Michigan basketball managed to push all of my emotions last
night en route to snatching a victory from the jaws of defeat. The Wolverines built an early 12 point lead,
thanks in large part to Purdue having 7 turnovers before the 2nd media
timeout. The offense seemed to be moving
well without the ball and the open man was being found. Then Purdue got their feet back under them
and attacked Michigan vigorously, and nothing went right for the Wolverines for
the rest of the half. Just as quickly as
the 12 point lead was made, the maize and blue faced a 4 point deficit at the
break. During this stretch the defensive
rotation disappeared and the offense became incredibly stagnant for such an
athletic team. I had a similar mind set
as a week earlier against Penn State: the problems will be addressed and Michigan
will flex its muscles in the 2nd half and pull away for a relatively
easy win. The next period opened well as
the Wolverines scored the first 4 points to tie the game, but then flashbacks
to Happy Valley arose as the Boilermakers extended the lead to 12 and this team
that was supposed to be competing for a Big Ten title looked listless. It was about this time that I tried to accept
defeat as to stop the flow of frustration that I experienced the week
prior. Then, Terone Johnson’s trash
talking awoke the sleeping superhero that is Trey Burke, who closed the last 11
minutes scoring 21 points. Yes, that is
right, for over a quarter of the game Trey played at an 80 point pace by
himself. When the tears fell on the
Purdue sideline, Michigan had walked away with a 5 point win.
Last night has left me with the question of: will the real
Wolverines please stand up? If you
combine parts of the last two road games, the numbers are as impressive as they
are depressing. In 30 minutes against
the hapless Nittany Lions, Michigan posted a +15 point differential. If you add in 20 minutes from last night
(first 10 and last 10), that margin inflates to +44. The problem is that 80 total minutes were
played, and in the final 10 against Penn State the Wolverines were outscored by
21. Not to be outdone by one bad team,
the Boilermakers posted a 24 point advantage in the middle 20 minutes of the
game. But the most confusing stat could
just be the sheer amount of points conceded.
The Nittany Lions are the 11th best offense in the Big Ten
(or 2nd worse), yet they managed to score 84 points against the
maize and blue. Then Michigan bounced
back with its best defensive performance of the season against Michigan State,
holding the 3rd best offense to just 57 points. Finally, last night the Boilermakers entered
the contest burning up the nets at a clip good enough for 10th best
in the conference, but broke through for 75.
The Wolverines have some glaring problems on the defensive end of the
floor, but the frustrating part is they have shown the ability to be decent
defensive team. Who knows which team
will show up on Sunday against Indiana, or moving forward into the postseason?
But a win is still a win, and all of the team’s goals are
still within their reach. There are
encouraging aspects of any conference win.
Of course I could spend the rest of the post raving about Trey Burke,
but there were a few other special performances as well. As much as ESPN is helping to build Oladipo’s
national POY resume, Burke is not only the most valuable player to any team but
also the best. Could you imagine this
kid in an Ohio State uniform getting to pass the ball to Thomas, what about
Indiana with Zeller and Watford, or Michigan State with Harris, Payne, and Nix? No offense to Aaron Craft, Yogi Ferrell, or
Keith Appling but any of those teams would have run away with the conference at
this point. I think he is getting a
little bit of a Miguel Cabrera treatment right now in that everyone has higher
expectations for this kid than any other player, and most aren’t that impressed
when he just simply meets them. It is
scary that a normal game is 19 points on 11 shots, 7 assists, 4 rebounds, 3
steals, and 2 turnovers. That seems like
an unfair expectation for any college player, let alone a sophomore. I was also impressed with how Nik Stauskas
played. He had a nice shiner from the
UFC-like elbow from Dawson, yet played arguably his best game. Of course he shot the ball pretty well, but I
was more impressed with the confidence in driving to the hoop. I wouldn’t have faulted him for wanting to
stay on the perimeter and avoid contact after leaving the left side of his face
on someone else’s elbow. Instead, he
attacked the hoop time and again, and he did it with a lot of success. He finished with 17 points, but I think he
got some of his swagger back, which is just in time for the biggest game of the
season. Lastly, I liked how Spike
Albrecht played last night. While he
only scored 2 points, being able to play both him and Burke together has been
an effective lineup. It allows Burke to
play off the ball, which gives Michigan the chance to run more plays for the
best player. Spike handled the full
court press well and did a good job initiating the offense. It could be a lineup to look for more against
Indiana as they play with both Hulls and Ferrell.
The Big Ten season comes down to the next 4 days where there
are numerous different outcomes still possible.
For Michigan fans, all that matters is the Sunday afternoon game against
the Hoosiers. Win it and clinch the
regular season title for a 2nd straight year. I am just interested to see which Wolverine
team shows up.
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