Freshman forward Evan Smotrycz must have sensed someone had just entered in the building.

A few seconds after newly crowned Michigan football coach Brady Hoke stepped into Crisler Arena during Wednesday’s men’s basketball game against No. 2 Ohio State, Smotrycz nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key, giving the Wolverines their first points of the night.

And moments after the Michigan faithful gave Hoke a warm standing ovation, junior guard Zack Novak provided fans with an encore of sorts, nailing triples on each of the Wolverines’ next two possessions.

But in the end, Michigan couldn’t give Hoke a victorious welcome, as the Buckeyes outlasted the Wolverines in a nail-biter, 68-64.

With 18.6 ticks on the clock, Ohio State junior guard William Buford went to the free-throw line, hitting both of his shots and putting the Buckeyes up, 66-62. Sophomore point guard Darius Morris took the in bound pass and pushed up the court, scoring quickly on a drive to the hoop to bring the Wolverines back within two.

For Michigan, it was too little, too late.

The Wolverines fouled freshman guard Aaron Craft on Ohio State’s next possession, and he drained both of his shots too — putting the game out of reach.

“I can’t even describe it,” junior guard Zack Novak said after the game. “Right there — once we get it, we’re going to be good. We’ll be really good. But there’s something missing right now.

“If I knew (what it was), we would’ve won the game.”

Michigan (1-3 Big Ten, 11-6 overall) dug a hole for itself early in the second half when redshirt freshman center Jordan Morgan picked up his third foul of the night just three minutes into the frame. Morgan hit the bench, but instead of replacing him with his typical backup — freshman Jon Horford — Beilein opted to shift the relatively undersized Smotrycz to center.

By the time Morgan re-entered the game, the Wolverines found themselves at a nine-point deficit.

But between Morgan and Smotrycz, Ohio State forward Jared Sullinger was still not much of a factor. The freshman sensation was limited to 12 points and seven boards in his first game at Crisler Arena — fouling out with a little more than a minute left in regulation. And at one point in the second half, Sullinger vented his frustration by starting a small scuffle with Morris.

The Maize Rage was infuriated that Sullinger wasn’t given a technical foul.

And Michigan could have used that foul — the team went to the free throw line just seven times all night, compared to 25 times for Ohio State (4-0, 17-0). The Buckeyes scored 17 points from the charity stripe.

Beilein was hoping nobody would ask about the fouls.

“You want to go there, don’t you?” Beilein asked. “I’d rather not address it at all, publicly. It’s just tough — they do a good job of drawing fouls, and Sullinger does draw fouls, and Lighty. The seniors know how to draw fouls a little bit.”

In the end, free throws were the difference, as both teams were neck-and-neck from the field. Ohio State finished 22-of-42 shooting (52.4 percent), and Michigan was 24-of-46 (52.2 percent).

Smotrycz and Novak paced Michigan’s scoring effort from beyond the arc, going 4-of-6 and 4-of-5 from 3-point range, respectively. Morris led the team in scoring with 18.

And as impressively as the Wolverines shot, they really shined on the defensive end, holding an offense that averages more than 80 points per game to just 68. Beilein employed the usual mix of 1-3-1 and 2-3 zones, varied with a lot of man coverage, and all of them seemed relatively effective.

For the most part, Beilein was more comfortable with man-to-man, as he was unwilling to give up open shots from the perimeter.

“To hold them to that many points is a good day,” Beilein said. “We had that four-minute span there in the second half that was just killer. We had two or three turnovers, missed a couple shots … that was a big difference in the game.”