Happy New Year!

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week, and they won it.  On Saturday (01/04/2025), they beat USC 85-74 in Los Angeles.   Michigan’s record is now 11-3 (3-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

Every Big Ten team played two conference games in early December, including Michigan, who beat Wisconsin on the road and Iowa in Crisler.  The last 3 weeks of December were all non-conference games for the Big Ten, but the conference schedule started up again with the new year.  Michigan’s schedule called for them to restart the Big Ten schedule on the road, in Los Angeles, to play two of the new Big Ten teams: USC and UCLA, formerly of the Pac-12.  It was nice that the Big Ten scheduled both games a few days apart, so the team could fly out there just once and take care of both games in one trip.  Michigan started the road trip with a bang, beating a good USC team on their home court.

Game Flow

Michigan led for a good portion of the game, although there were a few stretches where the game was close, and there lots of ties and lead changes.  Michigan opened up several good leads, then watched them fritter away.  Fortunately, Michigan opened up a good lead in “crunch time”, and they were able to protect it for the win.

UM started the game on fire, hitting their first 5 shots, all 3-pointers.  They led 15-6 at the 16:01 mark, and it looked like they might run away with the game.  Unfortunately, USC ripped off a 14-4 run, and suddenly USC was ahead (20-19) with 9:35 to go.  For the next 8 minutes, the lead went back and forth, with a bunch of tie scores, and neither team got more than 2 points ahead.  With 1:42 left in the half, USC was up 38-36, then Michigan scored the last 6 points of the half to lead at halftime, 42-38.

Just like the 1^st half, Michigan opened the 2^nd half on fire.  USC scored first, to get within 2 points (42-40), then Michigan went on a 13-0 run, to open a 15-point lead (55-40) at the 16:03 mark.  That was the high-water mark for Michigan.  They let USC slowly creep back into the game, and it was all tied up (63-63) with 9:50 left.  It was more than 2 minutes before either team scored again, and USC went up 65-63 with 7:33 to go.  That was their last lead, as Michigan finally got going again, and opened up an 8-point lead (73-65) at the 5:09 mark.  USC fought back, and got within 2 points (73-71) with 3:23 to go.  Michigan responded with a 10-0 run to push the lead up to 12 points (83-71) with 0:49 left, and that was the game.

Stats

The game stats were very good.  Michigan shot well overall (29-for-55 = 52.7%), they shot 3-pointers well (10-for-24 = 41.7%), and they shot free throws well (17-for-21 = 80.9%).  They won the rebounding battle (33-32), but they lost the turnover battle (14-12).  They won this game with good shooting.  By the way, the 3-point shooting number could have been much better.  They started out 5-for-5, and shot a blazing 10-for-16 (62.5%) in the 1^st half, but they shot 0-for-8 in the 2^nd half.

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Tre Donaldson, Roddy Gayle Jr., Vladislav Goldin, and Danny Wolf.

Who Looked Good?

All five starters hit double figures, so there were lots of players who looked good.

Wolf was the hero in this game, with a career-high 21 points, 13 rebounds (another double-double), 7 assists, and 6 blocked shots.  Wow!  He shot well: 9-for-12 overall, 2-for-3 from deep.  He was great.

Burnett had 16 points, on pretty good shooting: 4-for-7 overall, 3-for-5 from deep.

Donaldson also had 16 points, on good shooting: 5-for-7 overall, 4-for-6 from deep.  He hit his first four 3-point shots, all in the 1^st half, and didn’t score much in the 2^nd half.

Gayle was the opposite of Donaldson: he was scoreless in the 1^st half, then he exploded for 12 points in the 2^nd half.

Goldin was the 5^th starter in double figures, with 11 points.  He shot pretty well: 4-for-7.

Will Tschetter was the only bench player to have much impact, with 5 points.  He hit a key 3-pointer during a wild scramble late in the 1^st half.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

L.J. Cason had 2 points on free throws in 3 minutes of action.

