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Nothing But ‘Net – Week #13 – 01/21/2013 – A Big Road Win

The (#5) University of Michigan men’s basketball team won a big game on the road last week, after looking terrible in the beginning of their previous game, a 56-53 loss to Ohio State. On Thursday (01/17/2013), they beat (#9) Minnesota 83-75. The win raises UM’s record to 17-1, 4-1 in Big Ten play. They are tied for 2nd place in the Big Ten.

In their loss to OSU, Michigan started the game playing terribly, and they dug themselves into a hole that they spent the next 30 minutes digging out of. Not so in the Minnesota game. They came out playing hard from the opening tip, and never let Minnesota get very far ahead. Minnesota’s biggest lead was 6-2, in the opening minutes. They were still ahead, 13-10, with about 14 minutes left in the 1st half, when Michigan got it going. The Wolverines went on a nice 16-3 run, to open up a 10-point lead (26-16) with 8 minutes left in the 1st half, and they never trailed again. Minnesota managed to cut the deficit to 2 points a couple times, including 30-28 with about 4 minutes left in the half, but Michigan managed to counter every Minnesota run. Michigan led by 6 (36-30) at halftime, and pushed the lead right back to 10 points (42-32) in the first 1:20 after halftime. From there, they got the lead up as high as 19 points (58-39) with 12:30 left in the game, then they held off Minnesota down the stretch to win by 8.

It was an impressive win, and it showed that Michigan does have the ability to win a big game on the road against a Top-10 opponent in a (very) hostile environment. Minnesota really wanted this one, and they played hard, but Michigan had the weapons to beat them.

The stats are pretty impressive as well, especially for a Big Ten road game. Michigan shot very well overall (28-for-51 = 54.9%), and they shot well from 3-point range (10-for-20 = 50.0%). They shot free throws well enough to win (17-for-25 = 68.0%), but they lost the rebounding battle (25-33). They did win the turnover battle (12-15), but 12 turnovers is a lot for this season’s Michigan team.

Individually, 3 players hit double figures:

  • Trey Burke – 18 points (and 9 assists, just missing a double-double).
  • Tim Hardaway Jr. – 21 points (on only 8 shots!).
  • Nik Stauskas – 11 points. Back in the “double figures” club again, after missing it last game.

The other 2 starters almost hit double figures:

Coach Beilein played more bench players than usual for a close game. They had mixed success scoring:

Michigan got 15 points from the bench, which is a little better.

This Week

After only playing one game last week, Michigan has two games this week. On Thursday (01/24/2013, 7:00 p.m., ESPN), they play Purdue in Crisler Arena, then on Sunday (01/27/2013, 6:00 p.m. EST, BTN), they play at (#23) Illinois. These are both games that Michigan should win, but the Big Ten is very unpredictable this season, and a road game at Illinois is always tough.

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

Go Blue!

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Big Ten Report – Week #03 (01/21/2013)

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #3:

Team (AP Rank)

Big Ten

Overall

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent
Michigan State (#18)

5

1

0.833

16

3

0.842
Michigan (#5)

4

1

0.800

17

1

0.944
Indiana (#2)

4

1

0.800

16

2

0.889
Wisconsin

4

1

0.800

13

5

0.722
Minnesota (#9)

3

2

0.600

15

3

0.833
Ohio State (#11)

3

2

0.600

13

4

0.765
Purdue

3

2

0.600

10

8

0.556
Iowa

2

3

0.400

13

5

0.722
Northwestern

2

4

0.333

11

8

0.579
Illinois (#23)

1

4

0.200

14

5

0.737
Nebraska

1

5

0.167

10

9

0.526
Penn State

0

6

0.000

8

10

0.444

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #3):

Tuesday (01/15/2013)

Wisconsin won at Indiana, 64-59

Wednesday (01/16/2013)

Michigan State won at Penn State, 81-72

Purdue won at Nebraska, 65-56

Thursday (01/17/2013)

Michigan won at Minnesota, 83-75

Northwestern won at Illinois, 68-54

Saturday (01/19/2013)

Nebraska won at Penn State, 68-64

Ohio State lost at Michigan State, 59-56

Wisconsin lost at Iowa, 70-66

Sunday (01/20/2013)

Indiana won at Northwestern, 67-59

The home teams did terrible this week, going 2-7. There were a few surprises this week:

  • Wisconsin won at Indiana on Tuesday. Indiana is ranked #2, Wisconsin isn’t ranked, and Indiana is virtually unbeatable at home.
  • Northwestern won at Illinois on Thursday. Illinois is still ranked, Northwestern isn’t, and Illinois used to be tough at home.
  • Nebraska won at Penn State on Saturday. Sure, they’re both “lower division” teams, but for Nebraska to win a road game is amazing. This is only their 2nd Big Ten road win ever.
  • Wisconsin lost at Iowa on Saturday. Wisconsin was in 1st place all alone, and Iowa is a “lower division” team.

