The (#8) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played three games this week in the Big Ten Tournament, in Indianapolis , and they won the first two and lost the last one. On Friday (03/14/2014), they beat Illinois 64-63 in the quarterfinals, on Saturday (03/15/2014), they beat (#24) Ohio State 72-69 in the semifinals, then on Sunday (03/16/2014), they lost to (#22) Michigan State 69-55 in the championship game. Michigan’s record is now 25-8.

After winning the Big Ten regular season championship outright by 3 games, Michigan was seeded #1 in the Big Ten Tournament, and they made it to the championship game, but they had a rough game in the final. As I’ve said several times this season, when Michigan isn’t shooting well, especially from 3-point range, they look terrible. A lot of their success is based on making 3-pointers, and when they stop dropping, the rest of the system breaks down. Michigan doesn’t have a particularly good inside game or defense, but their high-powered offense usually covers over those deficiencies. Not in the championship game.

The Illinois game was close and tense almost the whole way. Michigan led for most of the 1^st half, except for an early 3-2 lead by Illinois. The score was tied at 12-12, 14-14, 21-21, 30-30, and 33-33, before UM went on a 5-0 run to end the half, up 38-33. In the 2^nd half, Michigan quickly pushed their lead up to 13 points (49-36) with 16:13 left in the game, and it looked like they were going to run away with it, then they went stone cold. At the 8:00 mark, Illinois pulled within 1 point (55-54), and they finally went ahead by 1 (59-58) with 4:53 left. Michigan stayed with them, and it all came down to the last 19 seconds. Illinois was still up by 1 point (63-62), and Michigan had the ball with the shot clock off. Jordan Morgan hit a huge basket with 7 seconds left, and Illinois missed their last shot at the buzzer. While it wasn’t an impressive win, Michigan played tough in “crunch time” and survived to move on. That’s all you need to do in a single-elimination tournament. It’s too late in the season to worry about “style points”. A win is a win.

The Ohio State game was also close and tense, although it didn’t start that way. Michigan came out on fire in the early going, and led by 16 points (32-16) with 7:39 to go in the 1^st half. That was the high point of the game. From that point on, it was a dogfight. OSU cut the lead down to 4 points (41-37) at halftime, and things were looking grim. Michigan came out in the early going of the 2^nd half and got the lead back up to “comfortable” again, up 12 points (56-44) with 14:57 to go. Once again, OSU went on a run, and got their first lead of the game (61-60) with 7:58 left in the game. The lead see-sawed back and forth, and the game was tied up (68-68) with 2:55 to go. Michigan went up by 3 (71-68), the teams traded free throws, and OSU missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer. Another narrow escape.

The Michigan State game wasn’t close or tense. UM was never in it. MSU raced out to a double-digit lead early (24-14 with 9:16 left in the 1^st half), and never looked back. They led by 9 (38-29) at halftime, and went on an 8-0 run to start the 2^nd half. That made it a 17 point lead (46-29) with 16:52 to go, but the game was over at that point. MSU was happy to trade baskets the rest of the way, and run the clock out. UM got the deficit down to 10 point a few times, but never got any closer than that. It was a pathetic performance for Michigan.

 

Stats time!

First, the Illinois game. Michigan didn’t shoot very well overall (21-for-47 = 44.7%), they didn’t shoot very well from 3-point range (10-for-30 = 33.3%), and they shot reasonably well from the free-throw line (12-for-15 = 80.0%). They lost the rebounding battle (26-33), but they won the turnover battle, barely (8-9). It was a close game because Michigan didn’t shoot well.

Next, the Ohio State game. Michigan shot very well overall (25-for-47 = 53.2%), they shot very well from 3-point range (12-for-23 = 52.2%), and they shot really poorly from the free-throw line (10-for-19 = 52.6%). They lost the rebounding battle (26-31), and they lost the turnover battle (12-11). There were 3 reasons why Michigan almost lost the game: free-throw shooting, rebounding, and turnovers. They shot well enough to win handily.

