There was a sliver of hope for Illinois, on one possession here and another possession there, against what will likely be ranked the No. 1 team in college basketball come Monday.

But Michigan squashed any semblance of a run Illinois made in the second half and pulled away for a 74-60 victory in front of a sold out Assembly Hall crowd.

The No. 2 Wolverines never let their lead slip to less than seven points after the 15:49 point in the second half and relentlessly punished the Illini after each turnover they committed.

“Give Michigan a lot of credit,“ Illinois head coach John Groce said. “They’re the No. 1 offensive efficiency team in the country. If you break down or make one mistake, they exploit it like that.”

Illinois’ last gasp came facing a 12-point deficit with close to 10 minutes left in the second half. Senior D.J. Richardson hit a 3-pointer, which was followed quickly by a Joseph Bertrand runner to cut the Michigan lead to 55-48.

Michigan, the top offensive team in the Big Ten, was not fazed by Illinois’ run and spurted ahead with a 19-12 run to arrive at the final score. Spearheading each counterattack for the Wolverines was their point guard, Trey Burke, who led all scorers with 19 points. Brandon Paul led Illinois in scoring with 15 points of his own on 5-for-12 shooting.

Despite Burke’s point total, Groce thought his team played solid defense on Michigan’s point guard and forced him into tough perimeter shots — evidenced by Burke’s 7-for-19 shooting from the field.

“Burke, we tried to make him earn it tonight,” Groce said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that, but some other guys hurt us.”

Those “other guys” Groce referred to might explain why Michigan is so dangerous and effective on the offensive end. Freshman Nik Stauskas scored 14 points on 6-for-10 shooting, his freshman counterpart Glenn Robinson III scored 12 points on 6-for-8 shooting and junior Tim Hardaway, Jr. added 12 more points.

Overall, Michigan shot 52.5 percent for the game and 57.7 percent in the second half.

“Stauskas was terrific. Glenn Robinson made plays,” Groce said. “They’ve got a lot of weapons out there.”

Michigan might have outclassed Illinois in talent and execution, but the Illini had their chances to close the gap. Crucial turnovers dismantled a few Illinois runs, including a second half stretch of four possessions in a row that ended in an Illini turnover.

“Guys are trying to make plays,” said Richardson, who finished the game with 12 points on 4-for-15 shooting. “You can’t always hit the home run. We’ve got to count on guys making plays as well. Sometimes it’s kind of forced.”

Groce approved of the offensive looks his team generated for the first 30 minutes of the game, but most of those opportunities were squandered by missing an open jumper. Illinois went 6-for-26 from 3-point range, a statistic that has evolved into a familiar one for this season’s team.

Michigan head coach John Beilein said he could relate to Illinois’ shooting woes, as some of his previous teams went through arid times from beyond the arc.

“My teams have had some incredible dry spots at times,” Beilein said. “When you play that way, it can get difficult at times. They’ll shoot their way out of it eventually.”

But for Groce, whose team plays three more conference games in a row against top-25 teams, the answer for the poor shooting might be a little more simple.

“You’ve got to throw a couple in,” Groce said. “We’re in here all diagnosing this and that and looking at the stat sheet. We got what we wanted and we didn’t make enough of them.”

Thomas can be reached at [email protected] and @ThomasBruch.