Thin Michigan roster looking to snap skid in Indiana

Michigan (13-10) vs. Indiana (16-7)

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – When Michigan announced leading scorer, passer and rebounder Caris LeVert was lost for the season due to a foot injury on Jan. 18, John Beilein's Wolverines faced a steep uphill battle with the Big Ten schedule in full swing.

Michigan battled for a few games, outlasting a weak Rutgers team and falling just short of an upset bid in an overtime loss to conference favorite Wisconsin,

Then Beilein lost starting point guard Derrick Walton Jr., forcing him to reach even further down his bench.

Now Michigan is starting to show the effects of playing with a thin roster. On Feb. 1, the Wolverines ran out of gas in overtime after running with Michigan State for 40 minutes, failing to score in the extra period. Four days later, Iowa came to Crisler and ran layup lines on the Wolverines, cruising to an 18-point win.

But Beilein and his staff won't make excuses. They'll run with the healthy bodies they've got and try to salvage a few more wins before the turbulent 2014-15 season comes to a close.

Sunday's matchup pits Michigan against Indiana in an arena where U of M hasn't won since 2009, when the Hoosiers fell to the Wolverines in overtime (during a 6-25 season for IU). Even the Final Four bound, No. 1 Wolverines of 2013 couldn't pull out a win in Bloomington, falling 81-73.

Game time: 1 p.m. ET on CBS

Beilein enters Assembly Hall with just 11 players at his disposal, eight of which had never seen major minutes in college basketball entering the season.

Sean Lonergan and Andrew Dakich played a combined 20 minutes of Big Ten basketball as freshmen last season. Since the injury to LeVert, the two walk-ons have played a total of 61 minutes.

In the front court, Beilein has seen former starting center Mark Donnal play just two minutes since Walton's absence, partly due to an illness that ravaged through the Michigan locker room. The duo of senior Max Beilfedt and freshman Ricky Doyle has done its best to pick up the slack down low.

Through all the season's turmoil, Beilein did manage to find two diamonds in the proverbial Maize and Blue rough: freshmen Aubrey Dawkins and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman. The two late offseason signees have seen the greatest jump in court time since the injuries, becoming the most reliable offensive options on the team.

Abdur-Rahkman played amore than 10 minutes only twice in Michigan's first 17 games. Since Jan. 17, the 6-4 shooting guard has averaged over 28 minutes, giving Beilein an even 10 points per game during that span.

Dawkins exploded for 20 points during a Dec. 30 win over Illinois before seeing his minutes reduced to under 20 per game. But since LeVert's injury, he averages 29.8 minutes and 10 points per game.

Michigan will need its freshmen to take over the offense on Sunday if it hopes to have a chance against the 16-7 Hoosiers. A win would snap a mini two-game losing streak and help the Wolverines claw closer to the nine conference wins that would guarantee at least a .500 Big Ten season.

Spike Albrecht, Zak Irvin and Bielfeldt will be asked to lead the Wolverines as the only active players with experience at Assembly Hall.