Iowa Recap

Yesterday I was able to take in the Michigan beat down of Iowa from the Crisler Center.  The tickets were a Christmas/ birthday present for my dad, and it was fun to see him so excited with all of the changes around the basketball arena.  For the second time, if you haven’t had a chance to check out the upgrades you need to find a way to get there.  Michigan won another B1G game by 28 points which concluded their most impressive week of conference play in quite some time. 

The scary thing about the dominating win is that Iowa actually isn’t a bad team, and could be about the quality of a 2^nd round opponent in the NCAA tournament.  The Wolverines could have won by 40 points with their starters.  This is the best offensive team in the country.  The Hawkeyes started out with a good game plan to deny Trey Burke the ball, and it took Michigan a few minutes to adjust.  Meanwhile, Iowa built a 7-0 lead with Michigan missing open three pointers, layups, and free throws.  Then, the Wolverines began to punish Iowa for pressing, and Michigan began to claw their way back into the game. The middle 10 minutes of the first half saw the Maize and Blue get their first lead, only to have Iowa constantly have an answer on the offensive end.  Enter Mitch McGary, the wide-eyed freshman checked into the game and completely dominated the paint in his 20 minutes of playing time. This energy must have rubbed off on his teammates.  With 8 minutes left of the half Michigan was shooting under 40% from the field and 1-5 from deep.  Iowa also had tracked down 4 offensive rebounds in these first 12 minutes.  By halftime, the Wolverines were shooting 60%, 5-9 from three point range, and Michigan took a rebounding edge. 

The 2^nd half looked like a continuous hype video for the Michigan basketball program.  For a 23 minute stretch the Wolverines put up 72 points and built a 35 point lead.  By the last media timeout, Michigan already had 89 points on the scoreboard and the game had been over for 10 minutes of game time. This game was full of highlight-reel plays, from dunk saving blocks, alley-oops, or incredible one-on-one plays.  It ended with Michigan’s most efficient offensive performance on the season, and they even showed flashes of dominating the defensive end of the floor as well. 

Stellar individual performances were plenty, Glen Robinson III recorded his first double-double and showed why he will likely be a top 5 draft pick.  Mitch McGary had his best game in a Michigan uniform with 11 points, 3 blocks, 2 assists, 4 points, and played great interior defense. Hardaway continued his torrid shooting to start the B1G season to finish with 19 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. Stauskas bounced back by knocking down 3 more triples, and included back to back amazing drives to the hoop.  Lastly, Trey Burke continues to show why he is the best player in the B1G with 19 points and 12 assists.  Burke missed his first three shots, but didn’t miss for the rest of the game while looking completely un-guardable for stretches.  Folks this guy has so many more individual weapons in his bag this season, whether it is the hesitation blow by dribble, lightning quick cross-over dribble, the step-back jump shot, finishing strength over a center, or better use of the on-ball screen.  I know NBA scouts are rating our point guard to be drafted in the mid-first round, but if I was an NBA GM Burke could play for me anyday.

Looking ahead, Michigan tries to go for history on Wednesday against Nebraska to match the best start in program history.  It could be a tricky game that the players want to overlook, but if they don’t, expect another dominating performance.  Next Sunday Michigan travels south to play Thad’s Thugs in Columbus in what will be the Wolverine’s toughest test to date.  Aaron Craft was the only individual defender that really slowed down Trey Burke last season, but if some of the new tricks work next weekend and Burke continues his dominance the B1G player of the year should be close to wrapped up.