Finally, the Michigan State game. Michigan shot terribly overall (17-for-54 = 31.5%), they shot terribly from 3-point range ( 6-for-23 = 26.1%), but they shot very well from the free-throw line (15-for-16 = 93.8%). They got hammered on the boards (38-28), but they did win the turnover battle, barely (9-10). Other than the free-throw shooting, that’s a sure recipe for a lopsided loss.

Individually, only one Michigan player hit double figures in all three games: Nik Stauskas. He had 19 points vs. Illinois, 18 vs. Ohio State, and 17 vs. Michigan State. He was the high scorer for UM in all 3 games.

2 Michigan players hit double figures in 2 of the 3 games:

• Caris LeVert – 13, 17, and 7 points. More than anyone else, Caris had a tough game against MSU, shooting 2-for-10 overall, and 0-for-4 from 3-point range.
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 15, 11, and 6 points. GR3 also had a tough game vs. MSU, shooting 2-for-8 overall, and 0-for-3 from 3-point range.

Derrick Walton Jr. hit double figures (11 points) in the MSU game, but only scored 5 points vs. Illinois and 8 vs. Ohio State.

5 other players scored in at least one game, just not in double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 5, 4, and 0 points.
  
• Zak Irvin – 3, 6, and 6 points.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 4, 8, and 8 points.

Jon Horford played in all 3 games, but failed to score in any of them. That hurt. Horford and Morgan need to get at least 10 points between them each game.

Max Bielfeldt played in the Illinois and Michigan State games, and failed to score.

Andrew Dakich and Sean Lonergan both played in the MSU game, but didn’t score.

 

This Week

Time to put the disappointing end to the Big Ten Tournament behind them, and move on. This week, Michigan plays in the “Big Dance”, the NCAA Tournament. They are the #2 seed in the Midwest Region, and they play the #15 seed, Wofford, in Milwaukee on Thursday (03/20/2014, 7:10 p.m. EDT, CBS). If they win that game, they’ll play again on Saturday (03/22/2014, time TBA, TV TBA) against the winner of the #7/#10 game between Texas and Arizona State. If they win that game, they’ll move on to the Sweet 16, and we’ll talk about that next week. The complete bracket is here.

While Michigan might have gotten a #1 seed if they had won the Big Ten Tournament, a #2 seed is nothing to sneeze at. They should certainly beat Wofford, and they should be able to beat either Texas or Arizona State. Once they get to the Sweet 16, things get a little trickier. The other top teams in the Midwest Region are (#1 seed) Wichita State, (#3) Duke, and (#4) Louisville. Michigan and Louisville played in the National Championship game last season, and Wichita State was also in the Final Four, so it’s a pretty impressive region.

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

Go Blue!

The (#12) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this week, and they won both of them. On Tuesday (03/04/2014), they beat Illinois 84-53 in Champaign, then on Saturday (03/08/2014), they beat Indiana 84-80 in Crisler Arena. The wins raise Michigan’s record to 23-7 (15-3 in the Big Ten). With the win over Illinois, Michigan clinched the outright Big Ten championship, for the first time since the 1985-1986 season! With the win over Indiana, Michigan beat every other Big Ten team this season, something no other team did this season. The last time Michigan beat every other Big Ten team was in 1992. Finally, the win gave Michigan a 13-2 record at home this season, and an even more impressive record of 45-4 at home over the last 3 seasons.

Coming into the Illinois game, Illinois had won 3 in a row, and had held their last 4 opponents under 50 points. The experts were predicting a close, low scoring game. Well, no. Michigan raced out to a quick 10 point lead (23-13) with 11:09 left in the half, and never looked back. They had already broken the 50-point barrier at halftime (52-30), and they just kept building on the lead the whole game. The largest lead was 33 points (76-43) with 5:44 left in the game, before they settled for a 31 point victory. It was a thorough butt whipping for Illinois, and there was no question who the better team was.

Even though Michigan had secured the outright Big Ten championship in the Illinois game, they still had plenty to play for in the last game of the season against Indiana. We owed Indiana, big-time. IU had beaten Michigan 3 games in a row, including 2 very important games last year. The first time Michigan played Indiana last season, in Bloomington, Michigan (20-1) came into the game ranked #1 in the nation, and lost 81-73. Then, the 2 teams met again on Senior Night in Ann Arbor, and IU won again, 72-71, when Michigan missed a layup at the buzzer that would have won the game and earned UM a share of the Big Ten title. Instead, we got to watch IU celebrate their outright championship on our floor. Ugh. Finally, Michigan went to Bloomington on 02/02/2014 with a perfect 9-0 record, and lost 63-52. But the most important reason that Michigan had to beat Indiana: it was Senior Night, and they couldn’t let Jordan Morgan go out with a loss in his last home game.

So, yeah, Michigan owed Indiana, and they beat them, but it wasn’t easy. IU started the game on fire, hitting 11 of their first 12 shots. At that point, it was a 7 point Indiana lead (26-19), with 10:57 left in the half. IU cooled down, a little, and Michigan clawed their way back to within 2 points (32-30), with 3:03 left in the half. However, IU went on a 10-6 run to end the half up 6 points (42-36). In the 2^nd half, it took Michigan just over 4 minutes to finally get the lead, 50-48, and they never trailed again. IU tied it up (50-50), but Michigan slowly pulled away, and had a decent lead (73-62) with 4:55 left in the game. Indiana went on a quick 9-0 run to make it a 2-point game (73-71) with 2:39 left, then tied it up (75-75) with 1:25 left. Glenn Robinson III hit a huge 3-pointer to put UM ahead for good, and Michigan hit 14 free throws in a row to preserve the win.

After the game, the team stayed out on the court, and they got to celebrate their outright Big Ten championship on their home court in front of their loyal fans as the confetti and streamers fell from the rafters. Coach Beilein and some of the players said a few words, then the whole team cut down the net in the south end of the arena. It was a wonderful experience.

Stats? Stats! Since the Illinois game was a butt-whipping, the stats are lots of fun. Michigan shot pretty well overall (29-for-51 = 56.9%), but they shot very well from 3-point range (16-for-23 = 69.6%). They shot free throws well enough (10-for-14 = 71.4%), they crushed Illinois on the boards (33-23), but they lost the turnover battle (10-8).

The stats for the Indiana game are much less impressive. Michigan shot the ball fairly well overall (27-for-56 = 48.2%), but they had a tough time shooting 3-pointers (4-for-15 = 26.7%). When Michigan isn’t shooting 3-pointers well, they just look bad. They shot free throws very well (26-for-29 = 89.7%), but they lost the rebounding battle (barely, 26-25), and won the turnover battle (6-15).

Individually, 3 Michigan players hit double figures in both games:

• Caris LeVert – 15 points vs. Illinois and 13 points vs. Indiana..
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 13 and 20 points.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 24 and 21 points. Nik was the leading scorer for Michigan in both games. Indiana had shut him down in the first meeting this season, but not this time.

Jordan Morgan hit double figures (15 points) in the Indiana game, but only scored 4 points vs. Illinois. However, he was the star of the Indiana game, on Senior Night, with 10 rebounds for a double-double. He also scored Michigan’s first 6 points in the game.

5 other players scored in at least one game, just not in double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 6 and 4 points.
  
• Jon Horford – 2 and 4 points. Jon also had 10 rebounds vs. Illinois.
  
• Zak Irvin – 9 and 3 points.
  
• Sean Lonergan – 2 and DNP.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 9 and 4 points. Derrick led the team in assists in both games (5 and 4).

Brad Anlauf, Andrew Dakich, and Max Bielfeldt all played in the Illinois game, but didn’t score.

 

This Week

This week, Michigan plays in the Big Ten Tournament, in Indianapolis. They are the #1 seed, and since the top 4 seeds get Thursday off, they don’t play until Friday (03/14/2014, noon EDT, ESPN/ESPN2) against the winner of the (#8 seed) Indiana vs. (#9 seed) Illinois game. Since they played (and beat) both Illinois and Indiana last week, they should be ready for either of them. If they win the game on Friday, they keep on playing. The complete bracket is here.

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

Go Blue!