Author: Drew Montag

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #9:

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #9):

 

Tuesday (02/25/2014)

Iowa lost at Minnesota, 95-89

Indiana lost at Wisconsin, 69-58

 

Wednesday (02/26/2014)

Michigan won at Purdue, 77-76 (overtime)

Nebraska lost at Illinois, 60-49

 

Thursday (02/27/2014)

Ohio State lost at Penn State, 65-63

Iowa lost at Indiana, 93-86

 

Saturday (03/01/2014)

Illinois won at Michigan State, 53-46

Northwestern lost at Nebraska, 54-47

Minnesota lost at Michigan, 66-56

 

Sunday (03/02/2014)

Ohio State lost at Indiana, 72-64

Wisconsin won at Penn State, 71-66

Purdue lost at Iowa, 83-76

 

The home teams did very well this week, going 9-3. There were 5 surprises this week:

 

• Iowa lost at Minnesota on Tuesday. Iowa stood an outside chance of tying for the Big Ten title, until they lost to a reeling Minnesota team.
  
• Ohio State lost at Penn State on Thursday. Ohio State is ranked, and Penn State is in last place. It’s tough to win on the road in the Big Ten.
  
• Iowa lost at Indiana on Thursday. Iowa is ranked, and Indiana is in the bottom half of the standings. It was a tough day for ranked Big Ten teams on the road.
  
• Illinois won at Michigan State on Saturday. MSU is ranked, and trying to win a share of the title. Illinois is in last place, but they managed to beat MSU in East Lansing.
  
• Ohio State lost at Indiana on Sunday. It was a rough week for Ohio State. They lost 2 road games to lower-division teams.
  

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #10), the final week of the regular season:

 

Tuesday (03/04/2014)

Michigan at Illinois

 

Wednesday (03/05/2014)

Nebraska at Indiana

Purdue at Wisconsin

 

Thursday (03/06/2014)

Penn State at Northwestern

Iowa at Michigan State

 

Saturday (03/08/2014)

Northwestern at Purdue

Indiana at Michigan

Illinois at Iowa

Penn State at Minnesota

 

Sunday (03/09/2014)

Michigan State at Ohio State

Wisconsin at Nebraska

 

There are 2 big games this week:

 

• Iowa at Michigan State on Thursday – Iowa is fighting for a 1^st round bye in the Big Ten Tournament.
  
• Michigan State at Ohio State – Another battle for position in the Big Ten tournament. MSU has a tough week.
  

 

Full Schedule

Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:

 

The (#20) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game this week, but it was a big one, and they won it! On Sunday (02/23/2014), they beat (#13) Michigan State 79-70 in Crisler Arena. The win raises Michigan’s record to 19-7 (11-3 in the Big Ten). Michigan is now all alone in 1^st place in the Big Ten. Much more about that later.

This was a HUGE game, and a huge win. Coming into this week, UM and MSU were tied for 1^st place in the Big Ten, but State played a midweek (Thursday) game at Purdue and won it, so they were in 1^st place by a half game when the two teams met on Sunday. Michigan had won the game in East Lansing earlier in the season, so they were going for the season sweep, and they got it. In fact, UM has now beaten State in 6 of the last 8 games, including 4 years in a row in Crisler, which means that this year’s senior class at MSU will use up their eligibility (“graduate”, ha!) without winning in Ann Arbor. Oh yeah, Michigan now leads the overall series with MSU 97-76.

The game itself was tense and exciting. As usual, Michigan started slowly, and fell behind by 9 points (17-8) with 13:06 to go in the 1^st half. State pushed the lead up to 11 points (22-11) with 10:50 to go, before UM woke up and started climbing back into the game. UM went on a 10-0 run to get within 1 point (22-21) with 6:08 left in the half. MSU pushed the lead back up to 7 points (31-24) with 2:18 left, but Michigan hung in there, and managed to get within 2 points (36-34) at halftime, thanks to a last-second 3-pointer by Caris LeVert. In the 2^nd half, UM finally managed to get on top again, 39-38, with 18:54 to go, but the lead didn’t last long. MSU led by 5 (48-43) with 14:40 to go, when went on a 21-4 run over the next 7 minutes. That made it 64-52 Michigan, with 7:21 left, and State never got any closer than 8 points the rest of the way. Michigan played smart and tough down the stretch, and made their free throws.