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #4):

Tuesday (01/22/2013)

Iowa at Ohio State

Michigan State at Wisconsin

Illinois at Nebraska

Wednesday (01/23/2013)

Penn State at Indiana

Minnesota at Northwestern

Thursday (01/24/2013)

Purdue at Michigan

Saturday (01/26/2013)

Ohio State at Penn State

Minnesota at Wisconsin

Northwestern at Nebraska

Sunday (01/27/2013)

Michigan State at Indiana

Iowa at Purdue

Michigan at Illinois

There are four big games this week:

  • Michigan State at Wisconsin on Tuesday. Somebody’s getting their 2nd loss.
  • Minnesota at Wisconsin on Saturday. Another elimination game.
  • Michigan State at Indiana on Sunday. Another battle between the front-runners.
  • Michigan at Illinois on Sunday. Last call for Illinois.

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:

Team

Record

 Wins Losses Remaining Games
Illinois

Total:

1-4

 Ohio State (H) Purdue (A)
Minnesota (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Northwestern (H)

 Nebraska (A)
Michigan (H)

Michigan State (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Indiana (H)

Minnesota (A)

Purdue (H)

Northwestern (A)

Penn State (H)

Michigan (A)

Nebraska (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Home:

1-2

Away:

0-2
Indiana

Total:

4-1

 Iowa (A)
Penn State (A)

Minnesota (H)

Northwestern (A)

 Wisconsin (H)
 Penn State (H)
Michigan State (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

Illinois (A)

Ohio State (A)

Nebraska (H)

Purdue (H)

Michigan State (A)

Minnesota (A)

Iowa (H)

Ohio State (H)

Michigan (A)

Home:

1-1

Away:

3-0
Iowa

Total:

2-3

 Northwestern (A)
Wisconsin (H)		 Indiana (H)
Michigan (A)

Michigan State (H)

 Ohio State (A)
Purdue (A)

Penn State (H)

Minnesota (A)

Wisconsin (A)

Northwestern (H)

Penn State (A)

Minnesota (H)

Nebraska (A)

Purdue (H)

Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Nebraska (H)

Home:

1-2

Away:

1-1
Michigan

Total:

4-1

 Northwestern (A)
Iowa (H)

Nebraska (H)

Minnesota (A)

 Ohio State (A) Purdue (H)
Illinois (A)

Northwestern (H)

Indiana (A)

Ohio State (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Michigan State (A)

Penn State (H)

Illinois (H)

Penn State (A)

Michigan State (H)

Purdue (A)

Indiana (H)

Home:

2-0

Away:

2-1
Michigan State

Total:

5-1

 Purdue (H)
Iowa (A)

Nebraska (H)

Penn State (A)

Ohio State (H)

 Minnesota (A) Wisconsin (A)
Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Minnesota (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

Nebraska (A)

Indiana (H)

Ohio State (A)

Michigan (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Northwestern (H)

Home:

3-0

Away:

2-1
Minnesota

Total:

3-2

 Michigan State (H)
Northwestern (H)

Illinois (A)

 Indiana (A)
Michigan (H)		 Northwestern (A)
Wisconsin (A)

Nebraska (H)

Iowa (H)

Michigan State (A)

Illinois (H)

Wisconsin (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Indiana (H)

Penn State (H)

Nebraska (A)

Purdue (A)

Home:

2-1

Away:

1-1
Nebraska

Total:

1-5

 Penn State (A) Ohio State (A)
Wisconsin (H)

Michigan (A)

Michigan State (A)

Purdue (H)

 Illinois (H)
Northwestern (H)

Minnesota (A)

Ohio State (H)

Penn State (H)

Indiana (A)

Michigan State (H)

Iowa (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Illinois (A)

Minnesota (H)

Iowa (A)

Home:

0-2

Away:

1-3
Northwestern

Total:

2-4

 Penn State (A)
Illinois (A)		 Michigan (H)
Minnesota (A)

Iowa (H)

Indiana (H)

 Minnesota (H)
Nebraska (A)

Michigan (A)

Purdue (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Illinois (H)

Wisconsin (H)