Rubin Jones had 2 points on an acrobatic putback dunk of a missed shot.

Justin Pippen was scoreless on 0-for-3 shooting.

Sam Walters was scoreless on 0-for-2 shooting.

Who Else Played?

No one else played.

Who Didn’t Play?

Phat Phat Brooks and Jace Howard were the scholarship players who didn’t play.

None of the Scout Team players played: Ian Burns, Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

This was an important win for Michigan.  It’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten, and there were so many intangibles working against Michigan in this game: the long flight out to the West Coast, the first time playing USC as a Big Ten member, USC wanting to guard their home court as a new member of the conference, and USC wanting to beat Michigan for former UM player Terrance Williams II, who is on USC’s team but didn’t play due to a wrist injury.

After the first 2 games in early December, there were 3 teams tied for 1^st place in the Big Ten at 2-0: Michigan, Michigan State, and UCLA.  UCLA was upset by Nebraska this weekend, but MSU won their game, so now only UM and MSU are undefeated in league play, at 3-0.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan plays two games.  On Tuesday (01/07/2025, 10:00 p.m. EST, Peacock), they play at (#15) UCLA, then on Sunday (01/12/2025, 2:00 p.m., BTN), they play Washington in Crisler Arena.

UCLA is currently 11-3 (2-1 in Big Ten), with impressive wins over (#12) Oregon, Arizona, and (#14) Gonzaga, and puzzling losses to New Mexico and Nebraska.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: a 6’10” player and a 7’3” player.  The 7’3” guy is the tallest player Michigan has played this season.  This will be a tough game for Michigan to win.  UCLA has a great record in Pauley Pavilion, and they’re in the Top 15 for a reason.  This game will be a lot like the Michigan game at Wisconsin in early December: unranked Michigan at a Top-15 team on the road in a tough venue.  Michigan won that one, and they can win this one, but they’ll have to play their best game of the season.

Washington is currently 10-5 (1-3 in Big Ten), with an impressive win over (#24) Maryland, and losses to Nevada, UCLA, USC, Seattle, and Illinois.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: two 6’10” guys and a 6’11” guy.  This is a game that Michigan should win, but it won’t be easy.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this past week, and they won it.  On Sunday (12/29/2024), they beat Western Kentucky 112-64 in Crisler Arena.   Michigan’s record is now 10-3 (2-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

The WKU game was the last non-conference game of the season, and Michigan’s chance to make it through the non-conference portion of the schedule with no “bad losses”.  They responded with an emphatic blowout.

Michigan’s 3 losses have all been to quality opponents by 2 points or less, and are not considered to be “bad losses”.  It would have been better if a couple of them had been “close wins”, but oh well.

Game Flow

Michigan never trailed in the WKU game, and steadily built their lead for the whole game.  Their first big lead was 16-4 at the 16:17 mark, but WKU cut it to 4 points (18-14) with 14:38 left.  That was the only time they got close, as Michigan built the lead up to 19 points (39-20) with 7:05 to go in the half, then 28 points (55-27) at the 2:37 mark.  It was still a 28 point lead (59-31) at halftime.

The 2^nd half was more of the same.  UM started the half with an 8-2 run, to go up 34 points (67-33) at the 18:05 mark, then pushed the lead up to 39 points (83-44) with 11:50 to go.  They pushed the lead through the 40s, and as high as 50 points (102-52) with 5:49 left.  At this point, the game turned into a 3-point shooting contest, which Michigan won.  The Scout Team came in for Michigan with 2:15 left, and they managed to score 7 more points, ending up with a nice 48 point win.

Stats

The game stats were very good.  Michigan shot well overall (33-for-64 = 51.6%), they shot 3-pointers very well (19-for-40 = 47.5%), and they shot free throws pretty well (27-for-35 = 77.1%).  They absolutely clobbered WKU on the boards (54-27), but they lost the turnover battle (17-14).  They won this game with great shooting and rebounding.

Who Started?

