Every championship team needs to pull out an ugly win or two throughout the season, and last night was another one of those games for Michigan. After the first 10 minutes of play, last night’s game is one where 90% of people would have restarted it on their PS3. In just under 6 minutes Morgan and Smot had accumulated 2 fouls each and were exiled to the bench for the rest of the half. Novak had also picked up a cheap foul, and the refs seemed like they were supposed to be at a Big East game rather than at a real basketball game. Hardaway is even more of a head case than I could have imagined by missing free throw after free throw, then trying to get back into the game by forcing up bad shot after bad shot. Novak had his worst 2 halves of basketball this year, and then McLimans continued his streak of rebound-less basketball (which is up to 38 minutes now). But this was real life, and the reset button was not allowed. I thought if Michigan could keep the game within 5 at the half they would come out and win the game pretty easily. The final score looks like an easier win than what happened in the 2nd.
Michigan was ahead 11-3 before Morgan got his second foul of the half, and in the last 14+ minutes we were outscored 28 to 13. The offense had absolutely no rhythm, since Tim was a hazard to himself and the team with how much he was trying to think out there, Vogrich and Stu just wanted to stand in a spot and become jump shooters, Mclimans… enough said, Novak couldn’t find free tattoos if he was in Columbus (or an angry leprechaun if he was in East Lansing… that’s a Tom Izzo joke people). This left Burke by himself to break down the 1-3-1 zone, which he looked more like a freshman than he has most of the season. Northwestern has the worst interior defense in the conference, yet the ball barely went inside of the 3 point line. Michigan shot 38 threes (Guiness book of world records?) and only 18 twos for the entire game. they almost shot 1 three per minute. What a joke. On the defensive end, Michigan switched on every screen which confused Northwestern for much of the game. Shurna ended up with 5 2nd chance points at the end of the 1st half to get to 10 points overall. He ended up with 14, 6 below his average. Northwestern is also one of the worst overall rebounding teams in the nation, especially on the offensive end. Yet, at halftime they had come away with 8 offensive boards. Does McLimans just run from the ball, how can a 6’11” guy not be able to get 1. I honestly don’t know how this is even possible. The Wolverines went to the break down 31 to 24 even though they couldn’t play any worse.
I would guess most fans were pretty positive at the beginning of the 2nd half since Morgan and Smot were able to come back on the floor and McLimans had his seat back. Michigan immediately went to work and began whiddling down the deficit. They got back into the game within the first 3 minutes of the half with some good defense that resulted in some open shots for the offense. More importantly they did not give up 2nd chance points. Then over the next 10 minutes the game was just pretty ugly. I got the impression Beilein (or Novak) lit them up a little at half time, so they came out with urgency. Since Northwestern did not look even close to as good last night as they did in AA, overcoming 7 points was not that difficult. Once Michigan got within a possession, the game became a stalemate. We continued to jack up 3 after 3, and Northwestern kept being offensively inept. Then after 2 straight turnovers with around 5 minutes to play and a garbage 5-0 run by the purple people eaters, Michigan looked like they were put out of their misery. Beilein called a timeout, and maybe they remembered playing for a B1G championship. They came out with more fire and actually attacked the 1-3-1 zone. They got into the lane, and caused all 5 defenders to crash the paint. This resulted in WIDE OPEN shooters (even more than they were for the rest of the game). Within 2 possessions, big Blue was back in the lead. From there it seemed likely to win the game in regulation, but Michgan could not finish the Wildcats off. NW even had the ball during a tied game with 1 minute left (where they got 2 shots off and missed both badly). With 24 seconds left, it seemed probable that someone for Michigan would hit the game winner, but nope they wanted to play 5 more minutes.
Overtime came and was over in the first 2 minutes. After an empty possession for each team to begin the extra frame, Michigan made 3 triples in a row. The best one being the first, where Novak missed another open look but hustled to get the rebound as it went out of bounds. He threw it off Hearn’s face and recovered the reflection in bounds. This led to a pass to the top of the key for Burke to knock down the shot. Northwestern scored 18 points in the 2nd half, and Michigan scored 18 points in the 5 minute OT. Novak was the best player on the floor during this extra time, doing everything possible to make this had a chance of a banner year. He pulled down a defensive rebound between two Wildcats, made all of his free throws, had the offensive rebound and assist, and even hit the 2nd of 3 long range shots.
For a team that was fighting for its NCAA tourney life, NW looked more like a purple stuffed kitty cat than a team deserving of playing on the big stage. When Morgan and Smot were on the floor, Michigan outscored the Wildcats 53-27. Northwestern (which has one of the most efficient offenses in the nation) was limited to 27 points in 40 possessions. A win is a win, but what would have happened if the refs would have realized they are officiating a big boy basketball game?
Regardless, one more game down and 3 more to go. That is 4 conference wins in a row (2 on the road). Saturday will be one of the most emotional environments in Crisler as it is senior day for Michigan. The Michigan faithful will get a chance to pay their respects to Stu, Zack, and Corey. Even though Stu and Zack are limited athletically, it has been absolutely amazing watching them develop into legitimate college players. They have been the key players in turing around Michigan and creating a winning environment. They are the leaders on and off the floor, and they will be missed an incredible amount as this program moves forward. I actually think they deserve their jerseys hung in the banners or something in the new Crisler named after them. When these two undersized, under-athletic Hoosiers came to Ann Arbor, most people thought this is all that Beilein can recruit? Sure he can coach in the Big East, but what about here in the best conference? 4 years later these two guys have been key factors in Michigan being in the NCAA tourney 3 times. Nobody could have predicted that, and that is what makes this team so much fun to root for.
Go Blue!
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