ANN ARBOR >> Sunday was supposed to be a celebratory day for Michigan.

Illinois didn’t get the memo and spoiled Senior Day at Crisler Center.

The Fighting Illini dominated the offensive glass from start to finish and handed the No. 15 Wolverines a 93-73 loss that put them a game back in the Big Ten standings with the finish line in sight.

Vlad Goldin had 22 points and seven rebounds for Michigan (22-7, 14-4 Big Ten). Goldin didn’t get much help as the Wolverines had nearly as many defensive boards (20) as offensive rebounds it allowed (19).

With Michigan State beating Wisconsin earlier in the day, Michigan needed to hold serve to remain in a tie for first place. It never came close to happening, as the Wolverines trailed much of the game and by double digits over the final 10 minutes.

Michigan took the lead twice early in the second half — the last coming on a coast-to-coast layup by Goldin that made it 39-38 — before the game began to slip away.

The Wolverines fell behind as Illinois — just like it did in the first half — continued to crash the offensive boards and corral many of its missed shots, primarily from 3-point range.

Kylan Boswell scored on a putback to end a possession where the Illini missed two 3-pointers but grabbed both rebounds to kick-start an 8-0 run. During one sequence, Illinois grabbed an offensive board that led to a second-chance 3-pointer and caught an airballed 3-pointer for a layup on back-to-back possessions.

Things continued to get worse for Michigan. Illinois started to make 3-pointers on the first try. Nobody outside of Goldin could get going offensively. The Illini knocked down five deep balls over a five-minute stretch to blow the game open. The last came when Kasparas Jakucionis buried a 3-pointer after Illinois grabbed an offensive rebound on a missed free throw to make it 75-55 with 6:20 go.

The Wolverines never came close to digging out of the hole. Illinois led by as much as 21 points down the stretch and never let the lead dip below 16 points as it won for the ninth straight time in the head-to-head series.

Tre White scored 19 and Boswell and Jakucionis added 17 apiece for Illinois (19-11, 11-8), The Fighting Illini scored 30 second-chance points off 19 offensive rebounds, shot 11 for 23 from deep during a 62-piont second half and won the rebounding battle by a 43-32 margin.

Michigan honored four players — Ian Burns, Jace Howard, Rubin Jones and Goldin — during a pregame ceremony. The program chose not to have Senior Day during the home finale to better accommodate travel schedules for families.

That included Goldin’s parents, who flew into town Friday from Russia to reunite with their son for the first time in five years, and former coach Juwan Howard, an assistant on a Brooklyn Nets team that lost to the Pistons in Detroit on Saturday.

There wasn’t much to celebrate once the game tipped off. Illinois, one of worst 3-point shooting teams in the nation, missed its first five attempts from beyond the arc but grabbed six offensive boards during a 2 for 12 start. Michigan missed six of its first eight shots. The Illini and Wolverines combined for 10 points during the opening five minutes.

Neither team gained much separation until Illinois ripped off an 8-0 burst in under a minute. During the spurt, Michigan gave up an easy dunk then had back-to-back turnovers — a pass by Danny Wolf for a cutting Jones on the baseline was off the mark and Roddy Gayle Jr. lost the ball out of bounds — that led to back-to-back 3-pointers and a 20-13 deficit with 10:25 left in the first half.

Michigan continued to sputter along, with misses and blocked shots at the rim. The Wolverines made just two baskets over a six-minute stretch. Illinois continued to misfire on 3-pointers and crash the offensive glass, but it couldn’t extend the margin past seven.

Despite turning it over nine times, giving up 10 offensive rebounds and putting up eight fewer shots, the Wolverines entered halftime down by one. A combination of Michigan making its last three shots of the half — including a Nimari Burnett 3-pointer and assist to Wolf for a reverse layup on the final play — and Illinois going scoreless over the final two minutes led to the Illini holding a 31-30 edge at the break.