The starters were Nimari Burnett, Tre Donaldson, Roddy Gayle Jr., Vladislav Goldin, and Danny Wolf.

Who Looked Good?

All five starters hit double figures, along with one bench player, so there were lots of players who looked good.

Burnett was tied for high scorer for Michigan with 17 points on great shooting: 5-for-8 overall, 5-for-7 from deep.  He also had 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 0 turnovers.  A great performance.

Goldin was the other player who tied for high scorer, also with 17 points.  He shot even better than Burnett: 7-for-8 overall, 2-for-2 from deep.  Let’s stop for a moment to consider Vlad’s 3-point shooting.  Keep in mind that he never attempted a 3-pointer in his first 4 seasons (1 at Texas Tech and 3 at Florida Atlantic).  He made his first career 3-pointer (on his first career attempt) vs. Xavier, missed his secondcareer attempt vs. Wisconsin, then went 2-for-2 in the WKU game.  So now he’s shooting 3-for-4 (75%) from deep for his career.  Amazing!

Donaldson managed to score 12 points, but his shooting was off: 4-for-12 overall, 2-for-5 from deep.  He was the leading rebounder for Michigan, with 11 rebounds.

Wolf also had 12 points, on much better shooting than Donaldson: 4-for-6 overall, 2-for-3 from deep.  He had 10 rebounds, for a nice double-double.

Gayle was the 5^th starter in double figures, with 11 points.  He shot pretty well: 3-for-5 overall, 2-for-4 from deep.

Sam Walters was the bench player who hit double figures, with 13 points on decent shooting: 4-for-8 overall, 2-for-6 from deep.

L.J. Cason almost hit double figures, with 9 points.

Will Tschetter had 7 points, on terrible shooting: 1-for-4, all from deep.  The rest of his points were from 4-for-4 shooting from the free throw line.

Justin Pippen also had 7 points, on decent shooting: 2-for-4, all from deep.

Jace Howard had 4 points.

Phat Phat Brooks played for 7 minutes and had 3 points, on 3-for-4 shooting from the free throw line.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

All the mainstream players looked OK.

Who Else Played?

Ian Burns played for 2 minutes, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Howard Eisley Jr. played for 1 minute, and missed his only shot attempt.

Harrison Hochberg played for 2 minutes, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Charlie May played for 2 minutes, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Rubin Jones is apparently injured, and didn’t play.

What Does It Mean?

This was an important game for Michigan to not lose.  It assured that Michigan won’t have a “bad loss” for the first time in 4 seasons, and it gave Michigan another win.  WKU is a decent opponent, and this win will look good at the end of the season.

At this point, Michigan is looking good for making the NCAA Tournament, but there’s still a lot of basketball left to be played: 18 Big Ten games.

Mid-Term Grades

This is not quite the exact middle of the season, with 13 games played and 18 left to go, but it’s a good natural breakpoint, at the end of the non-conference portion of the schedule and before the conference portion starts up again.  Here are the mid-term grades:

Freshman Eligibility

• Durral “Phat Phat” Brooks (C) – Phat Phat has gotten his chances to show what he can do, and he hasn’t taken them.  He’s played in 10 games, and scored 9 points.  He has plenty of potential, but he hasn’t produced yet.

• L.J. Cason (B) – L.J. started the season with some solid games, but he has been uneven since then.  He’s played in 11 games, and scored 65 points.

• Howard Eisley Jr. (Inc.) – Howard is on the Scout Team, and hasn’t played much.  He’s played in 3 games for 4 minutes, and he missed both of his shot attempts for the season.

• Justin Pippen (B-) – Justin missed the first 2 games with an injury, but since then he’s played in 10 games, and scored 22 points.  He looks calm and confident out there.

Sophomore Eligibility

• Harrison Hochberg (Inc.) – Harrison is on the Scout Team, and hasn’t played much.  He’s played in 4 games for 7 minutes, and scored 4 points.

