Just a warning, tonight's post will not be as detailed as past posts since internet connection is pretty spotty here in Gobles.
Well, it was a successful trip to Hawaii for the men's basketball team, returning home 2-1 after playing 3 pretty good games in 3 days, which they wont have to do until the B1G tourney.
Tonight's game was a pretty underwhelming 16 point win. UCLA looked very bad at times tonight, and we should have beat them by close to 30. It was probably a good thing that we played them on the 3rd night though, since they are not very good.
The things that Michigan needs to work on: boxing out on the defensive end of the foor. While Michigan still won the rebounding battle overall, they gave up way to many 2nd chance opportunities, leading to 25 2nd chance points for UCLA! 25 points! They still only scored 63 points! Even though Tim had 20 points againt tonight, I feel like Michigan loses him at times. I don't know if Hardaway needs to becom more aggressive and go and get the ball, or if there needs to be more plays called for him when we need a bucket. Our bigs did not play their best game tonight, Morgan seemed to be on the floor for about 3 minutes tonight because of foul trouble, Smot is a head case, and Horford plays too weak too much. It will be nice having another solid body down low next year with McGary.
The parts of the game that I was impressed with: Our overall defense seemed to be pretty good for the most part of the game. Like I said, we gave up 25 points on 2nd chances which means our regular defense gave up only 38 points! Novak was very aggressive tonight on the offensive end of the floor, and when he contributes we are very tough to beat. Hardaway looks un-guardable for long stretches of time. He scored 20 points while making it look easy. He got to the hoop at will, whether it was off back screens, ball screen and dribble drives, or transition lay ups. While I love it when he knocks down a three, it will be very important for this team if he can continue to get easy lay-ups to get him going. Trey Burke just looks like the complete floor general for this team, tonight was his 6 career college game. It will be a ton of fun to watch him grow and get better throughout this year. Horford scoring his career high in points (12 all in the first half) was big for momentum, but I would like to see his hands get stronger and for him to play with more aggression.
What does this mean moving forward? Well I will admit that I was pretty nervous of going 1-2 down in Hawaii, with a win vs Chaminade, and for it to feel like a repeat of 2 years ago. I am happy to say that I was wrong. This team looks hungry for something more than just a tournament appearance. These two wins will go a long way for us to be solidly in the NCAA tourney and not on the bubble. With Beilein's teams historically getting better over the course of a season, I have a feeling we are in for something special this year. I fully believe that this team is a legit top 12 team right now, so improving on that would be impressive. The big men need to keep working on their foul problems, Hardaway needs to continue to use his athleticism and strength to get to the hoop for easy shots, the bench needs to continue to provide key minutes, Burke needs to continue to grow as a leader and catalyst for the team, and the 1-3-1 zone needs to keep improving.
I would not be surprised to see our ranking stay around 15 or even go up a few spots after this week in Hawaii. Tuesday's game at Virginia will be a big test for this team not to come out flat and have a let down against a very beatable team. It will be our first true road game, and road wins are always important. With Beilein at the helm, I would be surprised to see it happen.
Good win for Michigan, only 62 hours left until Ohio!
Go Blue today and always!
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