The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games this week, and they won both of them. On Tuesday (01/14/2014), they beat Penn State 80-67 in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (01/18/2014), they beat (#3) Wisconsin in Madison. The wins raise Michigan’s record to 13-4 (5-0 in the Big Ten).

Well. I don’t know if I can explain just how big and exciting and important the win over Wisconsin is. It’s right up there with the win over Michigan State in East Lansing in 2011 and the win against Kansas in the NCAA Tournament last year. First of all, it’s the highest ranked team that Michigan has beaten on their home floor, ever. It also is the first time Michigan has won in Madison since 1999. Wisconsin is virtually unbeatable at home, going 191-18 since Bo Ryan started coaching there in 2001. Trust me, this is a huge win, and it makes the rest of Michigan’s schedule look a little less daunting. Sure, there are still many tough games ahead, but if you can win at the Kohl Center, you can beat anyone, anywhere.

Oh yeah: Michigan also beat Penn State, but that’s not as big a deal. Penn State is now 0-6 in the Big Ten, and Michigan beat them in Ann Arbor. UM looked OK in the PSU game, scoring the first 8 points, and leading by as many as 14 points in the 1^st half, before settling for a 7-point lead (40-33) at halftime. In the 2^nd half, they let PSU back into the game, letting the lead slip to just 2 points (47-45) with 15 minutes to go. Michigan buckled down, and took control again, pushing the lead up to 16 points (66-50) with 9:42 left. Penn State tried to come back one more time, and got within 8 points (72-64) with 5 minutes left, but UM pushed the lead back up to double digits again, and won going away. Michigan never trailed in the game.

In the Wisconsin game, Michigan only trailed twice (2-0 and 4-2), but once they got the lead at 7-4, they never trailed. They managed to get the lead up to double digits (43-33) late in the 1^st half, but had to settle for a 5-point lead at halftime (43-38). They started the 2^nd half strong, and pushed the lead up to 15 points (59-44) with 11:46 left, and still led by 13 points (66-53) with 8 minutes to go. That’s when Wisconsin made their big move, and cut the lead down to 1 point (68-67) with 1:54 left. Michigan played tough down the stretch, made their free throws, and held on for a huge victory.

The stats for the Penn State game are solid. Michigan shot well overall (28-for-52 = 53.8%), they shot 3-pointers pretty well (9-for-24 = 37.5%), and they shot free throws pretty well (15-for-19 = 78.9%). They (barely) won the rebounding battle (28-26), and they won the turnover battle (6-9). 6 turnovers for a whole game is very impressive.

The stats for the Wisconsin game are even more impressive. Michigan shot well overall (29-for-53 = 54.7%), they shot 3-pointers very well (7-for-13 = 53.8%), and they shot free throws very well (12-for-14 = 85.7%). They (barely) won the rebounding battle (31-30), but they lost the turnover battle (11-9). The key stat here is 3-point shooting. Michigan can beat just about anyone when they shoot over 50% from 3-point range.

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

• Glenn Robinson III – 15 points vs. PSU, and 14 points vs. UW. GR3 was very efficient in the Wisconsin game, shooting 6-for-8.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 21 and 23 points. Nik was the star, and leading scorer, in both games. In the Wisconsin game, he hit a 3-pointer to push Michigan’s lead back up to 4 when UW closed to within 1 point, then he hit all his free throws down the stretch to seal the win.

3 other players hit double figures in one of the two games:

• Jon Horford – 11 and 6 points. Once again, Jon was one half of a “center by committee” with Jordan Morgan, and they got the job done. Jon also had 7 rebounds in each game.
  
• Caris LeVert – 6 and 20 points. Caris played a big part in the Wisconsin win, hitting all 3 of his 3-point attempts.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 16 and 2 points. Derrick had the best game of his young career vs. Penn State. 16 points is a new career high for him.

3 players scored in at least one game, but didn’t hit double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 3 and 4 points. Spike has had exactly one 3-pointer in every Big Ten game except the first one (Minnesota).
  
• Zak Irvin – 0 and 2 points. Since the Minnesota game, where he had 15 points, Zak has disappeared, with 5, 0, 0, and 2 points. Michigan needs him to get his 3-point shot back.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 8 and 6 points. Jordan was the leading rebounder for Michigan in the Wisconsin game, with 8.

Max Bielfeldt played (barely – 1 minute) in the Wisconsin game, but didn’t score.

This Week

Michigan has just entered “The Gauntlet” portion of their schedule. The Wisconsin game was just the first of 3 games in a row against Top-25 teams, 2 of them on the road. They play two games this week. On Wednesday (01/22/2014, 7:00 p.m., BTN) they play (#20) Iowa in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (01/25/2014, 7:00 p.m., ESPN) they play at (#5) Michigan State. Both games are going to be very tough. Iowa was mediocre last season (25-13 overall, 9-9 in the Big Ten, NIT), but they are very much improved this season (15-3, 4-1 in the Big Ten). Michigan throttled them (95-67) in Ann Arbor in their only meeting last year. I don’t expect anything like that this year. Then there’s the game in East Lansing. It’s every bit as tough to win in Breslin as it is to win in the Kohl Center. Once again, it’s not impossible for UM to beat MSU on their home floor (they did it 3 years ago), but Michigan will have to play flawlessly, again.

