Michigan vs Alabama – Looking Back – 1997

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins Highlighting Key Rivalry Games

The second installment of the series looking back at football games between Michigan and Alabama takes us back to the Outback Bowl on Jan. 1, 1997. Michigan completed the 1996 regular season on a high note, knocking off an undefeated Ohio State team for the second consecutive year, this time in Ohio Stadium. The Wolverines roared into Tampa feeling pretty good about themselves, but each game is different.

Michigan appeared to start the game with a bang, but a holding penalty negated a tremendous kickoff return. A brief offensive series went nowhere, and the ensuing punt rolled backward, giving Alabama excellent field position. Fortunately, the defense stiffened, and Alabama settled for a field goal and a 3-0 lead.

Michigan advanced deep into Alabama territory in the fourth quarter, but Brian Griese’s arm was hit as he attempted to throw, resulting in an interception that Dwayne Rudd returned for an Alabama touchdown.

Trailing by 11, Griese connected with Russell Shaw for a 9-yard touchdown pass, and fullback Chris Floyd bulled his way into the end zone for a 2-point conversion to cut the deficit to three points. That was as close as Michigan got, as Alabama recovered the onside kick and ran out the click to beat Michigan, 17-14.

In spite of the loss, Michigan’s performance contained many silver linings. This game showcased many players and strategies that would lead Michigan to success in 1997. Cornerback Charles Woodson showed off multiple abilities, playing on defense, offense, and special teams. Griese connected with Woodson on a post pattern, which the Wolverines would use to jumpstart the offense against Ohio State the next season. Floyd displayed an impressive ability to lower his shoulder and bulldoze his way through would-be tacklers.

Then, of course, there was the defense, which held Alabama to 17 points, foreshadowing an excellent performance in 1997.

Thanks to YouTube for the ESPN broadcast of the 1997 Outback Bowl, which is attached.

Michigan vs Alabama – Looking Back – 1988

Looking Back is a Special Feature by Jeff Cummins Highlighting Key Rivalry Games

The first installment of the series looking back at football games between Michigan and Alabama takes us back to the Hall of Fame Bowl on January 2, 1988. The 1987 season was a disappointment for Michigan, featuring losses to Ohio State, Notre Dame, Michigan State and Indiana. Bo Schembechler was in the twillight of his coaching career at Michigan, and he underwent cardiac bypass surgery after the regular season ended. Gary Moeller took over the reins as Michigan’s head coach for the game, providing a a preview of what was in store for the next few years.

The game began like so many Michigan games had started under Schembechler. Jamie Morris scored three touchdowns to vault Michigan to a 21-3 lead, but Alabama wasn’t done. First, quarterback Jeff Dunn connected with tight end Howard Cross for Alabama’s first touchdown. Bobby Humphrery then tacked on a couple of touchdown runs to give the Crimson Tide a 3-point lead in the fourth quarter.

With 3:42 remaining in the game, Michigan started its final drive of the game with three timeouts in hand. Demetrius Brown led the offense to the line of scrimmage, and for one final offensive series, the Wolverines showcased all their talents. Morris probed the Alabama defensive line for a short gain, then Brown connected with receiver Greg McMurtry, who weaved his way between defenders for a 31-yard gain to the Alabama 27-yard line. Brown was stopped short of the first down marker on an option play, leaving the Wolverines with a critical fourth down.

Moeller gave the Wolverine faithful a glimps of what was to come under his leadership when he instructed Brown to throw the ball on fourth down. Facing a heavy pass rush, Brown threw a desperate pass into the corner of the end zone, where John Kolesar outmaneuvered a cornerback to come down with the ball for the decisive touchdown. David Arnold then capped a marvelous performance by the Michigan defense when he intercepted a pass on the final play to seal a 28-24 victory for the Wolverines.

