ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Rutgers men's basketball (12-8, 8-8) fell to No. 3 Michigan (15-1, 10-1) by a final score of 71-64 at the Crisler Center. Jacob Young scored a team-high 16 points in the loss and was joined in double figures by Myles Johnson (13), Ron Harper Jr. (12) and Caleb McConnell (10).

RU held the Wolverines, who entered Thursday night leading the Big Ten Conference in field goal percentage, to just a 46.2% mark from the floor and kept UM leading scorer Isaiah Livers to just seven points. Johnson and Clifford Omoruyi contributed four and three blocks, respectively, as Johnson moved into sole possession of eighth place all-time in program history in the category. Rutgers also had just three turnovers against Michigan, its fewest ever in a Big Ten game.

"We played a really good basketball team tonight," head coach Steve Pikiell said. "I thought we played hard. We outscored them in the second half. We have to make shots in a game like this, I thought we had the opportunities. Tip of the hat to Michigan, they are for real. I thought our effort was great, we played hard from start to finish, just have to make some more shots in a game like that."

Rutgers jumped out to a 9-4 lead after McConnell hit a mid-range jumper with 15:17 left in the first half. Young gave the Scarlet Knights another five-point advantage on a fast break layup two minutes later, but an ensuing 16-4 scoring run by Michigan forced RU to call a timeout at the 8:38 mark in the half. Rutgers got within four down the stretch before UM went into the locker room with a 37-28 lead. Harper Jr.'s 10 points paced RU in the first half, as six Scarlet Knights scored before the break.

In the second half, Michigan pulled ahead by as much as 17 points before Rutgers began to chip away at its lead down the stretch as the Scarlet Knights continued to scrap and claw and not quit. Young scored eight consecutive points in the closing minutes to pull the game within six before the Wolverines held on for the win.

"Our defense gave us a chance, but our offense just didn't do enough," Pikiell summarized. "We fought from start to finish against arguably the best team in the country. I'm proud of our guys for continuing to fight. We'll move on here quickly. We have four more huge games coming up in this league. Every team in this league is really good, so we'll get back and start preparing for the next one."

"Rutgers is a very tough team, well coached, highly competitive," Michigan head coach Juwan Howard said. "We knew they would come out with a lot of energy from start to finish. It was important that we had to match their energy from start to finish."

Next up for the Scarlet Knights is a return home for a Sunday home game against Maryland. Tip-off is at 3 p.m. on Big Ten Network with Kevin Kugler and Brian Butch on the call. Rutgers will remain home for another game after that, Wednesday against Indiana at The RAC (8 p.m), which will be the team's third game in a six-game span.