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

Go Blue!

Standings

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

 

 

Results

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

 

Tuesday (01/14/2014)

Wisconsin lost at Indiana, 75-72

Penn State lost at Michigan, 80-67

 

Wednesday (01/15/2014)

Michigan State won at Northwestern, 54-40

Purdue won at Illinois, 66-58

 

Thursday (01/16/2014)

Ohio State lost at Minnesota, 63-53

 

Saturday (01/18/2014)

Northwestern won at Indiana, 54-47

Michigan won at Wisconsin, 77-70

Penn State lost at Purdue, 65-64

Michigan State won at Illinois, 78-62

 

Sunday (01/19/2014)

Minnesota lost at Iowa, 94-73

 

The home teams did pretty poorly this week, going 5-5. There were a few surprises this week:

 

• Wisconsin lost at Indiana on Tuesday. They were undefeated, and ranked #3, coming into this game.
  
• Ohio State lost at Minnesota on Thursday. That was their 3^rd loss in a row, after starting the season 15-0, and ranked as high as #3.
  
• Northwestern won at Indiana on Saturday. Even in a rebuilding year, Indiana doesn’t lose many at home, and seldom to a lower-division team like Northwestern. IU was coming off their stunning upset of Wisconsin just 4 days before.
  
• Michigan won at Wisconsin on Saturday. This is probably the biggest surprise of the season, so far. Wisconsin hardly ever loses at home, and Michigan hadn’t won in Madison since 1999. Wisconsin has now lost 2 games in a row.
  

 

The Upcoming Week

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

 

Monday (01/20/2014)

Ohio State at Nebraska

 

Tuesday (01/21/2014)

Indiana at Michigan State

Purdue at Northwestern

 

Wednesday (01/22/2014)

Iowa at Michigan

Wisconsin at Minnesota

 

Thursday (01/23/2014)

Illinois at Ohio State

Nebraska at Penn State

 

Saturday (01/25/2014)

Iowa at Northwestern

Wisconsin at Purdue

Michigan at Michigan State

 

Sunday (01/26/2014)

Illinois at Indiana

Minnesota at Nebraska

 

There are 2 big games this week:

 

• Iowa at Michigan on Wednesday – Iowa is much-improved this season, and they beat Ohio State in Columbus, but Michigan is tough at home.
  
• Michigan at Michigan State on Saturday – Michigan has a tough week. MSU is almost unbeatable in East Lansing.
  

 

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 University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one games this week, and they won it. On Thursday (01/09/2014), they beat Nebraska 71-70 in Lincoln. The win raises Michigan’s record to 11-4 (3-0 in the Big Ten).

It’s a cliché, but “any win on the road in the Big Ten is a big win”. That said, this “big win” was almost a “depressing loss”. Nebraska is improving, but they haven’t improved enough that they should beat Michigan, even in their fancy new arena in Lincoln. Basketball is a game of emotion and momentum, and when Nebraska got the momentum and played with emotion, they gave Michigan all they could handle.

It was a back-and-forth game, with 10 ties and 11 lead changes. Michigan’s largest lead was only 6 points, and Nebraska’s largest lead was only 3 points. The game came down to the last 3 seconds, when Nebraska got off a couple shots, which fortunately didn’t go in.

Normally, I only look at Michigan’s stats, but in this case it’s really informative to compare both teams’ stats. Michigan shot very well overall (31-for-50 = 62.0%), but they allowed Nebraska to shoot well as well (26-for-49 = 53.1%). The 3-point shooting was a wash: Michigan shot 35.3% (6-for-17) and Nebraska shot 35.0% (7-for-20). The biggest difference was free-throwing shooting: Michigan was just terrible (3-for-9 = 33.3%), while Nebraska was great (11-for-12 = 91.7%). Those 8 extra points almost sunk Michigan, but the extra 5 baskets that UM made were just enough to win. Michigan lost the rebounding battle (20-26), but they won the turnover battle (9-13).

Individually, all 5 of the Michigan starters hit double figures, for the first time this season:

• Caris LeVert – 10 points. Caris also led the team in assists, with 5.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 15 points. Jordan shot very well (7-for-9).
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 19 points. GR3 was the leading scorer.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 12 points. Once again, Nik scored in many different ways, including a couple key 3-pointers.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 10 points. Derrick had the 2 biggest baskets in this game: he hit a 3-pointer from beyond half-court with 0.6 seconds left in the 1^st half, and he also hit the game-winning basket with 23 seconds left to give Michigan their final lead.

Spike Albrecht (3 points) and Jon Horford (2 points) accounted for all the UM bench scoring. Not enough. Zak Irvin played, but did not score.

 

Midterm Grades

Michigan plays 30 regular season games this season, not counting at least one game in the Big Ten Tournament, so with 15 games played and 15 to go, it’s time for Midterm Grades:

Freshman Eligibility

Brad Anlauf – Incomplete

Brad joined the team after the season started, and he’s strictly on the team as part of the practice squad. He has played in 6 games so far, and has made one basket.

Andrew Dakich – Incomplete

Andrew is another practice squad player. He has played in 7 games so far, and has made one basket (a 3-pointer).

Mark Donnal – Incomplete

Mark is being redshirted this season, unless a disaster hits the team and there is another injury to one of the remaining “bigs”. He played in both exhibition games, but that’s it, so we hardly got to see him.

Zak Irvin – B

Zak has had a few good games (Coppin State, Houston Baptist, Stanford, and Minnesota) and a lot of forgettable ones (Iowa State, Florida State, Duke, and Arizona). So far, he has been mostly a one-dimensional player (“just a shooter”), but we have seen glimpses of the rest of his game.

Sean Lonergan – Incomplete

Sean is another practice squad player. He has played in 6 games so far, and has made one basket.

Cole McConnell – Incomplete

Cole is another practice squad player. He has played in 4 games so far, and has made one basket (a 3-pointer). He injured his foot, so he’s not currently available to practice/play.

Derrick Walton Jr. – B

Derrick is slowly getting used to the speed of the college game. He hasn’t done a bad job out there, but he hasn’t been much of a force either. Of course, we all got spoiled by Trey Burke, and Derrick has only played in 15 games so far, but the team really needs him to pick up his game a little more. In particular, we know that he can shoot a lot better than he’s been showing us so far.

Sophomore Eligibility

Spike Albrecht – B

Derrick Walton Jr. is the nominal starter at point guard, but Spike has been playing a lot of minutes there as well. He’s not as athletic as Derrick, and he’s not as good on defense, but he does a better job of running the team when he’s out there. He doesn’t panic, and he tosses in a 3-pointer every now and then.

Max Bielfeldt – C

Max has played a minor role so far this season. He’s played in 10 games so far, and scored 12 points, 6 of them on a pair of 3-pointers. With Mitch McGary out for a while (see below), he’s now the 3^rd “big”. When he’s been in, he’s looked solid, if unspectacular. He’s a strong kid, and he knows where the ball is going, so he gets a fair share of the rebounds while he’s on the floor. He’s not much of a scoring threat, but he’s turning into a pretty good post defender.

Caris LeVert – B-

Caris is certainly the most improved player on the team this season, and he started the season off strong, but he’s settled into mediocrity recently. He’s had several great games, including 3 games of 20+ points, and he’s had several games where he just disappeared. He’s averaging 12 points/game, and if he can keep that up in Big Ten games, he’ll be a valuable player this season.

Mitch McGary – Incomplete

Mitch has been a major disappointment this season. He came into the season as a pre-season All American, but a back injury, along with a couple other short-term injuries, has held him back. He recently decided to have surgery on his back, so he’s probably lost for the rest of the season. While he’s eligible for a medical redshirt year for this season, there’s no way he’ll play 4 full seasons at Michigan, so the redshirt year doesn’t really matter. He probably not get drafted in the 1^st round of the NBA draft this spring, so I expect him to return to play one more season at Michigan next year.

Glenn Robinson III – B

Glenn has had a real up-and-down season so far. When he’s been good, he’s been very good, but when he disappears, he is missed. He hasn’t shot particularly well, and he has trouble creating his own shot, but he’s awesome in the transition game.

Nik Stauskas – A

Nik is the “go to scorer” this season, and he’s pretty good in that role. He has scored in a variety of ways, not just with his 3-point shot. In fact, he’s scoring more by driving and shooting free throws than he did last year. He’s got great moves, a good first step, and he’s good at finishing at the rim. He hasn’t been hitting his 3-pointers as consistently as he did last year, but he’s still dangerous.

Junior Eligibility

Jon Horford – B

Jon has played better this season. He’s shown a real talent for blocking shots and playing tough defense. His offensive game is a little behind.

Senior Eligibility

Jordan Morgan – B

Jordan is having a solid season, which is good, since he and Jon Horford are trying to replace Mitch McGary.

 

This Week

Michigan plays two games this week. On Tuesday (01/14/2014, 8:00 p.m., BTN) they play Penn State in Crisler Arena, then on Saturday (01/18/2014, 6:00 p.m. EST, ESPN) they play at Wisconsin. Penn State is having their usual “rebuilding” year (20 in a row, so far), and I expect Michigan to beat them, but the game at Wisconsin is going to be brutal. It’s always tough to win on the road in the Big Ten, but the Kohl Center is one of the toughest places to win in the country, right up there with Cameron Indoor Stadium (Duke) and the Breslin Center (Michigan State). UM can win the game, but they will have to play flawlessly.

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

Go Blue!