Michigan fans are coming off of a phenomenal football season that ended with a national championship. They are not enjoying basketball season in the same way.
The Wolverines fell to 7-11 with a loss to the Illinois Fighting Illini at home on Thursday night. Fortunately, there were not many people in attendance to witness the 15-point defeat. In fact, the visiting fanbase made a bigger impact on the Crisler Center than those in maize and blue.
It was a sparse crowd.
And attendance did not increase after the game got under way.
To make matters worse, a large contingency of fans in the upper deck were undercover. The Orange Krush descended upon Ann Arbor for their annual road game takeover.
Illinois’ student section is also America’s largest student-run charitable organization. Each and every year, the Orange Krush “secretly” travels to an away game. They usually purchase the block of tickets under the guise of a local organization that it is not.
This year, it was the Boys and Girls Club of Ann Arbor. The reveal takes place after the first Illini bucket.
Fans of the home team are always so confused as to what is going on. It’s awesome.
This season’s road trip was ultimately a little bit of a dud, because Michigan is so bad this year. However, it was extra hilarious that the visiting student section was louder than that of the Wolverines.
Illinois used a 51-point second half to propel itself to victory after going into the locker room up by just one at halftime. The No. 14-ranked team in college basketball proved why it deserves its ranking by putting a beatdown on an inferior opponent.
On the flip side, Juwan Howard inches closer to getting fired with each ugly loss. Thursday was even more demoralizing because the home crowd didn’t show up while the visitors did!