Northwestern again comes so close ... only to fall in the end

How many more of these can Northwestern take?

Just days after an excruciating last-second loss to Illinois and a week after dropping a close one in Iowa, the Wildcats - despite a strong late rush in regulation - fell 70-67 in overtime Sunday to visiting Michigan and its large contingent of maize and blue in a packed Welsh-Ryan Arena.

"Just another tight loss, a game I thought we had to find a way to win," Northwestern coach Bill Carmody said. "Michigan found a way to do it and we didn't."

"It's really frustrating, really hard," said junior forward Kevin Coble, who finished with a team-high 23 points, including a lean-in 3-pointer that sent the game to overtime. "We're basically 5 points away from being in the upper part of the conference ... that's tough for us to handle."

Almost as tough to handle was Michigan guard Manny Harris, who had a whopping 1 point in the first half but exploded late to finish with a game-high 26, including 8 in overtime, to give Michigan (16-10, 6-7) just its third win its last 10 games.

"I thought he showed some great poise," Michigan coach John Beilein said of his sophomore standout. "We felt he was really in a groove and we tried to get him the ball as much as we could. I was really proud of him."

"For a while there it seemed like it was just him and Coble," Carmody said with a snicker.

It was quite the opposite in the opening 20 minutes as freshman John Shurna, a Glen Ellyn native, blasted out of the gate to lead all scorers with 13 points en route to finishing with 17.

"In time, the good ones just figure it out," Beilein said. "He had a tremendous game. He was playing like a junior or senior."

"I hate wasting a game like this from Shurna," Carmody said.

Shurna wasn't thinking about his numbers afterward; he was more concerned with the pulse of his teammates after the Cats' third straight loss.

"We battle and battle and it seems like the last couple minutes it's not going our way," he said. "It's been frustrating. The other teams are coming up big and you gotta give them credit.

"We have to go look at some film, see where we messed up and get ready for Ohio State (at home Wednesday)."

The Wildcats (13-10, 4-8) were without the services of ailing forward/center Luka Mirkovic, who had 14 points and 2 boards in the loss to Illinois.

Carmody didn't bite when offered the chance to use that as an excuse.

"It's tough to come back in the next game, but I thought our guys played hard," Carmody said. "I wasn't displeased with our effort, I was displeased with the results."