Purdue (A)

Ohio State (H)

Penn State (H)

Michigan State (A)

Home:

0-3

Away:

2-1
Ohio State

Total:

3-2

 Nebraska (H)
Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

 Illinois (A)
Michigan State (A)		 Iowa (H)
Penn State (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Nebraska (A)

Michigan (A)

Indiana (H)

Northwestern (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Minnesota (H)

Michigan State (H)

Northwestern (A)

Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-2
Penn State

Total:

0-6

 Wisconsin (A)
Indiana (H)

Northwestern (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan State (H)

Nebraska (H)

 Indiana (A)
Ohio State (H)

Iowa (A)

Purdue (H)

Nebraska (A)

Iowa (H)

Michigan (A)

Illinois (A)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (A)

Northwestern (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Home:

0-4

Away:

0-2
Purdue

Total:

3-2

 Illinois (H)
Penn State (H)

Nebraska (A)

 Michigan State (A)
Ohio State (H)		 Michigan (A)
Iowa (H)

Indiana (H)

Northwestern (A)

Penn State (A)

Michigan State (H)

Illinois (A)

Indiana (A)

Northwestern (H)

Iowa (A)

Wisconsin (A)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (H)

Home:

2-1

Away:

1-1
Wisconsin

Total:

4-1

 Penn State (H)
Nebraska (A)

Illinois (H)

Indiana (A)

 Iowa (A) Michigan State (H)
Minnesota (H)

Ohio State (A)

Illinois (A)

Iowa (H)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (A)

Ohio State (H)

Northwestern (A)

Nebraska (H)

Purdue (H)

Michigan State (A)

Penn State (A)

Home:

2-0

Away:

2-1


Posted on

Nothing But ‘Net – Week #12 – 01/14/2013 – Back To Earth

Realistically, I knew they couldn’t do it, but deep inside I kept thinking “they could go undefeated this season”. Wrong. The (#2) University of Michigan men’s basketball team finally lost, after winning their first 16 games. They played two games last week, and they won the first and lost the second. On Wednesday (01/09/2013), they beat Nebraska 62-47 in Crisler Arena, then on Sunday (01/13/2013), they lost to (#15) Ohio State 56-53 in Columbus. The win and the loss leave UM with a record of 16-1, 3-1 in Big Ten play. It’s a real shame that UM lost, since (#1) Duke finally lost on Saturday, and Michigan would have been ranked #1 if they could have snuck by OSU. UM was the last unbeaten team to lose.

Even though Michigan beat Nebraska by 15 points on Wednesday, they looked pretty weak doing it. Nebraska is easily the worst team in the Big Ten, and Michigan should have throttled them by 35 points. The less said about that game, the better. As the Nebraska game was going on, I kept thinking “if Michigan plays like this on Sunday vs. Ohio State, they’ll get beat”. Well, they did play poorly again at OSU, and they lost. They didn’t play bad for most of the OSU game, just the first 10 minutes and the last minute. That was enough to doom them. They actually led the game 3-0, then they couldn’t buy a basket. By the time they finally woke up and started playing their normal game, they were down 26-3. That’s right: a 23-3 run. They managed to cut the deficit down to 12 at halftime (34-22), and they even tied the game up (46-46) with 6:00 left in the game, but they couldn’t hit any of their clutch baskets down the stretch, and that was the game. With 16 seconds left, they were only down 2 points (52-50) with the ball, and they missed a 3-pointer that would have given them the lead.

I don’t want to look at the stats, but I’m sure they’ll tell us what went wrong in both games. The Nebraska stats are sad: UM shot poorly overall (21-for-54 = 38.9%), and they shot terribly from 3-point range (3-for-17 = 17.6%). They shot a lousy percentage (65.4%) from the free-throw line, but they went there often, and that was the difference in the game. They were 17-for-26 at the line, and Nebraska was 3-for-7. Those 14 extra points are almost exactly the margin of victory. Michigan did win the rebounding battle decisively (47-30), and they barely won the turnover battle (5-6).

The Ohio State stats aren’t that bad, just bad enough to lose: Michigan shot poorly overall again (18-for-47 = 38.3%), and they shot poorly from 3-point range (6-for-20 = 30.0%). They shot pretty well from the free-throw line (11-for-15 = 73.3%), they tied in the rebounding battle (30-30), and they barely lost the turnover battle (13-12). It was just a matter of shooting poorly from the field.

