The (#7) University of Michigan men’s basketball team only played one game last week, and they “took care of business” by beating a team that they should have beaten. On Sunday (02/24/2013), they beat Illinois 71-58 in Crisler Arena. The win raises UM’s overall record to 23-4 (10-4 in Big Ten play). They are tied for 3^rd place in the Big Ten.

While this was a game that Michigan should have won, it was by no means a “gimme”. Illinois is a pretty good team, with a pretty impressive resume on the season. They live and die by the 3-pointer, and that makes them very unpredictable. The Illini started out hot, and had a decent lead (13-5) after 5 minutes. They kept the lead for almost all of the 1^st half, and still had an 8-point lead (21-13) with 8 minutes left in the half. Michigan finally woke up, and got their first lead (26-24) with 3:30 left in the half. It was tied (28-28) with 1 second left, when Illinois banked in a 3-pointer to go into halftime with a 3-point lead (31-28). Michigan came out of the locker room more focused, and pulled ahead for good (37-34) with 16:49 left in the game. The Michigan lead grew as high as 9 points (46-37) with 13 minutes left, before Illinois started inching closer. With about 8 minutes left in the game, Illinois got within 4 points (51-47), and got the ball back. Things were looking grim, but Michigan finally started playing like they had during the first 16 games of the season, and pulled away for a comfortable finish. They got the lead as high as 17 points (66-49) with 3:30 left, and coasted home for the win.

This was an important win because it keeps UM as the only team in the Big Ten that is still undefeated at home, and keeps them within striking distance of 1^st place. Indiana is still 2 game ahead of them in the standings, but Michigan and Indiana play in Crisler Arena in the final game of the regular season (on March 10^th), so Michigan can take care of one of those two games. UM does need help to finish tied for 1^st place, but Indiana still has to play at Minnesota and at home vs. Ohio State, so there’s still a chance. Of course, Michigan has to win the rest of their games, which isn’t going to be easy, but it is doable.

Let’s take a quick look at the stats from this game. Overall, Michigan shot pretty well (25-for-49 = 51.0%), but they didn’t shoot very well from 3-point range (6-for-18 = 33.3%). They got to the free throw line pretty often, and made a reasonable percentage of their attempts (15-for-21 = 71.4%). They (barely) won the rebounding battle (29-28), and they won the turnover battle (10-13). Those are decent stats for a solid win over a pretty good opponent.

Individually, 3 players hit double figures:

• Trey Burke – 26 points (and 8 assists).
  
• Tim Hardaway Jr. – 13 points (and 7 rebounds).
  
• Glenn Robinson III – 10 points.

The other 2 starters didn’t do so well scoring:

• Mitch McGary – 6 points. Mitch started in place of Jordan Morgan, who is still recovering from his injured ankle.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 0 points. This is only the 2^nd time Nik has been shut out.

The bench players did a little better this game at scoring:

• Spike Albrecht – 3 points. It was an important 3-pointer.
  
• Jon Horford – 4 points.
  
• Caris LeVert – 8 points.
  
• Jordan Morgan – 1 point. Jordan still isn’t 100% out there.
  

Getting 16 points of bench scoring is a step in the right direction.

This Week

After a “bye” week with no mid-week game, Michigan is back to the normal 2-games-per-week schedule for the last 2 weeks of the regular season. This week they play at Penn State (Wednesday 02/27/2013, 6:30 p.m., BTN) and home vs. (#4) Michigan State (Sunday 03/03/2013, 4:00 p.m., CBS). They should be able to beat Penn State (everyone else has), but the game vs. MSU will be a real battle. Michigan State dominated UM in East Lansing a few weeks ago, but the hostile crowd in Breslin had a lot to do with that. Things could be very different in Crisler Arena.

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

Go Blue!

The (#4) University of Michigan men’s basketball team played two games last week, both against “State” teams, and they played miserably in both games. Fortunately, they managed to win one of them, but they got blown out in the other. On Tuesday (02/12/2013), they lost to (#8) Michigan State 75-52 in East Lansing, then on Sunday (02/17/2013), they beat Penn State 79-71 in Crisler Arena. The loss and the win leave UM with a record of 22-4, 9-4 in Big Ten play. They are tied for 3^rd place in the Big Ten.

Michigan looked terrible in the MSU game. Just terrible. They looked like deer in the headlights. MSU came out hot and hit them early and often, and Michigan just went into a shell and never came out. The large, frantic crowd in the Breslin Center completely flustered them, and the game was over before the 2^nd media timeout in the first half. It’s hard to believe that this team was ranked #1 in the nation just a few short weeks ago. They are in tatters at this point. Sure, they managed to eke out a narrow victory over PSU on Sunday, but they almost lost that one as well. They might not win another game this season, if they keep playing the way they’ve been playing recently.

