John Beilein didn’t like what he saw in overtime. Much like long stretches Sunday in regulation, the Michigan basketball team looked bothered and confused by the Kansas defense.

So the fourth-year Michigan coach, with his team in a crucial possession during Kansas’ 67-60 overtime win over Michigan, called a timeout.

The result — a shot clock violation — was not the play Beilein drew up.

“Just a ball screen for Darius (Morris), trying to find an opening, and they just played great defense on our ball screens all game long,” junior guard Stu Douglass said. “Really helped off on me, Zack (Novak), they denied us and didn’t let us get a whole lot of light.”

The play designed was something Beilein said worked earlier in the game to free Morris for an open look. At the time, Michigan trailed 62-58 and desperately needed a basket to stay in the game.

Morris never touched the ball.

Junior guards Zack Novak and Stu Douglass both tried to get open shots — including two jab-step attempts by Douglass to get space — but it ended with Novak throwing up a 30-foot prayer that came up well short of the rim.

“They just really guarded it well,” Beilein said. “They switched the screen and stayed in front of him so he had no other options. Stu and Zack, it’s no secret, it’s hard for them to create their own shot, and there were long guys on them and they couldn’t get their shot.”

Undefeated for the first time since title time For the first time since it won a national championship with Sherron Collins, Cole Aldrich and Mario Chalmers, Kansas has run through its non-conference schedule undefeated.

That Kansas team went to 20-0 before losing at Kansas State for the first time since 1983. Then it ran through the majority of its season, knocking off Memphis in overtime to finish with a 37-3 record.

Kansas coach Bill Self isn’t ready for comparisons yet for this team, which is 15-0.

“That wasn’t a good team, that was a great team,” Self said. I think that this team that we have is a good team with a chance to become really good. But (the 2007-08) team had so much experience and know how to finish games. This team is still learning how to do that.

“There are some similarities. But I’ve also got to be careful of comparing to that team. It’s no fair to these guys.”

McLimans over Horford In the second half, Michigan went deeper into its bench than it has in a while. With 11:48 left in regulation, Beilein went to redshirt freshman forward Blake McLimans instead of usual reserve forward Jon Horford after Morgan picked up his fourth foul.

McLimans hadn’t played meaningful minutes since mid-December.

“We were really having trouble, they were really pressuring our five man hard and Jordan was in foul trouble,” Beilein said. “And he really is a very good passer so were just trying to alleviate some other things.

“But he struggled rebounding. It’s a thing he’s getting better at.”

McLimans ended up playing three minutes, scoring a basket and grabbing a rebound.

This and that Kansas coach Bill Self is 8-0 against Michigan, dating back to his time at Illinois. … The game was not a sellout, as there were pockets of seats in the maize sections empty. Official attendance was 12,476. … The Russian Bar Trio, which performed on "America’s Got Talent," was the halftime entertainment. … After beating Kansas the first five times the teams played, Michigan has now dropped games in back-to-back years to the Jayhawks. … Douglass had a career-high 10 rebounds against Kansas, doubling his prior career high.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein