The University of Michigan men’s basketball team played one game this week, and they won it. On Saturday (12/21/2013), they beat Stanford 68-65 in Brooklyn (NY), in the Barclays Center as part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. The win raises Michigan’s record to 7-4.

This was an important win for Michigan, after a couple close losses to good teams. Stanford came into the game with an 8-2 record, and they have lots of height and experience. This was a true “toss up” game, and if Michigan had lost it, their chances of going to the NCAA Tournament in March would have gone way down. As it is, UM still needs to win their last non-conference game (next week at home vs. Holy Cross), and then go at least 12-6 in the rugged Big Ten schedule to get to 20 wins.

The game was close the whole way. Stanford took an early 5-0 lead, but once UM got going, they took the lead (7-5) and never trailed again. They led by 3 at halftime (30-27), and pushed the lead to 10 (56-46) with 7:30 to go. Stanford came back hard, and cut the lead to 2 (64-63) with 43 seconds left, and down to 1 (66-65) with 9 seconds left, but UM hit a pair of free throws for the final margin of victory. Stanford tried a 3-pointer with 3 seconds left, but missed.

Let’s look at the stats. Michigan shot pretty poorly overall (21-for-52 = 40.4%), and they shot pretty poorly from 3-point range (8-for-27 = 29.6%). They shot poorly from the free-throw line (18-for=26 = 69.2%), and that almost cost them the game. The rebounding battle was even (32-32), but UM had more offensive rebounds (9-5), and Michigan won the turnover battle (8-12). Those 4 extra possessions were the difference in a very close game.

Individually, 3 Michigan players hit double figures:

• Zak Irvin – 12 points. Zak hit 4 big 3-pointers, on 8 attempts, and had 6 rebounds, including the crucial one on the last-second miss by Stanford.
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 17 points. Once again, GR3 had a big 1^st half and a quiet 2^nd half. He also had 6 rebounds.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 19 points. Nik had another rough time shooting: 4-for-11, including 2-for-7 from 3-point range.

3 other players scored, but not in double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 5 points. Derrick Walton Jr. had another shaky game, so Spike ran the team for a good portion of the game.
  
• Jon Horford – 2 points. Jon had a rough night. Every time he stepped onto the floor, the refs called a foul on him. He fouled out after playing only 6 minutes. That’s amazing.
  
• Caris LeVert – 1 point. Caris had a miserable time shooting: 0-for-7 overall, 0-for-3 from 3-point range, and 1-for-4 shooting free throws. Ugh.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 8 points. Jordan also fouled out, but at least he took 24 minutes to do it.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 4 points. Derrick played a little better in this game than he did last week vs. Arizona, but only a little. He still played like a true freshman.

Max Bielfeldt played, but did not score.

Mitch McGary didn’t play, due an array of injuries including his back and one of his ankles. Horford, Morgan, and Bielfeldt all did their best to hold the fort against Stanford’s huge front line, but they had a rough time. Horford and Morgan both fouled out, and Bielfeldt ended the game with 4 fouls. If he had fouled out, I guess GR3 would have played center for the rest of the game.

This Week

Last call for non-conference play. Michigan only plays one game this week: on Saturday (12/28/2013, 6:30 p.m., BTN) they play Holy Cross in Crisler Arena. Michigan should win this one, unless they take Holy Cross too lightly. Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!

I’m really getting tired of this crap. This is getting to be too much of a pattern: Michigan plays a great game against a superior opponent, and looks like they’re FINALLY going to win the big game, only to lose in the last few moments. Examples: the national championship basketball game against Louisville last April, the Ohio State football game a few weeks ago, and the basketball game vs. (#1) Arizona on Saturday (12/14/2013). I’m tired of moral victories. I’m tired of “so close”. At some point, Michigan has to break through and start winning these games.

After starting the season ranked in the Top-10, Michigan slipped after losses to Iowa State and Charlotte, and finally dropped out of the Top-25 completely last week after losing to Duke. They were facing the new #1 team in the country, Arizona. They played very well, just not well enough to beat Arizona. They led for almost the whole game, but lost the lead and the game in the last minute. The final score was 72-70. Michigan’s record drops to 6-4.

It’s hard to be too critical of UM, since they were playing the #1 team in the nation, but there were certainly things that Michigan could have done better. They gave up way too many offensive rebounds for 2^nd (and 3^rd and 4^th) chance points, and they were a lot sloppier with the ball than usual. They had a nice lead (58-50) with 7:00 to go, and Caris LeVert tried an open 3-pointer. If it had dropped, the momentum might just have been enough to carry UM to victory. Instead, it rimmed out, and that was the ball game. Arizona went on a 13-4 run, and once they got the lead, UM started panicking. Still, they had a great chance to win the game in the closing seconds, but they misplayed it badly. With 24 seconds left, Michigan had the ball, down 1 point (67-55) with the shot clock turned off. Conventional wisdom says that they run the clock down to 2 seconds, then run their best play to get a great shot to win the game. Instead, Nik Stauskas took a low-percentage long 2-pointer with 11 seconds left, and he missed it. Even if he had hit it, Arizona would have had the last shot. It was a dumb move, and it cost Michigan the game.

The stats tell the story: Michigan shot well, better than Arizona, but they got hammered on the boards. They were out-rebounded 37-24, and they gave up 17 offensive rebounds. They also lost the turnover battle 11-9. It didn’t help that Arizona hit 14 of 15 free-throw attempts. The only one they missed, they missed on purpose, so UM couldn’t set up a good tying 3-point attempt at the buzzer.

Individually, 4 Michigan players hit double figures:

• Spike Albrecht – 10 points. Derrick Walton Jr. was ineffective, so Spike ran the team for most of the game. He hit 3-for-4 of his 3-pointers, along with 4 assists.
  
• Caris LeVert – 15 points. Caris kept Michigan in the game in the 2^nd half, after a quiet 1^st half. He wasn’t very efficient though: 6-for-15 shooting.
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 20 points. GR3 kept Michigan in the game in the 1^st half, but he had a quiet 2^nd half. He was very efficient: 8-for-9 shooting.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 14 points. Nik had a rough time shooting: 4-for-11, including 1-for-4 from 3-point range. He was the leading rebounder for Michigan, with 6 boards.
  

3 other players scored, but not in double figures:

• Jon Horford – 2 points. Jon didn’t score many points, but he played great defense, especially in the 1^st half. He had 4 of Michigan’s 6 blocked shots, along with 4 rebounds and a steal.
  
• Mitch McGary – 8 points. Mitch had a tough time with Arizona’s height underneath.
  
• Derrick Walton Jr. – 1 point. Derrick played like a true freshman, so he sat for most of the game. He only played 14 minutes. Spike, Caris, and Nik shared point guard duties in his absence.
  

Zak Irvin and Jordan Morgan played, but did not score.

This Week

Once again, Michigan only plays one game this week: on Saturday (12/21/2013, 8:30 p.m., Fox Sports 1) they play Stanford in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY. This game is part of the Brooklyn Hoops Holiday Invitational. Stanford is a solid team, currently 7-2, with some quality wins and no embarrassing losses. This is a good matchup for Michigan, and it could go either way. Check back next week to see what happened, and why.

Go Blue!