The game stats are very interesting. Usually, the winning team shoots better overall than the losing team, but not in this game. Michigan shot pretty well overall (27-for-54 = 50.0%), but MSU shot a better percentage (26-for-48 = 54.2%). That one extra basket for Michigan certainly helped, but it doesn’t explain a 9-point win. Maybe 3-point shooting? Nope. UM shot a slightly better percentage (8-for-19 = 42.1% vs. 9-for-23 = 39.1%), but MSU made 1 more 3-pointer. What’s left? Free throws: Michigan made more free throws (17-for-25 = 68.0%) than MSU attempted (9-for-15 = 60.0%). That’s where the game was won. As expected, MSU won the rebounding battle easily (31-24), but they threw away those 7 extra possessions, and 3 more besides. UM won the turnover battle decisively: 3-13.

Individually, 3 Michigan players hit double figures in the game:

• Caris LeVert – 23 points. Caris kept Michigan in the game in the 1^st half, then helped put MSU away in the 2^nd half.
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 15 points. GR3 wasn’t very efficient shooting (6-for-12, including 0-for-3 from 3-point range), but he did lead the team in rebounding (5),
  
• Nik Stauskas – 25 points. MSU tried the ball-denial defense on Nik, but he still managed to get free and hit some big shots, especially in the 2^nd half. He also led the team in assists (5).

5 other players played, and they all scored, just not in double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 3 points. Another timely 3-pointer by Spike.
  
• Jon Horford – 2 points. Jon fouled out trying to slow down MSU’s main weapon, Adreian Payne. He had limited success.
  
• Zak Irvin – 2 points. A quiet game for Zak.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 4 points. Jordan almost fouled out trying to defend against Payne. He also had limited success.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 5 points. Derrick also had a quiet game.

This Week

Michigan plays two games this week. On Wednesday (02/26/2014, 7:00 p.m. EST, BTN), Michigan plays at Purdue, then on Saturday (03/01/2014, 6:00 p.m., BTN) they play Minnesota in Crisler Arena. These are both teams that Michigan has already beaten this season, and they are in the lower half of the standings, but Michigan can’t afford to take either of them lightly. Now that UM has a one-game lead in the loss column, they need to finish strong and win their last 4 regular season games, for an undisputed Big Ten title. They can’t afford to take any team on their schedule lightly. They must focus on each game, and play as hard as they can.

Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #8:

 

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #8):

 

Tuesday (02/18/2014)

Iowa at Indiana, postponed

 

Wednesday (02/19/2014)

Northwestern lost at Ohio State, 76-60

Illinois won at Minnesota, 62-49

 

Thursday (02/20/2014)

Michigan State won at Purdue, 94-79

Penn State lost at Nebraska, 80-67

 

Saturday (02/22/2014)

Minnesota lost at Ohio State, 64-46

Indiana won at Northwestern, 61-56

Wisconsin won at Iowa, 79-74

 

Sunday (02/23/2014)

Purdue lost at Nebraska, 75-57

Michigan State lost at Michigan, 79-70

 

The home teams did OK this week, going 5-4. There were no surprises this week.

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #9):

 

Tuesday (02/25/2014)

Iowa at Minnesota

Indiana at Wisconsin

 

Wednesday (02/26/2014)

Michigan at Purdue

Nebraska at Illinois

 

Thursday (02/27/2014)

Ohio State at Penn State

Iowa at Indiana (rescheduled)

 

Saturday (03/01/2014)

Illinois at Michigan State

Northwestern at Nebraska

Minnesota at Michigan

Purdue at Iowa

 

Sunday (03/02/2014)

Ohio State at Indiana

Wisconsin at Penn State

 

There are no big games this week. None of the contenders play each other.

 

Full Schedule

Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:

 

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #7:

 

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #7):

 

Tuesday (02/11/2014)

Michigan won at Ohio State, 70-60

 

Wednesday (02/12/2014)

Penn State won at Indiana, 66-65

Illinois lost at Nebraska, 67-58

 

Thursday (02/13/2014)

Northwestern lost at Michigan State, 85-70

Minnesota lost at Wisconsin, 78-70

 

Saturday (02/15/2014)

Iowa won at Penn State, 82-70

Indiana lost at Purdue, 82-64

Ohio State won at Illinois, 48-39

 

Sunday (02/16/2014)

Wisconsin won at Michigan, 75-62

Nebraska won at Michigan State, 60-51

Minnesota won at Northwestern, 54-48

 

The home teams did terribly this week, going 4-7. There were 2 surprises this week:

 

• Penn State won at Indiana on Wednesday. Indiana has been unpredictable this season, but they’re usually tough to beat at home.
  
• Nebraska won at Michigan State on Sunday. This may be the biggest surprise of the season. MSU knew that Michigan had already lost, so they were playing for sole possession of 1^st place, at home.
  