The 1987 season will be remembered for many fits and starts by the Wolverines, but for one glorious afternoon, Morris, Brown, Kolesar, McMurtry, Arnold, Jumbo Elliott and the rest of the Michigan team put it all together and showed the college football world their true capabilities.

Many thanks to NBC Sports, YouTube, and YouTube poster College Football Historian for the broadcast of this game. As always, we own nothing and this blog post is intended strictly for the enjoyment of readers.

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #11 – 12/23/2024 – Lose The Tough One, Beat The Cupcake

The (#24) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week, and they lost the first and won the second.  On Wednesday (12/18/2024), they lost to (#13)  Oklahoma 87-86 in Charlotte, NC, as part of the annual Jumpman Invitational tournament, then on Sunday (12/22/2024), they beat Purdue-Fort Wayne 89-58 in Crisler Arena.   Michigan’s record is now 9-3 (2-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

First of all, if you read my article last week, I said that Michigan only played one game this week (Oklahoma); I completely missed the Purdue-Fort Wayne game.  Oops.

Despite what I said last week, Michigan played two games this week, and they lost a heartbreaker to Oklahoma (the tough game), then walloped Purdue-Fort Wayne (the cupcake).  Unfortunately, the win over PFW doesn’t count nearly as much as a win over Oklahoma would have.  Also unfortunately, a close, heartbreaking loss still counts as a loss.

There isn’t much to say about the win over PFW, but there’s a lot to say about the loss to Oklahoma.  Once again, it was a high-profile, winnable game, and Michigan let it slip away in the last minute.  All three of Michigan’s losses have been like that: very close (2 points vs. Wake Forest, 2 points vs. Arkansas, and 1 point vs. Oklahoma), they’ve all been high-profile opponents, they’ve all been on a neutral court, they’ve all been winnable, and they’ve all slipped away in the final minute.   Michigan could very well be 11-0 and ranked in the Top 5, but they’ve thrown away three golden opportunities.

There are only four schools that wear Jumpman gear from Nike: Michigan, Florida, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.  Michigan has now played each of the other three schools once each in the Jumpman Invitational, and they are 0-3.

On the positive side, Michigan has now won more games (9) than they did all last season (8-24).

Game Flow

The Oklahoma game was close early, with Michigan leading 11-10 at the 15:18 mark.  Michigan went on a 10-3 run to open up a little breathing room, 21-13, with 12:04 to go, and they kept the lead in the 5-7 point range for the rest of the half, leading by 5 points (43-38) at halftime.

As they have done so often in big games this season, Michigan opened the 2nd half poorly, letting OU tie it up (43-43) at the 19:09 mark.  Fortunately, Michigan went on an 11-0 run over the next 4 minutes, and led by 11 points (54-43) with 15:13 to go.  OU kept chipping away at the lead, getting within 3 points at one point (58-55), but Michigan pushed the lead back up to 11 points (68-57) with 9:55 left.  OU kept grinding, and they finally caught and passed Michigan at the 5:51 mark, 76-74.  OU kept the lead in the 2-4 point range for a few minutes, but Michigan tied the game (82-82) with 2:12 to go.  UM went ahead (86-83) with 1:14 to go, and they even got the stops they needed, but they couldn’t buy a basket in the last minute, and OU hit a 4-point play with 11 seconds left to go up by 1 point (87-86).  Michigan had one last shot to win the game, but they missed, and that was it.

I’ve watched the replay of the game-tying 3-pointer that OU made with 11 seconds left, and I sure can’t see a foul to make it a 4-point play.  The OU player did the right thing by stumbling and falling down after he shot, but no one touched him, and the refs fell for it.

The game flow for the PFW game is irrelevant.  Michigan led the whole way, opening up a nice lead early (23-4 at the 12:11 mark), and never letting PFW get within 10 points.  They finally got the lead over 20 points (35-14 with 6:27 to go), and led by 25 at halftime (54-29).