• Charlie May (Inc.) – Charlie is on the Scout Team, and hasn’t played much.  He’s played in 4 games for 6 minutes, and hasn’t attempted a shot yet.

• Sam Walters (B-) – Sam started the season with some solid games, but he has been uneven since then.  He’s played in 13 games, and scored 78 points.

Junior Eligibility

• Nimari Burnett (B) – Nimari has been steady-but-not-flashy so far this season.  He’s started all 13 games, and scored 125 points (9.6 points/game).  He’s the only starter who isn’t averaging double digits.  He’s also the starter with the fewest turnovers (11).

• Tre Donaldson (A) – Tre has had several very good games, several good games, and a couple duds.  Still, he is a leader out there, and he is running the offense very well.  He’s started all 13 games, and scored 160 points (12.3 points/game).  He leads the team in assists (49), against 28 turnovers, not a bad ratio.

• Roddy Gayle Jr. (B+) – Roddy has had a few very good games, several good games, and a few duds.  He’s started all 13 games, and scored 161 points (12.4 points/game).  He’s a ferocious rebounder for his size (47    rebounds), and he’s got 44 assists.

• Will Tschetter (B) – Will has done a nice job coming off the bench and giving the team a spark.  He often plays (small) center, and he holds his own.  He’s played in all 13 games, and scored 89 points.  He’s the leading scorer among the bench players.

• Danny Wolf (A) – Danny has been the biggest surprise on the team so far this season.  He was very good at Yale, but he’s blossomed into a weapon at Michigan.  He’s started all 13 games, and scored 154 points (11.8 points/game).  He’s the leading rebounder on the team (132).  He’s 2^nd on the team in assists, with 46.  Not bad for a 7-footer.  He often brings the ball upcourt in transition, and he plays “point center” quite often.  He runs a mean pick-and-roll game with Goldin.  On the downside, he occasionally gets a little too “creative” (crazy) with the ball, and he leads the team in turnovers (47).

Senior/Grad Eligibility

• Ian Burns (Inc.) – Ian is on the Scout Team, and hasn’t played much.  He’s played in 4 games for 7 minutes, and missed his only shot attempt, a 3-pointer.

• Vladislav Goldin (A) – Vlad started the season slow, but he’s gotten better each game for the last month.  He’s started all 13 games, and scored 181 points (13.9 points/game).  He’s the leading scorer on the team, and he has the best shooting percentage (69-for-101 = 68.3%).  He’s the 2^nd leading rebounder on the team (77), and the leading shot blocker (25).  My only complaint about him: he often passes up a dunk for a short jumper or a layup, and he doesn’t shoot as high a percentage on these short shots as he would with a dunk.  Plus, a dunk at home is worth more than 2 points, since it gets the crowd and the rest of the team fired up.

• Jace Howard (C-) – Jace is a scholarship player, but he gets playing time as if he were on the Scout Team.  He’s played in 5 games for 19 minutes, and he’s scored 4 points.

• Rubin Jones (B-) – Rubin has been the most disappointing of the transfer players so far this season.  He’s played in 11 games, and scored 40 points (3.6 points/game).

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan only plays one game, resuming Big Ten play.  On Saturday (01/04/2025, 8:00 p.m. EST, FOX), they play at USC.

USC is currently 9-4 (1-1 in Big Ten), with no impressive wins, and a questionable loss to Cal.  They have one noteworthy player: Terrance Williams II, who played for 4 seasons at Michigan, with mixed results.  He’s doing well this season, averaging 10.6 points/game and 4.6 rebounds/game, with decent shooting numbers.  He’s going to be highly motivated to beat his former team.  USC doesn’t have much height (two 6’10” players), but they have an impressive collection of 6’6” – 6’8” players.  This is going to be a tough game, especially on the road.  This is a team that Michigan can beat, but they need to play a clean game, with not too many silly turnovers and reasonable shooting percentages.  They can’t afford 19 turnovers or 4-for-32 3-point shooting.

Check back next week to find out what happened and why.

Go Blue!