With a chance to stake a claim as the second-best college team in the state, the Oakland University men’s basketball team came out flat against the University of Michigan Saturday, losing 69-51 at Crisler Arena due to an inability to convert its shots.

The anticipation of Saturday’s game was heightened when the Grizzlies (6-6) upset No. 7 ranked Tennessee on Tuesday, as the prospect of consecutive wins over BCS Conference opponents loomed large. But the Wolverines (9-2) put their best foot forward Saturday and had an answer for Oakland’s usually high-scoring offense.

Chief among OU’s struggles was its shooting percentage, just 31.6, which marked a season-low.

Michigan made every effort to take center Keith Benson out of the game offensively, daring the Golden Grizzlies to shoot the ball from the perimeter. Unfortunately for OU, its shooters simultaneously went cold. Outside of Reggie Hamilton, the team went 0-for-17 collectively from behind the 3-point arc.

“They guarded (Benson) with five guys, which is a strategy you would think wouldn’t work well against a team as good as we are because we have guys that can shoot,” Oakland head coach Greg Kampe said. “They were saying, ‘Go ahead and shoot it,’ so people have to step up and make shots. When you go 6-of-31 from 3-point, that’s not very good.”

Through the first 10 games this season, the Wolverines had been involved in a lot of low scoring contests, which head coach John Beilein said is by design.

“Watching the tape of Oakland and all of the ways they can score, I wasn’t sure if we could defend them and thought we’d have to score more points,” Beilein said. “But we were really able to check them … We had to give them different looks because (Kampe) has 101 different ways to get Benson the ball. He’s going to get it, but you have to give him a little extra attention.”

Darius Morris, the Wolverines sophomore guard, put up 18 points on 50 percent shooting to pace the Michigan offense, which really pulled away in the opening minutes of the second half.

A 29-21 halftime lead quickly turned into a 15-point advantage when Michigan began on a 7-0 run. By the 12:30 mark of the second half, the Maize and Blue had opened up a game-high 22 point lead.

Hamilton finished with 23 points, which tied his career-high, and made all six of the Grizzlies’ 3-pointers, most of which came in the later stages of the game as Oakland attempted to rally from a 20-point deficit.

“I think there’s going to be games like this where not everybody is connecting, but you’ve got to find a way to win,” Hamilton said.

The Grizzlies chipped away at their deficit and came within 10 points of a tie with under six minutes to play.

“It was a critical time, but then we had two turnovers in a row and we really shot ourselves in the foot,” Hamilton said.

The subject of frequent double-teams and a lot of physical opposition, Benson totaled 11 points and seven rebounds and failed to record a double-double for just the fourth time this season. He also had four blocks.

Oakland was edged in the rebounding department, 40 to 39, for just the third time all season, which was unexpected given the Grizzlies’ size advantage with Benson and Will Hudson in the frontcourt.

“Our two guys are both bigger and stronger, so what (Michigan) did was come in with a strategy of rotating all those different guys in and out and they hit us and bumped us and pushed us … It was very, very physical,” Kampe said. “Three minutes into the game you knew what was going to happen. Accept it and play through it.”

Hudson scored 10 points and pulled down six rebounds.

The loss comes with a sort of silver lining, however. Kampe explained after the game what his team can take away from the defeat.

“Today we saw something completely different,” Kampe said. “Somebody in our league is going to do this to us too. Somebody on the road in late January is going to say, “Benson is not going to beat us.’ And they’ll put a couple people around him and they’ll dare us to shoot. We’ve seen it now and we take this tape and learn from it.”

With its rigorous non-conference schedule approaching its end, Oakland returns home for a pair of game at the O’rena Monday and Tuesday nights as part of the Lou Henson Tournament. Monday’s tipoff against Rochester College is set for 7:30 p.m.