Unlike the OU game, Michigan opened the 2nd half on fire.  They went on a 7-0 run in the first 79 seconds, and led 61-29 at the 18:41 mark.  At this point, the game was over.  Michigan pushed the lead into the 30s, and cruised to a 31-point win.

Stats

The stats for the Oklahoma game were just OK.  Michigan shot pretty well overall (30-for-64 = 46.9%), they shot 3-pointers terribly (4-for-28 = 14.3%), and they shot free throws well (22-for-26 = 84.6%).  They won the rebounding battle (37-32) and the turnover battle (10-13).  They lost this game with very poor 3-point shooting.

The stats for the FPW game were very nice.  Michigan shot well overall (37-for-59 = 62.7%), they shot 3-pointers well (10-for-21 = 47.6%), and they shot free throws well (5-for-6 = 83.3%).  The rebounding stats are almost unbelievable: Michigan outrebounded PFW 48-17.  However, the turnover stats are the opposite: Michigan had 18 turnovers, PFW had 6.  Michigan won this game with superior shooting and rebounding.  They would have won by a lot more without all the silly turnovers.

Who Started?

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

Who Looked Good?

Goldin was the star of the Oklahoma game, with 26 points (a new career high) on excellent shooting: 10-for-12 overall, and 6-for-7 on free throws.  He also had 11 rebounds, for an impressive double-double.  He was the 2nd leading scorer for Michigan in the PFW game, with 13 points, once again on great shooting: 6-for-7 overall.  He had a great week.

Donaldson was the leading scorer for Michigan in the PFW game, with 16 points.  He also had 14 points in the Oklahoma game.

Wolf had one good game (15 points and 10 rebounds vs. Oklahoma) and one decent game (4 points and 13 rebounds vs. PFW).  He was the leader in assists in both games, with 5 in each.

Gayle had a good week, with 15 and 12 points.

Burnett had a pretty good week, with 8 and 10 points.

Justin Pippen had the best game of his young career, with 10 points and 4 rebounds vs. PFW.  He didn’t attempt a shot vs. Oklahoma.

Rubin Jones chipped in some points off the bench, with 5 and 3 points.

Will Tschetter had one decent game (9 points and 4 rebounds vs. PFW) and one weak game (0 points vs. Oklahoma).

Sam Walters chipped in some points off the bench, with 3 and 7 points.  He shot terribly vs. Oklahoma (1-for-6, all 3-point attempts), but a little better vs. PFW (3-for-6 overall, 1-for-4 from deep).

L.J. Cason only played in the PFW game, and he scored 5 points.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

All the mainstream players looked OK this week.

Who Else Played?

Phat Phat Brooks played for 6 minutes in the PFW game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Ian Burns played for 1 minute in the PFW game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Howard Eisley Jr. played for a few seconds in the PFW game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Harrison Hochberg played for 1 minute in the PFW game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Jace Howard played for 8 minutes in the PFW game, and went 0-for-2.

Charlie May played for a few seconds in the PFW game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

Who Didn’t Play?

Everyone on the team played in at least one game.  The Scout Team players played in the final minute of the PFW game.

What Does It Mean?

The Oklahoma game was Michigan’s last chance to beat a big-name ranked opponent in non-conference play, and they blew it.  This loss, and the other two losses to big-name opponents (Wake Forest and Arkansas), could come back to haunt Michigan when at-large bids are being considered for the NCAA Tournament.  Any one of those games would have been a big win on their resume.  Michigan has to learn how to hang onto the decent leads they get in just about every game, and how to close out the close games as victories.

The other result of losing the Arkansas and Oklahoma games: dropping back out of the Top 25.  Michigan was ranked #14 two weeks ago and #24 last week, but they’ll surely be out of the Top 25 when the new poll comes out this afternoon.  They’ll need to win 5 or 6 games in a row without a loss to sneak back into the Top 25, which would take the whole month of January.  They had a chance to stay ranked, but they had to win at least one of those games.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan only plays one game, their last non-conference game.  On Sunday (12/29/2024, 8:00 p.m., BTN), they play Western Kentucky in Crisler Arena.

