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Posted on by Drew Montag

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #19 – 03/04/2024 – Two More Blowout Losses

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week, and they lost both of them.  On Thursday (02/29/2024), they lost at Rutgers 82-52, then on Sunday (03/03/2024), they lost at Ohio State 84-61.  The two losses lower Michigan’s record to 8-22 (3-16 in Big Ten).  Michigan has now lost 7 games in a row.

What Happened?

Wow, these were terrible losses.  It was one thing last week when Michigan lost to Northwestern and (#3) Purdue, since they were in the top 4 of the league, but losing to Rutgers and OSU is a whole different level of bad.  Both Rutgers and OSU are in the bottom of the league standings, although certainly ahead of Michigan.  Both games this past week were blowout losses to some of the bottom teams in the league.  It was horrible, just horrible.

Game Flow

The Rutgers game couldn’t have started out much worse.  Rutgers scored right away to make it 2-0, then Michigan made a free throw to make it 2-1 with 19:24 left.  That was the last time it was close.  Rutgers went on a 12-0 run to make it 14-1, and the lead never got back into single digits after that.  Rutgers led by 14 points (30-16) at the 8:22 mark, when they went on an 11-0 run to put the game out of reach, 41-16, with 5:28 to go.  Michigan had one last push left in them, closing the half on a 10-0 run to close the gap to 15 points (41-26) at halftime, but that was as close as they could get.  Early in the 2nd half, Rutgers pushed the lead back up to 20 points, and kept it at or above 20 points for the rest of the game, winning by 30 points.  It was an embarrassing blowout.

The OSU game was a little more competitive.  Michigan never led, but they got within one point a couple times: 10-9 at the 10:53 mark, and 25-24 with 3:35 left in the half.  OSU led by 4-6 points for most of the 1st half, and were up by 5 points (32-27) at halftime.  Once again, the 2nd half was not kind to Michigan, and OSU started the half with a 10-0 run to push their lead up to 15 points (42-27) at the 17:05 mark.  Michigan fought back, and got within 6 points (46-40) with 12:20 left, but that was as close as they would get.  The final turning point came at the 6:58 mark, with OSU up 11 points, 62-51.  They went on a 20-2 run, giving them a 29 point lead (82-53) with 2:46 to go.  The scrubs played the last 2:46, allowing Michigan to get within 23 points at the end.  It was another embarrassing blowout.

Stats

The game stats for the Rutgers game were horrible, just horrible.  Michigan shot terribly overall (18-for-57 = 31.6%), they shot 3-pointers poorly (6-for-23 = 26.1%), and they shot free throws miserably (10-for-20 = 50.0%).  They tied in the rebounding battle (39-39), but they lost the turnover battle badly (14-5).  They lost this game with terrible shooting and WAY too many turnovers.

The game stats for the OSU game were less gruesome than the Rutgers stats.  Michigan shot very poorly overall (20-for-55 = 36.4%), they shot 3-pointers poorly (5-for-18 = 27.8%), and they shot free throws decently (16-for-22 = 72.7%).  They lost the rebounding battle (31-29) and the turnover battle (18-16).  They lost this game with poor shooting and too many turnovers.

Who Started?

The starters for both games were Nimari Burnett, Dug McDaniel, Tarris Reed, Jr., Will Tschetter, and Terrance Williams II.  McDaniel was finally done with his 6-game “road game suspension”.

Who Looked Good?

McDaniel was the leading scorer in both games, with 13 and 19 points.  He shot well vs. Rutgers (5-for-8 overall, 3-for-3 from deep), but he had a rough outing vs. OSU (7-for-21 overall, 1-for-6 from deep).

Williams hit double figures vs. OSU (13 points) and got close vs. Rutgers (9 points).

Reed had one good game (12 points vs. Rutgers) and one lousy game (4 points vs. OSU).  He shot terribly vs. OSU: 1-for-8 overall.  He also had 5 turnovers in the OSU game.  Ugh.

Tschetter had a decent week, with 7 points in each game.

Cooper Smith scored 2 and 5 points, including 2-for-2 shooting (1-for-1 from deep) vs. OSU.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Burnett had a mediocre week, with 5 and 8 points.  He shot really poorly in the Rutgers game: 1-for-8 overall, 1-for-7 from deep.

Tray Jackson was worthless this week, with 2 points in each game.  Michigan needs much more scoring from him.

Jaelin Llewellyn only played in one game this week (Rutgers), and he failed to score.  He missed the OSU game, probably with the team flu bug.

Jace Howard played in both games, and failed to score.

Who Else Played?

Ian Burns played in “garbage time” of both games, but failed to score.

Harrison Hochberg played in “garbage time” of both games, and scored 0 and 1 point.  This was his first career point.  Good for him!

Youssef Khayat played in the OSU game, and scored 2 points.  He missed the Rutgers game, probably with the team flu bug.

Jackson Selvala played in “garbage time” of both games, but failed to score.

George Washington III played in both games, and scored 2 and 0 points.

Who Didn’t Play?

Everyone played in at least one game this week.

What Does It Mean?

Michigan only has one regular season game left, along with at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament.  They need to win both of these games to get up to 10 wins.  It probably won’t happen.  Also, at 3-16 in the Big Ten, they are guaranteed to finish all alone in last place in the Big Ten.  Talk about a lost season.

What’s Next?

Yay!  The last week of the regular season!  This week, Michigan only plays one game.  On Sunday (03/10/2024, 12:00 p.m. EDT, BTN) they play Nebraska in Crisler Arena.  It’s Senior Day, and Michigan will be honoring 4 players: Burnett, Llewellyn, Selvala, and Williams.

Nebraska is currently 21-9 (11-8 in Big Ten).  Michigan played at Nebraska back on 02/10/2024, and Nebraska beat them easily, 79-59.  I expect a 15-20 point loss this time.

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

Go Blue!

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