Individually, only 2 players hit double figures in both games:

  • Trey Burke – 18 points vs. Nebraska, and 15 vs. OSU.
  • Tim Hardaway Jr. – 15 and 12 points. Tim also had 11 rebounds vs. Nebraska, for a double-double.

There were 2 players who hit double figures in one game:

  • Glenn Robinson III – 14 and 8 points.
  • Nik Stauskas – 13 and 0 points. Yes, after hitting double figures in every game since the opener, Nik finally fell short. Way short. He was 0-for-3 in the OSU game.

The 5th starter is Jordan Morgan. He had 0 and 5 points, but he did have 11 rebounds in the Nebraska game.

Since both games were close, Coach Beilein didn’t play many bench players. They had mixed success scoring:

Michigan really needs more scoring from the bench.

This Week

It will be interesting to see how Michigan responds to their first loss of the season. They only have one game this week, but it’s another tough one: on Thursday (01/17/2013, 7:00 p.m. EST, ESPN), they play at (#8) Minnesota. Minnesota is having a great season, and they’re really tough to beat in Minneapolis. I expect the game to be close and tense.

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

Go Blue!

Posted on

Big Ten Report – Week #02 (01/14/2013)

Standings

Here are the current Big Ten standings, after Week #2:

 

 

Team (AP Rank)

Big Ten

Overall

Wins

Losses

Percent

Wins

Losses

Percent
Indiana (#5)

3

0

1.000

15

1

0.938
Wisconsin

3

0

1.000

12

4

0.750
Michigan (#2)

3

1

0.750

16

1

0.941
Minnesota (#8)

3

1

0.750

15

2

0.882
Michigan State (#22)

3

1

0.750

14

3

0.824
Ohio State (#15)

3

1

0.750

13

3

0.813
Purdue

2

2

0.500

8

8

0.500
Illinois (#12)

1

3

0.250

14

4

0.778
Iowa

1

3

0.250

12

5

0.706
Northwestern

1

3

0.250

10

7

0.588
Nebraska

0

4

0.000

9

8

0.529
Penn State

0

4

0.000

8

8

0.500

 

Results

Here are the results from last week’s games (Week #2):

 

Monday (01/07/2013)

Indiana won at Penn State, 74-51

 

Tuesday (01/08/2013)

Ohio State won at Purdue, 74-64

 

Wednesday (01/09/2013)

Nebraska lost at Michigan, 62-47

Minnesota won at Illinois, 84-67

 

Thursday (01/10/2013)

Michigan State won at Iowa, 62-59

Northwestern won at Penn State, 70-54

 

Saturday (01/12/2013)

Minnesota lost at Indiana, 88-81

Illinois lost at Wisconsin, 74-51

 

Sunday (01/13/2013)

Iowa won at Northwestern, 70-50

Michigan lost at Ohio State, 56-53

Nebraska lost at Michigan State, 66-56

Penn State lost at Purdue, 60-42

 

The home teams didn’t do very well this week, going 6-6. There were a few surprises this week:

 

  • Minnesota won at Illinois on Wednesday. Both are ranked, but it’s still surprising that Illinois could get blown out at home.
  • Illinois lost at Wisconsin on Saturday. Illinois is (was) ranked, Wisconsin isn’t. It was a tough week for Illinois.

 

The Upcoming Week

Here are the games scheduled for the upcoming week (Week #3):

 

Tuesday (01/15/2013)

Wisconsin at Indiana

 

Wednesday (01/16/2013)

Michigan State at Penn State

Purdue at Nebraska

 

Thursday (01/17/2013)

Michigan at Minnesota

Northwestern at Illinois

 

Saturday (01/19/2013)

Nebraska at Penn State

Ohio State at Michigan State

Wisconsin at Iowa

 

Sunday (01/20/2013)

Indiana at Northwestern

 

There are three big games this week:

 

  • Wisconsin at Indiana on Tuesday. It’s time to find out if Wisconsin is for real.
  • Michigan at Minnesota on Thursday. One of these teams is dropping out of the race for the Big Ten title, at least for a while.
  • Ohio State at Michigan State on Saturday. Another elimination game.

