After 2 hard fought games for the Big Blue basketball team, they are left with a third game that will determine the success of the Maui trip for the squad. It comes tonight against UCLA. The name is more intimidating than anything with the Bruins. They are currently 1-3, with the only win coming against Chaminade (the Division II host school of the Maui). So far they have lost at home to Loyola Marymount and Middle Tennessee by 20, then in the Maui against Kansas. This is the type of game that Michigan needs to win if they don't want to be on the bubble come next March.
UCLA is led on offense by senior guard Jerime Anderson who averages almost 14 points a game, which is what Trey Burke has been putting up. They also have their very own Derrick Nix in a truck named Josh Smith (he is listed at 6'10" 305 lbs... this is about the same as when Shaq was listed at 310 lbs... hah.) He actually has some decent footwork and can rebound well, but he can only play about 15-20 mintes a game with either foul troubles or because he is 6'10" 400 lbs. They do not have as much offensive firepower as Memphis or Duke, but it does not mean we can let up on defense. They have a few players who can shoot the 3 ball pretty well, and like we saw last night... if a team shoots 60% from the big boy line they will always be tough to beat.
On defense UCLA under Ben Howland usually likes to play a pressure man to man defense. But they are not as athletic as previous teams, so it is possible that they drop into a 2-3 zone at times to protect Josh Smith or to not get burned by our quick guards. UCLA has been known to throw some full court press as well, but Memphis tried on Monday and it did not work for them, so I am not expecting that to work tonight either.
Key matchup: Tyler Lamb vs Tim Hardaway. As we saw last night, when Tim goes this team goes. So in the first half when he chose to take a nap, our offense looked pretty anemic. Then the second half came and we scored 53 points (19 from Tim). When he is being aggressive on the offensive end of the floor this team plays with a lot more confidence and is very difficult to defend and beat. Tyler Lamb will have to play defense each time down the floor, which can take away from his offensive energy. Also, Tim will have to make sure that Lamb does not get a lot of open shots to get into a rhythm.
It is hard for me to pick against Michigan in this game becase UCLA has under performed all season this far. But this game has a sort of trap feel to it. We have played 2 highly rated teams in 2 days, these are easy to get hyped up for even if you are a little physically tired. How will our young team respond to playing 3 nights in a row against a team that they should beat? I have a fear that we might come out a little flat (whether that is for 5 minutes or the first half), but I trust Beilein to get his team motivated and turned around before it gets out of hand. Michigan 65 UCLA 58.
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