So, what’s wrong with UM? Why are they having such a tough time lately? Some of it is fatigue, but most of it is confidence. The MSU game was the 4^th in a row vs. ranked teams, 3 of them on the road, in 3 of the most hostile environments in the country: Indiana’s Assembly Hall, Wisconsin’s Kohl Center, and MSU’s Breslin Center. They lost all 3 of those games, and they got flustered by the loud crowds in all 3 games. The game that really broke their backs was the overtime loss at Wisconsin. UM had that game won, and let it slip away in the last 2.4 seconds. Since that point, Michigan has been “playing scared”: “playing not to lose” instead of “playing to win”.

The Penn State game was supposed to be a breather, a laugher, an easy win at home where everyone got to play, and the stars got their confidence back. Instead, it turned into a nasty dogfight, with Michigan trailing for most of the 1^st half, and never really pulling away in the 2^nd half. UM never pushed the lead into double digits, and the game was still in doubt in the final minutes. Penn State came in 0-12 in the Big Ten, but they played like they expected to beat Michigan on their home court, and Michigan let them push them around. PSU played their best game of the year, and UM played one of their worst games, and the combination was almost enough for the big upset.

The stats for the 2 games are either ugly or unimpressive. In the MSU game, Michigan shot terribly overall (21-for-53 = 39.6%) and from 3-point range (6-for-19 = 31.6%). They barely got to the free throw line, but they shot OK when they got there: 4-for-6 = 66.7%. They got crushed on the boards (30-41) and in the turnover battle (16-8). It was easily the worst game Michigan has played since the loss to Ohio University in the NCAA Tournament last season. The stats for the PSU game are a little better, but still not good. UM shot a little better overall (23-for-49 = 46.9%) and from 3-point range (6-for-18 = 33.3%). They got to the free throw line often, and shot well when they did: 27-for-35 = 77.1%. Once again, they lost the rebounding battle (29-35), but they did manage to win the turnover battle (6-13).

Individually, 2 players hit double figures in both games:

• Trey Burke – 18 points vs. MSU, and 29 vs. PSU. Trey’s 29 points in the PSU game are a season-high, just one point short of his career-high 30 points vs. Minnesota last season.
  
• Nik Stauskas – 10 and 18 points. Nik still isn’t hitting his 3-pointers the way he did earlier in the season, but he’s scoring in other ways.
  

One player hit double figures in one game: Glenn Robinson III. He only had 2 points in the MSU game, but 21 vs. PSU. Glenn’s 21 points tie his career-high, and he added 10 rebounds for a double-double.

The other starters didn’t do so well scoring:

• Tim Hardaway Jr. – 2 and 8 points. Tim was absolutely terrible vs. MSU, shooting 1-for-11 (0-for-5 from 3-point range). He had a slow start vs. PSU, but came alive down the stretch.
  
• Mitch McGary – 4 and 0 points. Mitch got his first career start vs. MSU, and did OK. He came off the bench in the PSU game, and had a miserable time. Dunk, Mitch, dunk!
  
• Jordan Morgan – 1 and 0 points. After missing one game with an injured ankle, and coming off the bench for a minute or two in the last few games, Jordan finally started again vs. PSU. He played 7 minutes, but still looked slow and tentative out there.
  

The bench players didn’t have much success scoring:

• Eso Akunne – 2 and DNP points.
  
• Spike Albrecht – 5 and 0 points.
  
• Josh Bartelstein – 0 and DNP points.
  
• Max Bielfeldt – 2 and 0 points.
  
• Jon Horford – 0 and 0 points.
  
• Caris LeVert – 2 and 1 points.
  
• Blake McLimans – 1 and DNP points.
  
• Corey Person – 3 and DNP points.
  
• Matt Vogrich – 0 and 2 points.
  

Once again, the bench didn’t provide much support. Most of the bench points in the MSU game were scored in “garbage time”. This is not good.

This Week

After a brutal stretch of tough games, mostly on the road, with 2 games every week, Michigan finally gets to their “bye” week. They only have one game this week, and it’s at home vs. one of the “lower division” teams. On Sunday (02/24/2013, 1:00 p.m., ESPN), they play Illinois. Illinois is very unpredictable this season, with wins at home against Indiana and Ohio State, and a road win at Minnesota, but they also lost at home to Northwestern. Michigan beat them earlier this season in Champaign, but that was back before UM had their confidence shattered. It should be a close, exciting game, but I expect Michigan to keep their unbeaten home record intact.

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

Go Blue!