Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard returned to the bench at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament in the Bahamas on Wednesday, but unfortunately for the Wolverines it didn’t finish with the same result as their last visit.

Howard, who’d been away from his team the majority of the season since heart surgery in mid-September, was on the sideline for U-M’s tournament opener against Memphis, though Phil Martelli continued to serve as head coach.

The Wolverines won this tournament title in Howard’s first month as head coach back in 2019, but Wednesday was the exact opposite of when they picked up consecutive top-10 wins to take home the trophy, falling to Memphis, 71-67, on Wednesday.

“It was exciting to be out there with our young men and staff,” Howard said via statement shared by a program spokesman. “They have been so supportive and caring. I truly feel blessed. Today was just another step forward. I am looking forward to making a full return.”

On the heels of its upset loss to Long Beach State, the Wolverines were not able to clean up their act, but instead turned the ball over 18 times, 12 of which came in the first half. Four different players had at least three turnovers and Michigan shot 39% from the field.

Down by as much as 16, Michigan (3-2) got within one with 4:12 to play on a pair of Jackson free throws, but a Jaykwon Walton long ball from the corner extended the lead back to four. Olivier Nkamhoua fouled out moments later.

Nkamhoua led the Wolverines with 18 points and seven rebounds, Nimari Burnett added 16 points and nine rebounds, Dug McDaniel had 13 points and seven rebounds and Tarris Reed Jr. had eight points and 12 rebounds.

Freshman Ashton Hardaway, the son of Memphis head coach Anfernee “Penny” Hardaway who scored two points in his first three career games, dropped 17 points including five 3-pointers, three of which came at key moments in the second half.

Down seven with 35 seconds to play, McDaniel hit a tough bucket, then U-M forced a turnover. After taking the inbounds play underneath, Tray Jackson knocked down a 3-pointer from the corner to cut Memphis’ lead to 69-67 with 9.1 seconds to play.

But David Jones, who finished with 11 points, made two free throws to finish the game for the Tigers.

Caleb Mills was the only other Tiger in double figures with 10, as Memphis’ bench outscored the shorthanded Wolverines reserves 32-10. Michigan will move on in the elimination bracket, it plays the loser of Arkansas and Stanford on Thursday around 7:30 p.m.

Two-man show early

Michigan’s defense, which allowed LBSU to shoot better than 57%, held the Tigers to 2 of 9 during an early stretch in the first half before the U-M buckets began falling.

After a Tray Jackson layup put U-M up 10-8 in the early going, Penny Hardaway’s freshman son blitzed the Wolverines with a tough step-back and then consecutive long balls for eight points in 75 seconds.

In that same time, Burnett traded consecutive long balls with the Memphis freshman and Nkamhoua added a bucket to cut the deficit to it 20-16, before Burnett’s third long ball got U-M back within one.

Burnett hit a 3-pointer from near midcourt to cut U-M’s deficit to 20-19 with 8:55 to play in the first half, but the Wolverines could never get over the hump. In fact, Memphis directly answered that shot with a 17-4 run, with Mills’ crossover, step-back jumper increasing the lead to 37-23.

Quick blitz

The Wolverines had turnover troubles early. When Nkamhoua gave the ball away with 13:16 to play, it was his third in less than two minutes and U-M’s fifth on the night. It didn’t get any better from there.

Once the Wolverines got within one point, it followed with a 10 possession stretch that consisted of six missed field goals, three turnovers and one Nkamhoua dunk. Michigan would turn the ball over four more times the rest of the half, only fueling Memphis’ run.

Nicholas Jourdain, Jayden Hardaway and Jahvon Quinnerly all hit 3-pointers before the highlight play from Mills put the Tigers up 14 in the closing minutes of the break.

Not enough left

Memphis appeared poised to pull away early in the second half.

The Wolverines got within single digits early, but a Mills layup on an in-bound underneath play, David Jones’ three-point play, and then a Jayhlon Young three-point polay after a Terrance Williams turnover made it a 46-30 Memphis lead with 16:46 to play.

Instead, Michigan answered with its best stretch of the night. Dug McDaniel made his first two buckets of the night, Nkamhoua scored six quick points, Burnett added another long ball and Will Tschetter made a deep shot and just like that, Michigan had put together a 21-5 spurt to cut the lead to 54-51 with less than 8 minutes to play.

But Hardaway wouldn’t be denied. When U-M cut Memphis’ lead to 48-40, he hit a 3-pointer to get it back to 11. When Michigan later got within three, 51-48, Hardaway extended it to six, then did the same again to make it 57-51 with 6:54 to play.

Nkamhoua hit a pair of free throws, then McDaniel made a floater to make it 57-55 with 6:00 to play, but U-M would miss its next six shots until a McDaniel layup made it 67-62 with 37 seconds to play.

The game was again cut to five after another McDaniel tough bucket, then the Wolverines forced a turnover to get the ball back, down five, with 23 second to play.

Contact Tony Garcia: [email protected]. Follow him at @realtonygarcia.