This Week in Hoops

This past week Michigan played a couple of games that when many people looked the schedule at the beginning of the year thought these were two for sure wins.  When I see Nebraska and Minnesota on the schedule I don’t think twice about them winning.  While they did win both games, they weren’t as easy as they probably should have been.

1/20/2016 vs. Minnesota Game Recap

Minnesota came into this game arguably the worst team in the Big Ten.  They were 6-12 and coming in on a 7 game losing streak.  They didn’t have a guy that struck any fear into the opponents.  The game started as it should have although Michigan didn’t have star senior guard Caris Levert for the 5^th straight game.  Minnesota scored the first two points of the game and then after that Michigan went on a 37-20 run.  It was many of the usual suspects doing it the usual way.  Duncan Robinson hit a couple of 3’s and Zak Irvin hit a couple of the 3’s.  Coming into the game Michigan led the nation in 3-pointers made per game with 10.9 per game.  In the first 6 minutes Michigan was already 4-6 from long range but in the rest of the half they only went 2-11.  After building the lead to 37-22 Minnesota ended the half on an 8-0 run to make the score 37-30 at the half.  In the first half Zak Irvin led the way for Michigan with 15 points.

The second half was much of the same as the first half.  Duncan Robinson knocked down a 3 pointer to start the second half and the lead got back into double digits.  For the majority of the second half Michigan had a comfortable 7-10 point lead but they were never really able to put Minnesota away.  After finishing 2-11 from 3 in the first half they went 2-12 in the second half.  Many of the looks that they got were good looks but they just were not hitting their jumpshots.  Minnesota got as close as 3 points late in the game but Michigan was able to put them away with free throws.  Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and Derrick Walton combined to go 16-20 from the free throw line and that put Minnesota late in the game.  Zak Irvin led the way with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

My Thoughts

I thought that Michigan was very fortunate to play a team as bad as Minnesota on this night.  They had so many open looks throughout the game but just did not knock them down.  A team like Michigan that is so reliant on the 3 point shot cannot afford to have many shooting nights like this.  Finishing a game 4-23 will not end in a lot of wins.  They allowed Minnesota to get back into the game when they were on the verge of letting it get out of hand when it was a 15 point game in the first half.  Irvin bailed them out time and time again.  He probably played his best game of the season and without him they would not have won the game.

Irvin and Walton sit at their lockers

1/22/2016 at Nebraska Game Recap

The first half of the game against Nebraska was very similar as the game against Minnesota.  They jumped out to an early double digit lead mostly because of a barrage of 3 pointers.  Just like it usually is it was Duncan Robinson knocking down a couple of them.   Also just like the Minnesota game, Michigan allowed that lead to dwindle to single digits and they got it down to 3 points going into the half, 33-30.  Unlike the game against Minnesota, Zak Irvin did not play well in the first half and only had 3 points.  Instead Duncan Robinson picked up much of the scoring and had 8.  They spread the scoring out a lot in the first half with 5 guys having at least 5 points.

Duncan Robinson knocks down a 3

The second half started much in the same way as the first half.  Michigan made their first 9 shots of the half and built an 18 point lead at 54-36.  This was a big point in the game.  Nebraska called a timeout and changed their defense from a man-to-man to a soft 2-2-1 3 quarter court press.  Usually this type of pressure does not affect Michigan very much because they are a good passing team and take care of the basketball.  Nebraska goes to this press and Michigan started making lazy passes and started turning the ball over a lot.  They ended the game with 14, which is way too many for a John Beilein coached team.  Coming into the game they had only averaged about 9 turnovers a game.  With 3 minutes to go Nebraska got all the way within 2 points.  They were not able to get any closer than that because much like the game before Derrick Walton was able to put them away.  Michigan ended up pulling away in the last few minutes and won the game 81-68.  Duncan Robinson led the

way with 21 points and Walton finished with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists.

My Thoughts

Much like the Minnesota game I think that Michigan got away with playing an inferior opponent.  They are lucky that they have a couple different guys who can take over a game if they need them to because they haven’t been able to get everyone going at the same time lately.  For most of the game they went with just a 6 man rotation which makes it even more important for them to get Caris Levert back soon.

Season Thus Far

Robinson might shoot as well as Stauskas but he doesn't have

the same swagger on the court as him.

So far in the season Michigan has basically done what they are supposed to.  They have lost just about every game that they were supposed to lose and they have won just about every game that they   They are sitting at 5-2 in conference so far, which is very fortunate because Levert has been out for the last 6 games and they have been able to go 4-2.  They have a couple more games that they should win until they hit the difficult part of the schedule.  Starting in February they have tough games against Michigan State and at Indiana.  If they can get past that point in the schedule with an 8-3 record in conference they should be in good shape in finish near the top of conference.are supposed to win.  Duncan Robinson, who transferred from a D-3 school, has been a very pleasant  surprise.  He has shot the ball as well as Nik Stauskas did in his 2 years at Michigan.