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #8):

 

Tuesday (02/18/2014)

Iowa at Indiana

 

Wednesday (02/19/2014)

Northwestern at Ohio State

Illinois at Minnesota

 

Thursday (02/20/2014)

Michigan State at Purdue

Penn State at Nebraska

 

Saturday (02/22/2014)

Minnesota at Ohio State

Indiana at Northwestern

Wisconsin at Iowa

 

Sunday (02/23/2014)

Purdue at Nebraska

Michigan State at Michigan

 

There are 2 big games this week:

 

• Wisconsin at Iowa on Saturday – Both teams are trying to stay in the hunt for the Big Ten title.
  
• Michigan State at Michigan on Sunday – A battle for 1^st place.
  

 

Full Schedule

Here’s the entire Big Ten schedule, with the teams in alphabetical order. I’ll include this table every week, with the wins and losses filled in:

 

The (#15) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this week, and they won one and lost one. On Tuesday (02/11/2014), they beat (#22) Ohio State 70-60 in Columbus, then on Sunday (02/16/2014), they lost to (#21) Wisconsin 75-62 in Crisler Arena. The win and the loss leave Michigan with a record of 18-7 (10-3 in the Big Ten). Michigan is still tied for 1^st place in the Big Ten. More about that later.

In both games, Michigan started out slowly, but they only recovered in one of them. In the OSU game, they were down by 8 points (13-5) in the first 6 minutes, and 10 points (28-18) with 3:22 left in the 1^st half. They managed to get the deficit down to 4 points (30-26) by halftime, and finally took the lead (44-43) with 10:56 left in the game. Once they got the lead, they never trailed again, although it was still a one-point game (51-50) with 6:22 left. At that point, UM went on a 13-2 run to make it 64-52, and that was the ballgame.

The Wisconsin game was so sad. Michigan had already lost the game by the first media timeout (down 14-4 with 15:09 left). Sure, there were still 35 minutes left, but the early UW blitz left Michigan looking dazed and beaten, and took the crowd out of the game. Michigan sleep-walked through one of the most listless halves of basketball they’ve played at home in a couple years, and trailed by 15 points (34-19) at the break. That’s less than a point a minute. Disgusting. In the 2^nd half, UM got back on track offensively, but the defense was just as bad as the 1^st half, and they never got any closer than 3 points (52-39, with 6:16 left). They were still in it, down 5 points (56-51) with 4:07 left, when Wisconsin went on an 11-1 run to put the game out of reach.

The Wisconsin game was the worst home loss by Michigan since two seasons ago (2011-2012), when they lost to Purdue, 75-61. That was their only home loss that season. Last season (2012-2013), UM only lost one home game, 72-71 to Indiana. This season, they’ve already lost 2 home games: to #1 Arizona (72-70) and the abovementioned mess against Wisconsin.

The stats are surprisingly similar between the 2 games, but I’m not going to go into them in any detail. Michigan didn’t shoot very well in either game, but they did shoot 3-pointers pretty well against OSU. Not so much vs. Wisconsin. Michigan is a team that looks good when they hit their 3-pointers, and looks terrible when they miss them.

Individually, Nik Stauskas was the only UM player to hit double figures in both games (15 vs. OSU, 11 vs. UW), although he didn’t have a very good game vs. Wisconsin. Caris LeVert was the only player who had a good game against Wisconsin, with a new career-high 25 points. He had 9 points vs. OSU. Zak Irvin hit some big baskets against OSU (10 points), but he was ineffective in the UW game (6 points, 3 of them in “garbage time”). The other freshman, Derrick Walton Jr., played well down the stretch vs. OSU (13 points), but was terrible against Wisconsin (0 points). Then there’s the Endless Enigma, Glenn Robinson III: as usual, he played in spurts. When he got involved in the game, he was a force, but for long stretches he was content to stand around in the corner and watch. He had 9 points vs. OSU, and 10 vs. Wisconsin. The two-headed center (Jon Horford/Jordan Morgan) played hard in both games, but only produced in the OSU game (8 for Horford, 6 for Morgan). In the Wisconsin game, Horford had 3 points, and Morgan had 5. Finally, Spike Albrecht tried to spark the team, but didn’t accomplish much: 0 points vs. OSU, and 2 free throws in the UW game.

All in all, it was a mediocre week. After the big win at OSU (their first since 2003), Michigan had a chance to set themselves up to play Michigan State for sole possession of 1^st place in the Big Ten next Sunday. All they had to do was beat Wisconsin, who they had already beaten in Madison earlier this season. Fortunately, right after Michigan lost to Wisconsin, Michigan State somehow managed to lose to Nebraska in East Lansing, so Michigan and Michigan State are still tied for 1^st place.

This Week

Michigan only plays one game this week. On Sunday (02/23/2014, noon, CBS) they play Michigan State in Crisler Arena. MSU has one other game this week (Thursday at Purdue), so they will probably come into the game on Sunday with a half-game lead, but Michigan can pull into sole possession of 1^st place by beating them.

Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!