Minnesota Recap

I expected the matchup between Minnesota and Michigan to be one of the better games in the B1G conference this season.  Both teams were coming off of road losses where they battled back from over 20 points, and they both have B1G championship aspirations.  The first half was definitely a heavyweight battle, but the second half just became controlled by the officials and lost all trace of rhythm or tempo.  The last 11 minutes of the game were actually pretty tough to watch, I couldn’t imagine doing it as an outside fan.  Anyways, Michigan prevailed with their first road win against a top ten team since 1996, and since they have a bye this weekend the Wolverines look to take over the top spot in my weekly power rankings. 

While the Gophers are in the bottom half of the B1G conference defensively, scoring 80+ points on the road is still extremely impressive.  The Wolverine offense bounced back in a huge way last night. It started with Tim Hardaway Jr shooting the ball confidently and scoring 17 points in the first half on just 7 shots.  The game ended with a balanced attack that got Morgan and Stauskas involved early, Trey Burke having a quiet 18 points and 9 assists, and GRIII exploding for 3 momentum changing field goals (including this one: GRIII Air Georgia Impression ). I was most impressed with Mitch McGary and Hardaway.  The mountain freshman provided a huge spark off the bench, and early on looked like the only Michigan able to plug up the middle of the paint.  He played so strong and with so much energy that it is hard not to want him to enter the starting lineup.  It was the first game where he didn’t record a defensive rebound, but he did pull down 3 hard fought offensive boards which led to 5 points.  Three plays stand out in my mind from McGary’s time on the court, his first offensive rebound where he out-muscled Mbakwe for the ball and had the awareness to find Burke for a wide open 3 pointer which he nailed.  Then McGary again was alert on the defensive end by picking off two lazy passes, and one resulted in the classic Vanilla Thunder dunk.  The third is Mitch used his body effectively to get post position, and Burke found him in the lane about 10 feet away from the basket.  McGary turned and faced the hoop and confidently pulled the trigger.  If he is taking, and making, these shots with regularity it really opens up Michigan’s already efficient offensive attack. The Wolverines bounced back with 1.30 points per possession, and now are averaging 1.22 points per trip in conference play.  Just for a reference, the Wolverines best B1G output last year was a 1.19 day at Penn State.  This is the reason why I was so surprised at how well the Buckeyes shut down the Michigan offense.

Defensively Michigan is still playing roller coaster basketball.  They are able to be ferocious at times, rotating effectively, denying some passing lanes, limiting post entries, and altering jump shots.  But, then there will be stretches where defensive assignments are forgotten and the effort decreases dramatically.  Last night, Michigan came out from halftime looking like the best team in the country and extending the lead to 19 points. Tubby then took a timeout to try to control the situation, and the next 8 Gopher possessions Michigan gave up extremely easy opportunities.  This is the main reason that Minnesota hit 8 of their first 10 three point attempts.  This is the stretch that the Gophers also collected 5 of their 14 offensive rebounds.  The defensive effort was excellent in Columbus after the first 11 minutes, so I know this team can be stifling when the focus is there.  It will be really interesting to see how they defend the Hoosiers in two weeks, since a 19 point lead will likely not be seen.

I know this game was probably more important for Minnesota to win since they are at home and only get Michigan once this season, but I originally thought the Wolverines were going to win against Ohio State and lose in Minnesota.  While a 2^nd road conference loss would not have been the end of the world, especially with Indiana dropping a home game against the Badgers on Tuesday, but I didn’t want to see this young team head into a week off on a 2 game losing streak.  I trust Coach Beilein, the staff, and Trey Burke to lead this team through tough situations, but a losing streak could have been tough for the 5 contributing freshman to overcome.  Now I am thinking the week off comes at a perfect time.  The Ohio State and Minnesota games were two of the most physical teams this squad will play this year, and I am sure the freshman are tired and sore.  A week off should help heal the bumps and bruises and give the team plenty of time to focus for the next round of tests the B1G will throw at them.