Western Kentucky is currently 9-3, with no impressive wins.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: three 6’11” players.  This is a game that Michigan should win, but only if they play under control.  If they have too many silly turnovers, they could lose to anyone.

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

Go Blue!

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #10 – 12/16/2024 – Finally Ranked? Time To Throw It Away!

The (#14) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game this past week, and they lost it.  On Tuesday (12/10/2024), they lost to Arkansas 89-87 in Madison Square Garden, as part of the annual Jimmy V Classic doubleheader.   Michigan’s record is now 8-2 (2-0 in Big Ten).

What Happened?

After more than a year, Michigan finally cracked the AP Top 25, checking in at #14.  Yay!  So, what did they do to celebrate?  They threw away a winnable game vs. Arkansas.  They built up a comfortable lead (15 points) in the 1st half, then threw most of it away by halftime, then the rest of it (and more) early in the 2nd half.  They dug themselves into a hole that took the rest of the game to climb out of, only to lose the game in the final minute.  What was the problem?  Turnovers, again.  Sigh.

Game Flow

The game was close in the early going, with neither team getting a lead of more than 3 points.  With 12:24 to go, Michigan led by 1 point (11-10), then they went on a nice 18-4 run to lead by 15 (29-14) at the 8:58 mark.  The rest of the game was downhill from that point.  Arkansas started clicking offensively, and Michigan started missing, and the 15-point lead was almost completely gone (46-45) with 0:33 left in the half.  Michigan managed to hit a 3-pointer with 10 seconds left, so they led by 4 points (49-45) at halftime.

The start of the 2nd half was a nightmare.  In the first 4:30, Michigan went 0-for-2 on 2-point shots, 0-for-2 on 3-pointers, and committed one foul and five turnovers.  During that same stretch, Arkansas went on a 12-0 run to lead 57-49.  Arkansas kept the lead in the 9-10 point range for the next 4 minutes, and the score was 70-60 with 11:48 to go.  A minute and a half later, it was 78-60, and Michigan was in big trouble.  They didn’t give up, and they managed to slowly fight their way back into the game.  They got the deficit back down to 10 points (80-70) at the 7:59 mark, and 4 points (84-80) with 3:19 to go.  It was a 1-point Arkansas lead (88-87) with 1:28 left, but Michigan couldn’t buy a basket in the last 88 seconds, and lost by 2 points.  They had numerous chances in the last minute, but they couldn’t get a decent shot.

Stats

The game stats were surprisingly good.  Michigan shot well overall (34-for-59 = 57.6%), they shot 3-pointers well (8-for-18 = 44.4%), and they shot free throws decently (11-for-18 = 61.1%).  They lost the rebounding battle (34-32) and the turnover battle (17-14).  They lost this game with turnovers.  Wait, they only lost the turnover battle by 3.  Yeah, but they only had 5 turnovers at halftime, with 12 in the 2nd half, 5 of them in the crucial 4:30 to start the half.  That’s where they lost the game.

Who Started?

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

Who Looked Good?

Goldin was the high scorer again, with 17 points on great shooting: 7-for-9.  He also had 9 rebounds and only 1 turnover.  He did his part.

Wolf had a good game, with 14 points on decent shooting: 6-for-11 overall, 0-for-2 from deep.  He also had 9 rebounds and 9 assists, but also 3 turnovers.  He did his part.

Gayle had a pretty good game, with 13 points on so-so shooting: 6-for-13 overall, 0-for-2 from deep.

Burnett had 10 points on 4-for-8 shooting, 1-for-3 from deep.

Donaldson had 9 points on 3-for-7 shooting, 1-for-3 from deep.

Will Tschetter was the only bench player to hit double figures, with 13 points on nice shooting: 4-for-5 overall, 3-for-4 from deep.

