Duke 71 – Michigan 56
Michigan didn’t have enough left in the tank against Duke’s stifling defense tonight. Michigan shot 35.8% from the field and 22% from long range. Against a team that is loaded with talent this isn’t going to cut it. However the encouraging fact is that Michigan didn’t get blown off the floor. Duke pulled away late but in general Michigan was competitive for stretches. Duke just flat out knows how to win these preseason tournaments.
Manny Harris set the Coaches vs. Cancer tournament record for points scored, 96, in 4 games passing fellow Detroit product Chris Douglass-Roberts. Manny is off to a hot start averaging 24 points per game through the first four games. He struggled shooting at times in MSG and often took shots behind the NBA line, I don’t know if he was trying to show off his range or was just confused. But overall it was a great start to the season for Manny.
But overall this is a successful weekend. Michigan knocked off a top 5 team and didn’t really get embarrassed by the Blue Devils. I don’t want to overreact but once you add Laval Lucas-Perry I am starting to feel a lot better about Michigan’s chances in the Big Ten. I am sure any Michigan fan would take a split with UCLA and Duke and now Michigan needs to take care of business against Norfolk and Savannah State before another big test at Maryland.
Everyone needs to get out to Crisler on Tuesday night (8:30 pm) for the game against Norfolk State. Anyone gets in for $1 if you donate two cans of food and students of course get in free with an M-Card. This team deserves a good crowd for their first game back from a successful trip to New York City.
I’m going to play with making some kind of comprehensive review of the tournament or maybe just the UCLA game later next week. I also thought the live blog was a success and hopefully a few more people join the next time I might have to hire a few moderators.
