Ohio State's Jared Sullinger drives past Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. (10) and Evan Smotrycz (23) during the Buckeyes' 62-53 win Thursday in Columbus, Ohio.

Cleveland Plain Dealer

Updated 11:02 p.m.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — At the back of a line of Michigan basketball players walking off the Value City Arena floor Thursday night, surrounded by taunting Ohio State fans, freshman forward Tim Hardaway Jr. had his maize No. 10 jersey clenched between his teeth.

It was a sign of frustration after the Wolverines had a lead on Ohio State at halftime and hung with the No. 1-ranked Buckeyes for almost 30 minutes. Michigan lost to Ohio State, 62-53, on Thursday night — yet for the third straight time against the Buckeyes, they played well enough to win through the majority of it.

The loss probably stings less than when Evan Turner's 60-foot shot ended Michigan’s 2009-10 season in a Big Ten Tournament quarterfinal and the close 68-64 loss at home to the then-No. 2 Buckeyes last month. But going into the visiting locker room at halftime, Michigan knew it had a chance.

At the time, Michigan led, 26-23. It hadn’t played great, but was shooting 44.4 percent (12 of 27) from the floor and holding Ohio State fifth-year senior guard David Lighty and freshman guard Aaron Craft scoreless.

Ohio State star freshman Jared Sullinger got his points and rebounds (8 and 8), but the Wolverines did a good job with the rest of the Buckeyes (23-0, 10-0 Big Ten).

“At halftime, we can win the game, number one,” Michigan coach John Beilein said he told his team at halftime. “You’re up in the game and you can play with these guys. We tried to make more adjustments about how they were playing us.

“They did a great job and took us out of some things.”

Michigan (13-10, 3-7) sophomore guard Darius Morris had space to create in the first half, scoring 10 of his 12 points. Hardaway Jr. was slashing through the lane and looking at times like the most athletic player on the floor as he scored seven of his team-high 15 points.

But in the second half, the Buckeyes closed out on Michigan’s shooters. They focused more on Morris, who finished with a season-high six turnovers.

“(Ohio State) made really good halftime adjustments,” Morris said. “They always predicate how they are going to play the second half based on what was successful for us in the first half. They kind of tried to shut that down and limit it and make adjustments.

“Then the crowd gets on their side, the crowd gets back into the game and it’s pretty tough to win in there.”

It was unfortunate for the Wolverines, but somewhat expected from Ohio State. The unbeaten Buckeyes have won seven of their last 10 games by single digits, doing the right things in the final minutes.

Their shooters started to make shots, including a 3-pointer from William Buford for part of his 13 points. But when Ohio State needed a basket, it went to Sullinger.

The national Player of the Year candidate did a little bit of everything in the second half during a typical 19-point, 15-rebound performance.

He dribbled away from the basket, jumped and threw a perfect one-handed pass to a cutting Lighty to give the Buckeyes a 36-34 lead.

And when Ohio State had Michigan teetering, it went inside to to him. On a play that typified the game, Sullinger had the ball on the right block with Michigan redshirt freshman forward Jordan Morgan guarding him. He spun to the baseline and was met by a double-team from Michigan guard Stu Douglass.

It didn’t matter. Sullinger bodied through both of them and made a layup to give Ohio State a 54-45 lead with 3:27 left, essentially the breaking point for a Wolverines team that hung around the entire game.

“It was a little bit of him asserting himself,” Morgan said. “He is a really good player and realized for them to win, he had to take over. And he really got a little more aggressive.

“First half, he was looking to pass more. Second half, he was looking to score.”

It was different from the first time Michigan played against Ohio State this year, when the Wolverines flustered Sullinger by sending bodies at him every time he touched the ball or thought he might receive a look on an entry pass. Buckeyes coach Thad Matta even joked it felt like Michigan sent some cheerleaders from the sideline to help out in Ann Arbor.

On Thursday there were times Sullinger ended up one-on-one. Part of that was design. Part of it was Michigan missing assignments.

“Most of the time he got the ball, we tried to throw some action at him,” Beilein said. “But there was times where if we went solo coverage, someone made a mistake somewhere because we were trying not to give him any of those one-on-one type of situations.”

Too often, Michigan did. And it helped lead to another loss to build on for the Wolverines against a top team they had a chance against.

Michael Rothstein covers 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.