Sam Walters finally scored again, after going scoreless in his last 4 games.  He had 6 points, on 2-for-2 shooting from deep.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Rubin Jones had 2 points.

Who Else Played?

Justin Pippen hit his first career 3-pointer, on 1-for-1 shooting.

Who Didn’t Play?

Phat Phat Brooks and L.J. Cason were the mainstream players who didn’t play in this game.

The Scout team didn’t get in: Ian Burns, Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, Jace Howard, and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

This would have been a huge win for Michigan, a huge boost to their post-season tournament resume, a huge boost to their confidence, and a chance to stay in the Top 25 for another week.  Instead, they threw it all away.  They may stay in the lower reaches of the Top 25 next week, but this was their last warning.  If they lose their next game (see below), they’re out of the Top 25, probably for at least a month.

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan only plays one game, but it’s another big one.  On Wednesday (12/18/2024, 9:00 p.m., ESPN2), they play (#13) Oklahoma in Charlotte, NC.  This game is part of the annual Jumpman Invitational tournament.

Oklahoma is currently 10-0, with impressive wins over Arizona, Louisville, Georgia Tech, and Oklahoma State.  They won the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they have decent height: two 6’10” guys and one 6’11” guy.  This will be yet another tough neutral court game for Michigan.  OU is 10-0 for a reason.  Michigan has come close in two tough games on neutral courts (Wake Forest and Arkansas), but they lost both of those games by 2 points each.  They need to win one, and this is their last chance.

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

Go Blue!

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #09 – 12/09/2024 – A Perfect Start To League Play

The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this past week, and they won both of them.  On Tuesday (12/03/2024), they beat (#11) Wisconsin 67-64 in Madison, then on Saturday (12/07/2024), they beat Iowa 85-83 in Crisler Arena.  Michigan’s record is now 8-1 (2-0 in Big Ten), and they’ve won 7 games in a row.

A Field Trip Report

Before we get to the game results, a quick field trip report.  As I mentioned last week, my wife (Cindy) and I went to Madison to visit our son (Eric) for Thanksgiving, and we stayed a couple extra days so we could go to the Michigan/Wisconsin game on Tuesday night.  I don’t get to many away games, so it was fun and exciting to go to this one.

The Kohl Center is a nice facility, in a nice neighborhood, with expensive parking a few blocks away.  It’s a modern building, with lots of seating (capacity 17,071) and good sightlines, at least in section 103.  It’s also boxier than Crisler Arena, with more exposed concrete, so sounds echo and sound louder.  There was a decent crowd for a weeknight game (announced at 12,280), with a large, enthusiastic student section behind the south basket.  Our tickets were in a section that was 99% Wisconsin fans, and they were friendly and polite, but not very pleased with the officiating.

The game-day experience was pretty similar to a Michigan home game, with blaring rap music during the warmups, silly games during the timeouts, and standard announcements over the PA system.  The event staff (ushers) were not as numerous or attentive as the Event Team Members (ETMs) in Crisler, I was proud to discover.

All in all, it was a comfortable place to see a game, not at all scary or intimidating.  I was thrilled to get out of there with a “W”.

What Happened?

Starting with the 2017-2018 season, the Big Ten has scheduled two Big Ten games for each team in early December, one home and one away.  This season, Michigan’s two early Big Ten games were: at Wisconsin, and home vs. Iowa.  Michigan won both of these early Big Ten games, for a perfect start to league play.  The rest of the month is non-conference action, with the rest of the Big Ten schedule starting up in January.

These were two huge wins for Michigan.  UM (and everyone else) has had a tough time winning in the Kohl Center in Madison, where Wisconsin is close to unbeatable.  Wisconsin was undefeated (8-0) and ranked (#11) coming into the game, and it looked like a recipe for disaster.  Fortunately, Michigan didn’t let the pressure get to them, and they hung around with Wisconsin and won the game in the final minute.  It was very exciting.

