After going down 27-24 when Walton hit back-to-back treys, IUPUI answered with a mini 8-3 run, thanks to six more points from Combs. The Jags led 32-30 with 4:18 left before halftime when the offense went into a quick slumber. 

Michigan countered with a 13-0 run to close the half, punctuated by an Irvin transition layup to give the Wolverines a 43-32 halftime advantage. 

O'Leary got the Jags back within nine early in the second half with a pair of free throws, but the hosts held the Jags at arms' length for the duration of the day. Wagner and Walton combined to score Michigan's first 12 points of the second half, but Combs got IUPUI within nine at 57-48 with 13:07 left when he stroked a challenged three in front of his own bench. 

"I think Darell is playing with a lot more confidence and when he's confident, he's hard to stop," Gardner said. "He's worked hard to get to where he is, but these first two games, he's been really good. We'll get better balance when we just get to hitting shots. 

"We've got some guys who shoot it well in practice, but it hasn't necessarily transferred over to games yet. That'll come though."

IUPUI finished at 40 percent from the field and 5-of-14 (35.7 percent) from beyond the arc. Michigan shot 45 percent from the field and 7-of-21 (33.3 percent) from three-point range.

"We'll learn from this, continue to work and get better," Gardner said. "That's one of the better teams on our schedule, so I think we kind of proved to ourselves today that we can play with about anyone."

Junior Aaron Brennan had seven points off the Jags' bench and sophomore D.J. McCall had six points and a team-high seven boards. Combs collected his second 20-point scoring game to open the season, upping his career total to 11 in that category.  

IUPUI will now return home to host the Indianapolis Subregional of the 2K Classic, beginning on Friday (Nov. 18). Play will begin inside Indiana Farmers Coliseum at noon as Eastern Michigan plays Gardner-Webb. IUPUI will then face Howard at 2:00 p.m. in the Jaguars' regular season home opener. That game will be broadcast on ESPN3 as Greg Rakestraw (pxp) and Hall of Famer Carlos Knox (analyst) are on the call. It will also be heard in Central Indiana on 97.5 Fox Sports Radio, 1260 AM and the iHeartRadio app as Morgan Adcock (pxp) is on the call.