Michigan got back to its winning ways on Sunday afternoon
with a much needed victory over rival Michigan State. The Wolverines found a way to win the game
even without playing anywhere near their peak efficiency. Michigan escaped with a 58-57 win to keep
their slim Big Ten championship hopes alive, and more importantly, the win
hopefully stopped the downward spiral the team has been on for the past 3
weeks.
The Wolverines were held under 1ppp for the 2nd
time against Michigan State this season, but they picked up their defensive
intensity so much that Michigan still was on the winning side. While it was not the prettiest, or easiest,
win of the season, good teams need to find ways to grind out W’s. Especially a team like Michigan whose
toughness has been questioned time and again.
It was a bizarre stat line from Sunday’s game because the Wolverines
finished 0-12 from the 3 point line; it was the first game since 1999 that a Michigan
team was held without a triple. The maize
and blue also outscored the bigger, post-oriented, Spartans inside the
paint. Trey Burke again put the Wolverines
on his back and willed the win. For
anyone that thought Appling is the best point guard in the state of Michigan,
Burke should have quieted any questions.
The soon to be lottery pick completely outplayed the well-seasoned
Spartan veteran in every aspect. Appling
could not stay in front of Burke and had to use hand checks and holds to even
stay near him. Luckily the refs called
some of these efforts as fouls, but realistically could have called dozens
more. Burke went back to having one of
his “normal” games with a 4 to 1 assist to turnover ratio, collected 4 huge
defensive rebounds, and upped his on ball defense to the tune of 5 steals. That is an Aaron Craft-type number. On top of all this, Michigan played 36
minutes without its best perimeter shooter (Stauskas) and had to rely on 170
pound Caris LeVert, who up until December was expected to be redshirted. Tim Hardaway couldn’t shoot his way out of
his slump, and it even manifested itself when he attacked the hoop. He missed 3 of the teams 7 missed layups in
the game. Michigan had a double digit
lead around the 8 minute mark of the 2nd half even with struggling
at the hoop and from their patented three point shot. Just think how impressive this game could
have been if Michigan made 3 deep shots (still almost 15% under their average)
and only missed 3 layups. The Wolverines
would have almost copied what Michigan State did in East Lansing.
Michigan played one of its best defensive games on the
season, and if they can mimic that intensity for the rest of the season, the
Wolverines are once again Final Four contenders. Michigan rotated to help defense quicker and
more smoothly, they even collected 7 offensive fouls on the Spartans. Most notably, Glenn Robinson III stood in for
2 charges himself, the first in over a month. This is how the Wolverines need to defend the
hoop because they have no dominant shot blockers. As mentioned above, Burke led the way in the
effort department with his best on ball defense of the season. He was active, instead of reactive and forced
Appling where Trey wanted him to go instead of running alongside his back
hip. Caris LeVert offered a huge step up
defensively over Stauskas. His length
and instincts really affected Gary Harris.
However, there is still room for improvement, Michigan State rebounded
half of their misses (19 offensive rebounds) for 28 second chance points. The first shot defense was the best of the
season, and if they can also dominate the defensive glass like they did early
in the season, Michigan could win games with their defense. Even with a lot of easy second chance
opportunities, the Spartans were still only able to shoot 36% on the
afternoon. The interior defense was much
tougher and physical with the bigs from Michigan State, and Coach Beilein even
played a 2 post lineup for stretches of the game. While Morgan’s presence didn’t seem to help
much in Happy Valley, it was clearly evident on Sunday. Derrick Nix was limited to 2-9 shooting with
6 turnovers, much different than his dominant game in East Lansing.
I keep wondering if any of these gut wrenching losses would
drop the team to rock bottom and have the player leaders to step up and change
the attitude, but maybe the Penn State one actually accomplished this. The first loss of the season in Columbus
seemed to wake up the team for a few weeks, but the buzzer beating half-court
shot in Wisconsin seemed to just deflate the Wolverines. The embarrassing blow-out loss in East
Lansing didn’t even seem to wake the giant.
I personally thought if losing that badly to a rival couldn’t inspire an
attitude change on defense then nothing could.
I will still wait to see how focused Michigan will be, for all 40
minutes, when they head to West Lafayette.
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