 

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:

 

Team

Record

 Wins Losses Remaining Games
Illinois

Total:

1-3

 Ohio State (H) Purdue (A)

Minnesota (H)

Wisconsin (A)

 Northwestern (H)

Nebraska (A)

Michigan (H)

Michigan State (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Indiana (H)

Minnesota (A)

Purdue (H)

Northwestern (A)

Penn State (H)

Michigan (A)

Nebraska (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Home:

1-1

Away:

0-2
Indiana

Total:

3-0

 Iowa (A)

Penn State (A)

Minnesota (H)

 Wisconsin (H)

Northwestern (A)

Penn State (H)

Michigan State (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

Illinois (A)

Ohio State (A)

Nebraska (H)

Purdue (H)

Michigan State (A)

Minnesota (A)

Iowa (H)

Ohio State (H)

Michigan (A)

Home:

1-0

Away:

2-0
Iowa

Total:

1-3

 Northwestern (A) Indiana (H)

Michigan (A)

Michigan State (H)

 Wisconsin (H)

Ohio State (A)

Purdue (A)

Penn State (H)

Minnesota (A)

Wisconsin (A)

Northwestern (H)

Penn State (A)

Minnesota (H)

Nebraska (A)

Purdue (H)

Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Nebraska (H)

Home:

0-2

Away:

1-1
Michigan

Total:

3-1

 Northwestern (A)

Iowa (H)

Nebraska (H)

 Ohio State (A) Minnesota (A)

Purdue (H)

Illinois (A)

Northwestern (H)

Indiana (A)

Ohio State (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Michigan State (A)

Penn State (H)

Illinois (H)

Penn State (A)

Michigan State (H)

Purdue (A)

Indiana (H)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-1
Michigan State

Total:

3-1

 Purdue (H)

Iowa (A)

Nebraska (H)

 Minnesota (A) Penn State (A)

Ohio State (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Minnesota (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

Nebraska (A)

Indiana (H)

Ohio State (A)

Michigan (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Northwestern (H)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-1
Minnesota

Total:

3-1

 Michigan State (H)

Northwestern (H)

Illinois (A)

 Indiana (A) Michigan (H)

Northwestern (A)

Wisconsin (A)

Nebraska (H)

Iowa (H)

Michigan State (A)

Illinois (H)

Wisconsin (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Indiana (H)

Penn State (H)

Nebraska (A)

Purdue (A)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-1
Nebraska

Total:

0-4

 Ohio State (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Michigan (A)

Michigan State (A)

 Purdue (H)

Penn State (A)

Illinois (H)

Northwestern (H)

Minnesota (A)

Ohio State (H)

Penn State (H)

Indiana (A)

Michigan State (H)

Iowa (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Illinois (A)

Minnesota (H)

Iowa (A)

Home:

0-1

Away:

0-3
Northwestern

Total:

1-3

 Penn State (A) Michigan (H)

Minnesota (A)

Iowa (H)

 Illinois (A)

Indiana (H)

Minnesota (H)

Nebraska (A)

Michigan (A)

Purdue (H)

Iowa (A)

Ohio State (A)

Illinois (H)

Wisconsin (H)

Purdue (A)

Ohio State (H)

Penn State (H)

Michigan State (A)

Home:

0-2

Away:

1-1
Ohio State

Total:

3-1

 Nebraska (H)

Purdue (A)

Michigan (H)

 Illinois (A) Michigan State (A)

Iowa (H)

Penn State (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Nebraska (A)

Michigan (A)

Indiana (H)

Northwestern (H)

Wisconsin (A)

Minnesota (H)

Michigan State (H)

Northwestern (A)

Indiana (A)

Illinois (H)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-1
Penn State

Total:

0-4

 Wisconsin (A)

Indiana (H)

Northwestern (H)

Purdue (A)

 Michigan State (H)

Nebraska (H)

Indiana (A)

Ohio State (H)

Iowa (A)

Purdue (H)

Nebraska (A)

Iowa (H)

Michigan (A)

Illinois (A)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (A)

Northwestern (A)

Wisconsin (H)

Home:

0-2

Away:

0-2
Purdue

Total:

2-2

 Illinois (H)

Penn State (H)

 Michigan State (A)

Ohio State (H)

 Nebraska (A)

Michigan (A)

Iowa (H)

Indiana (H)

Northwestern (A)

Penn State (A)

Michigan State (H)

Illinois (A)

Indiana (A)

Northwestern (H)

Iowa (A)

Wisconsin (A)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (H)

Home:

2-1

Away:

0-1
Wisconsin

Total:

3-0

 Penn State (H)

Nebraska (A)

Illinois (H)

 Indiana (A)

Iowa (A)

Michigan State (H)

Minnesota (H)

Ohio State (A)

Illinois (A)

Iowa (H)

Michigan (H)

Minnesota (A)

Ohio State (H)

Northwestern (A)

Nebraska (H)

Purdue (H)

Michigan State (A)

Penn State (A)

Home:

2-0

Away:

1-0