Saturday was supposed to be Isaiah Livers' triumphant return.

Instead, Illinois' Ayo Dosunmu spoiled the party, hitting a winning jump shot with 0.5 seconds remaining to beat Michigan basketball, 64-62, at Crisler Center and hand the Wolverines their fourth straight loss.

Livers appeared to re-aggravate his groin injury in the game, casting a pall over U-M's ability to stay off the NCAA tournament bubble in the coming weeks.

Even without Livers, the Wolverines came close to beating the 22nd-ranked Illini. Michigan held a lead near the end of the second half but couldn't put the game away at the free-throw line. The Wolverines missed five consecutive free throws, failing to establish a multiple-possession lead.

Illinois, however, tied the game at the free-throw line. Then center Jon Teske missed a short hook shot. The Illini put the ball in Dosunmu's hands for the final shot, and he hit a contested jumper from the free-throw line to win the game.

Saturday began with Livers returning to the starting lineup from a groin injury he suffered Dec. 21 that held him out for six games.

The announcement that Livers would start drew an ovation at Crisler Center — perhaps the loudest the arena has been all season. But Livers left the game in the second half after attempting a dunk on a nearly identical play to the one that led to his injury in December. He hit the floor hard. The crowd fell silent, as he shot two free throws before exiting the game. He watched from the bench after a short trip to the locker room.

The Wolverines simply did not have enough offense Saturday, and simply could not stop Dosunmu.

Illinois' leading scorer scored the game's first basket — and didn't slow down en route to a game-high 27 points on 11-for-18 shooting. He got to the rim at will for an efficient 16 first-half points on 6-for-8 shooting.

On the other end, it was more of the same from Michigan's offense. Similar to Wednesday's loss to Penn State, the Wolverines couldn't hit open shots. After Franz Wagner hit the team's first 3-point attempt, U-M missed its next 10 threes and finished the game shooting 23-for-59 from the field and just 4-for-17 from 3-point range.

Michigan shot just 11-for-31 in the first half and didn't record an assist as Illinois secured an eight-point lead at the break.

The offense had more success at the end of the first half by attacking the paint, as Michigan scored on three consecutive possessions in the paint. Michigan re-took the lead early in the second half off a Livers 3. The Wolverines' offense came to life, and the team seemed to have a surge of energy — before Livers departed with his injury.

Dosunmu hit an off-the-dribble 3, his second of the game, and then a step-back 2 to put Illinois back in front. From there, the two teams went back and forth for the duration of the game.

Michigan took a two-point lead late after five points from backup guard David DeJulius. The Wolverines could've easily won the game. But they missed their free throws — and to make matters worse, they may have lost Livers again.

Contact Orion Sang at osang@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @orion_sang. Read more on the Michigan Wolverines and sign up for our Wolverines newsletter.