Even though I have seen this Michigan team do some pretty amazing things in the past year, this win still impressed me quite a bit! Today's game was by far the best this team has looked all year on offense and defense.
Michigan looked dominant at times on the defensive end of the floor. Will Barton, a future first round NBA draft pick was held to 9 points! Michigan switched defenses 3 times during the game. For most of the first half we ran a straight man to man defense with a lot of held to pack the middle of the floor to stop the dribble drive. During this time Michigan went up 18-9, mainly on hot shooting to start the game. But Memphis came right back to take the lead towards the end of the first. At this time was a great coaching decision to switch to the 1-3-1. If ran right, it is a perfect defense to equal the playing field against a more athletic team. Memphis looked confused and terribly coached while trying to score points. The stiff defense during this time allowed the Wolverines to get a 6 point lead at the half. During the 2nd half we saw more of the third defense of the day, the 2-3 zone. This is the standard zone run by many coaches at all levels, and perfected by Jim Boeheim at Syracuse. This allows the defense to automatically pack the middle of the paint, and forces the offense to stay on the perimeter which worked well today since Memphis shot 4-21 from 3 today. This was the best rebounding effort out of a zone I have seen a Michigan team have in the past few years (+14 rebounding margin), and it came against a team that crashes the offensive glass. We also drew a lot of charges (there were actually a few more but the refs didnt want to favor us too much I guess). I hope we can keep the same effort and intensity in our game tomorrow night at 7pm.
The offense finally opened the playbook more than it had all season so far. Most people's main complaint with Beilein's offensive system is that teams tend to live and die by the 3 point shot. In reality, this is the secondary objective of the offense. The main point is to keep all 5 players moving on the floor in hopes to open up easy shots. This movement likes to use the back cut, and if this is used effectively it needs an athletic wing player. Enter: Tim Hardaway Jr. This offense is the perfect countermeasure to the Memphis defensive scheme. They are arrogantly aggressive, which will work against some teams. Against a team that uses a hard back cut, it leaves the rim wide open for lay-ups. This is why we were able to get an 18-9 point lead early, and the main reason we were able to win in the end. For one of the first games in his short career, Tim did not force many (if any) shots, since lay-ups and open jumpers were open most of the game. The big men were very active, setting good ball screens and rolling hard to the front of the rim where they were able to get some easy baskets. Then on top of all of this, we were able to hit some clutch 3 pointers. It is the first time we have scored 70 this year, and it came against a top 10 team.
Koehn's dude: Although Hardaway led the team in scoring and had 7 rebounds, I have to go with Trey Burke. This might be because I respect good point guard play more than most, but oh well... my blog, my choice. Trey Burke had 14 points (should have been 17, since he missed his last 3 free throws), 4 assists, and only 3 turn overs. While these numbers are not going to win him the Naismith, these are the numbers that we have to get out of our point guard. And to have them come from Trey as a true freshman is even bigger. He controlled the tempo very well throughout the game, and kept Memphis out of their comfort zone. He played great perimeter defense in the man to man and 2-3 zone,while picking up the bottom of the 1-3-1 like he has been in the system for a few years. He drew a few charges, and avoided a few on the offensive end. Also, his basketball IQ really impressed me during the middle of the 2nd half when the Memphis center had 4 fouls, Trey went right at him trying to draw his 5th foul. I cant wait to watch our star freshman against Duke's tomorrow (I am assuming they win). Their key player is true freshman Austin Rivers, high school player of the year last year. It should be a good challenge, and very fun to watch!
Until tomorrow, Go Blue!!
I thought Jordan Morgan played pretty well for the time that he was in the game. I will say however, that foul trouble, and putting Memphis in the bonus with over 11 minutes left in the 2nd half will need to be changed if Michigan has any chance at all against the Plumlee brutes tomorrow night.
ReplyDeleteI agree, Jordan looked very athletic during the game. He is definitely better than Horford at this point. He was unlucky on some of those foul calls, so hopefully he can stay in the game longer tomorrow. We will need him.
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