Northwestern’s 72-70 loss to Michigan on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor followed an all too familiar, and heartbreaking, pattern.

The Wildcats fell behind. They mounted a valiant comeback and even took the lead. But once again they failed to close out a game that could have been theirs.

Northwestern held a seven-point lead with five minutes to go and fouled out not one, but two Michigan big men. But the Wildcats missed four of their final six free throws to lose their third straight game, as Michigan made big threes down the stretch to prevail.

Pete Nance scored 14 points to lead Northwestern, but he was just 3-for-10 from the floor and missed two crucial free throws in the final minute. Boo Buie and Ryan Young each scored 13 points, while Robbie Beran finished with 10.

Caleb Houstan led all scorers with 18 points for Michigan and hit 3-of-5 shots from beyond the arc. Devante Brooks scored 15 and Eli Brooks contributed 12, including nine in a 90-second span of the second half.

Michigan opened up a 48-37 lead with 17:10 remaining in the second half and looked to be poised to run away with the game. But the Wildcats clawed their way back.

They went on an 11-0 run capped by a Ryan Greer three-pointer, to tie it at 51. Another Greer triple gave the Wildcats the lead, 56-55, with 7:57 to go. After another 9-0 Northwestern scoring streak, the Wildcats had their largest lead at 62-55, as Michigan repeatedly turned the ball over and went more than four minutes without a field goal.

But it all unraveled rather quickly for the Cats. Michigan answered with a 7-0 run to tie it at 62, and it was nip-and-tuck the rest of the game.

Young drew a fifth foul on Michigan star Hunter Dickinson and then converted a pair of free throws to give the Wildcats a 64-62 lead with 2:29 remaining. But that proved to be the last Northwestern lead. Terrance Williams II and Caleb Houstan hit big corner threes, and Jones hit four consecutive free throws to clinch it for the Wolverines.

Here are our takeaways from the loss that dropped Northwestern's record to 9-9 overall and 2-7 in the Big Ten:

The Cats had their chances late: Buie hit a three-pointer from Ypsilanti to pull Northwestern to within 70-68 with 52 seconds left. Then, as it has many times before this season, failures at the free-throw line cost them dearly.

After Jones hit a pair of free throws for Michigan, Young was able to convert just one of his two from the charity stripe to make it 72-69. Nance, however, tapped the rebound of Young's miss to Buie to give the Wildcats a second life.

Nance was fouled and then missed both of his free-throw attempts with nine seconds left. Instead of possibly pulling to within one, Northwestern remained down three. Michigan had a chance to ice the game at the charity stripe on its next possession, but Jaron Faulds, playing because Dickson and Moussa Diabate both fouled out, also missed both of his free throws.

Michigan fouled Buie coming up the court with four seconds left. He made his first and then missed his second free throw. Nance again came up with the rebound and fired a pass out to Julian Roper on the perimeter, but his three was off the mark to end the game.

Fouls loomed large for both teams: A total of 46 fouls were called in this game, 24 for Michigan and 22 for Northwestern. It was just the third time in nine Big Ten games that the Wildcats were whistled for fewer infractions than their opponent. Both teams reached the double-bonus in both halves.

Dickinson and Diabate both fouled out for Michigan in the final minutes, leaving Michigan's offense in disarray. Beran picked up his fifth foul with eight seconds to go, while Young and Chase Audige each finished with four.

Buie sat for large parts of the first half after picking up two early fouls but managed to pick up just one more the rest of the night.

Dickinson, Michigan's dominant big man, was limited to 29 minutes and had just nine points and five rebounds in the game.

Young should've gotten the ball more in the second half: Young was Northwestern's top scorer in the first half, tallying 10 points on 3-for-3 shooting, including his first three-pointer of the season.

But in the second half, the Wildcats didn't go into the post to Young as often as they should have. Despite Dickinson and Diabate being in foul trouble throughout the half, Young had just two shots in the second half, missing them both. He went 3-for-4 from the foul line in the half. When NU finally got the ball into him one-one-one with Dickinson in the post, he was able to foul him out of the game with 2:29 left. That should have happened sooner.

Down the stretch, Northwestern went to Nance, who failed to come through. With Northwestern nursing a five-point lead with under five minutes left, the Wildcats went inside on consecutive possessions to Nance, who missed a turnaround jumper in the lane and then dribbled the ball off of his foot. He was able to get key rebounds and get to the foul line, but he missed both of his shots from the field and four of his 10 free throws in the second half.