The win over Wisconsin was huge, but it would have been wasted if Michigan had followed it up with a loss at home to Iowa.  Iowa came into the game with the same record as Michigan, and they had won their game vs. Northwestern on Tuesday with a buzzer-beater, so they were fired up.  It was another tense game, but Michigan handled the pressure well and won in the final seconds.

Game Flow

Wisconsin led for most of the 1st half, and it looked like they might run away with the game at the beginning.  After a close start, UW pulled ahead 17-8 at the 11:52 mark.  Michigan hung in, and crept back, finally pulling ahead (20-18) with 7:42 to go.  UW promptly went on an 11-0 run, to go ahead 29-20 with 2:40 left in the half.  Michigan managed to finish the half strong, cutting the deficit to 6 points (32-26) at halftime.

Michigan started the 2nd half with a 5-0 run to cut the deficit to just 1 point (32-31) at the 18:56 mark, but UW hung onto the lead.  Michigan got as close as 1 point (39-38) with 16:25 to go, then they finally went ahead for the first time in a while (40-39) at the 15:45 mark. The lead went back and forth for the next 10 minutes, with neither team getting more than 3 or 4 points ahead, and lots of lead changes and ties.  With 4:30 to go, Michigan led 61-59, but UW went on a 5-0 run to lead 64-61 with 2:37 left.  Things looked grim, but check out the final score: 67-64.  Yes, Michigan outscored Wisconsin 6-0 in the last 2:37 to win the game, although Wisconsin almost hit a half-court buzzer-beater to send the game to overtime.  In that stretch, UW missed one 2-point shot, two 3-point shots, one free throw, and had one turnover and two fouls.  During the same stretch, Michigan missed one free throw, had one turnover and three fouls, BUT they also shot 3-for-3 on 2-point shots.  That was the difference.

The Iowa game was a win that felt like a loss.  Why?  Because Michigan had a fabulous start, racing out to a 20-4 lead at the 12:48 mark, then let Iowa back in the game and faced a dogfight for the rest of the game.  The crowd kept waiting for the team that had cruised to a 16 point lead to show back up and do it again, but Iowa never gave up, and kept the game close the rest of the way.  That 16-point lead was down to 2 points at the 4:33 mark, 28-26.  Yes, Iowa outscored UM 22-8 in those 8 minutes.  Ugh.  Iowa tied it up (35-35) with 1:10 to go, and again (37-37) with 0:36 left.  Michigan managed to scratch out a small lead (40-37) at halftime.

Michigan managed to hang onto the lead for the first few minutes of the 2nd half, but Iowa went ahead for the first time in the game (45-44) at the 16:48 mark.  The lead went back and forth for the next few minutes, with UM finally getting a little breathing room (58-53) with 13:04 left.  They kept the lead in the 3-5 point range for a while, pushing it up to 11 points (74-63) with 7:16 to go.  Michigan kept the lead in the 7-9 point range for a few more minutes, and still led by 8 points (81-73) at the 2:29 mark.  Iowa came charging back, and tied the game (83-83) with 0:20 left.  Fortunately, Michigan had the ball for the last shot, and they made it with 3 seconds left.  Iowa got off a buzzer-beater attempt, but it missed.  Whew.  As I said, it was a win that felt like a loss.  All those leads, squandered.  Sigh.

Stats

The stats for the Wisconsin game were not very good.  Michigan shot decently overall (23-for-59 = 39.0%), they shot 3-pointers very poorly (6-for-25 = 24.0%), and they shot free throws decently (15-for-21 = 71.4%).  They just barely won the rebounding battle (43-42), and they just barely lost the turnover battle (12-10).  They won this game with slightly better overall shooting.  The rest of the stats were almost dead even.

