BLOOMINGTON - Michigan could have gotten the message from its first three possessions. They could have avoided heartbreak and gone home early.
Instead, the Wolverines chose to battle back and ignore the message.
But ultimately, they came up empty.
Louis Bullock's 3-point attempt as time expired clanged off the rim, and No. 21 Indiana (3-3 Big Ten, 16-4 overall) sent the 13th-ranked Wolverines (4-3, 13-5) away from Assembly Hall with a loss for the eighth time in nine seasons, 72-70.
"Perfect," was how Bullock described his look at the basket from the right wing, directly in front of the Michigan bench.
"We had the play all set up," the sophomore guard said. "I was wide open. I just missed the shot."
Being in the position to win the game was an accomplishment in itself, considering that Michigan was playing with several of its key players in foul trouble the whole game, and was down by 15 halfway through the second frame.
However, credit must be given to Indiana, which was playing without its top scorer and rebounder, Andrae Patterson, who was nursing a knee injured in practice Monday.
"(The Hoosiers) did a great job of executing without ... Patterson," Michigan coach Steve Fisher said.
That great job began at the opening tip.
Junior forward Maurice Taylor took the first shot of the game and, with Haris Mujezinovic's hand in his face, fired up an airball.
After a layup by Indiana's Neil Reed, Michigan's Jerod Ward was promptly whistled for traveling.
A Mujezinovic dunk made it 4-0, and Robert Traylor was whistled for the first of his three first-half fouls.
All that in just 78 seconds. But it was enough, because the Hoosiers never relinquished their lead.
In addition for the Wolverines, they had to deal with 40 minutes of poor shooting, an Indiana offense in constant motion and major foul trouble.
Traylor picked up his second foul less than a minute later. And then, after sitting for six minutes, he re-entered and was called for his third two minutes afterward.
"Traylor has been our energizer and emotional leader," Fisher said. "Tonight, he took himself out of the game especially early, and you can't allow that to happen.
"We need Traylor on the floor longer, for longer periods, if we're going to be good defensively."
But the game's turning point came with 7:51 left in the first half. After being called for a personal foul, Ward slammed the ball down and was assessed a technical foul.
Reed sank both shots for the personal foul, and one of the two on the technical. When the Hoosiers took possession after that, Michael Lewis hit a running jump shot to give Indiana an eight-point lead, 31-23.
"I don't think he meant to throw the ball like that," Fisher said. "I think he meant to slam it down and catch it and he didn't catch it. And he got a technical that obviously hurt.
"You can't do that, much less on the road against a quality team when you're struggling to stay in it."
Reed burned Michigan for the second year in a row on his home turf, tossing in a game-high 20 points. In last year's 99-83 Indiana victory, Reed scored a career-best 27, hitting on 8-of-11 3-pointers.
Following Reed on the Indiana scorecard was freshman point guard A.J. Guyton, who scored all of his 15 points in the second half.
Indiana built its lead to 11, 42-31, going into halftime and maintained a double-digit lead for most of the second half, reaching its maximum of 15 at 65-50 with just under 10 minutes remaining.
Then Michigan went on a 10-0 run, sending a scare into the raucous Assembly Hall crowd. But layups from Reed and Mujezinovic, followed by a trey from Reed, brought the lead to 72-62.
The Hoosiers went silent offensively after that, missing their last nine shots and allowing Michigan one final spurt.
Baskets from Brandun Hughes, Traylor and two from Maceo Baston set the stage for a thrilling final three minutes.
However, neither team would score after that. Bullock had another wide-open three with 90 seconds left, and Mujezinovic picked off a Ward pass with just under a minute to play. With eight seconds remaining, the stage was set for Bullock's final 3-point attempt.
Hughes pushed the ball up the court and immediately found Bullock standing behind the arc, at the right of the key. Without a Hoosier within an arm's length of him, Bullock let it go.
"He arched it a little more than he normally would," Fisher said. "But I've seen him make more of those than he misses."
Taylor led the Wolverines with 16 points, his highest output since he tallied 19 against St. John's, 12 games ago. Baston netted 14, hitting every shot he took - three field goals and eight free throws.
"We allowed external things to frustrate us. Rather than dealing with what you can control, we fretted and worried and complained too much.
"We gave them too many things that good teams don't do."