The stats for the Iowa game were just so-so.  Michigan shot well overall (32-for-58 = 55.2%), they shot 3-pointers terribly (4-for-20 = 20.0%), and they shot free throws pretty well (17-for-22 = 77.3%).  They won the rebounding battle handily (45-30), but they lost the turnover battle badly (17-4).  They won this game with slightly better overall shooting and dominating rebounding.  They almost lost it with way too many silly turnovers.

Who Started?

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

Who Looked Good?

Goldin was the high scorer in both games, with 24 and 20 points.  He also had 11 rebounds in the Iowa game, for a nice double-double.  He had several impressive dunks in the Wisconsin game, mostly off the pick-and-roll (see below).

Wolf was the co-star of the Wisconsin game, with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, mostly to Goldin.  The two big men worked very well together in the Wisconsin game, running the pick-and-roll several times, with Wisconsin powerless to stop it.  Iowa saw the film and figured out how to disrupt the big-man pick-and-roll, but Wolf still had 13 points and 14 rebounds, for a solid double-double.

Did Donaldson look good this week?  Yes and no.  He was absolutely terrible in the Wisconsin game, with 0 points on 0-for-7 overall shooting (0-for-3 from deep).  He was very good in the Iowa game, with 18 points on 6-for-10 overall shooting (2-for-3 from deep).  He needs to avoid those scoreless games…

Gayle hit double figures (17 points) vs. Iowa, and almost got there vs. Wisconsin (9 points).

Burnett almost hit double figures in the Wisconsin game (8 points), but he only had 2 points vs. Iowa.  He isn’t scoring much, but he’s grabbing rebounds (7 and 5) and not turning the ball over (1 and 0).

Will Tschetter was the only bench player to hit double figures, with 13 points vs. Iowa.  He only had 5 points vs. Wisconsin.

Who Looked Not-So-Good?

Other than Tschetter, the bench didn’t contribute much in the way of scoring this week.

Phat Phat Brooks played for a few seconds in the Wisconsin game, but didn’t attempt a shot.

L.J. Cason played in both games, but went scoreless in both games on 0-for-4 combined shooting.  After a promising start, he has all but disappeared.

Rubin Jones had 1 and 2 points.  Ladies and gentlemen, that’s all the bench scoring this week besides Tschetter.

Justin Pippen played in the Iowa game, and missed his only shot attempt.

Sam Walters played in both games, but went scoreless in both games on 0-for-4 combined shooting.  After a promising start, he has all but disappeared.

Who Else Played?

No one else played in either game.

Who Didn’t Play?

The Scout team didn’t get in either game: Ian Burns, Howard Eisley Jr., Harrison Hochberg, Jace Howard, and Charlie May.

What Does It Mean?

As I mentioned above, these were two huge wins for Michigan.  The Big Ten portion of their schedule doesn’t resume until January, but they’ll start with a nice 2-0 record.  Not all the Big Ten teams have played both of their early-December games yet, but at this point there are only 5 teams with 0 losses in league play: Michigan (2-0), UCLA (2-0), Michigan State (2-0), Penn State (1-0), and Indiana (0-0).

What’s Next?

This week, Michigan only plays one game, but it’s a big one.  On Tuesday (12/10/2024, 9:00 p.m., ESPN), they play Arkansas in Madison Square Garden, in New York City.  This game is part of the annual Jimmy V Classic doubleheader.

Arkansas is currently 7-2, with an impressive win over Miami (FL), and a loss to Illinois.  They don’t have any noteworthy players, but they do have some height: a 7’2” guy, a 6’11” guy, and two 6’10” guys.  They also have a noteworthy coach: John Calipari, in his first season after a long career at Kentucky.  This is going to be Michigan’s toughest game so far, right up there with Wisconsin, and a notch tougher than Wake Forest and Xavier.  Michigan can win this game, but they need to find their outside touch again (24% and 20% this week, that won’t do) and get the turnover problem back under control (17 vs. Iowa, that won’t do).

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

Go Blue!