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Michigan avoided a let down Tuesday night and handled Norfolk State at home. Norfolk State is not a good team but Michigan took care of business with a 34 point win. Michigan might have been a little too fired up early in the game and it showed with their brutal 0-10 shooting to start. The game was only 2-0 Norfolk State at the first TV time out after a pair of free throws. Luckily Michigan settled in after a Stu Douglass three pointer and rolled from there. Highlights!

Michigan played fast and looked to run from the opening tip, Michigan had 75 possessions compared to their season average of 62. You often hear that transition threes aren’t good shots but I don’t think Beilein has a problem with them. Michigan shot 33% for the game from long range and took 27 treys. I thought most of the shots were good looks, there are only one or two questionable shots that come to mind (Stu took a really deep triple).

Overall there were plenty of sloppy moments that had Beilein pulling his hair out, but you can’t really complain that much over a 34 point win.  5 players managed double figures: Manny Harris (16), Anthony Wright (12), Zack Novak (10), Jevohn Shepherd (11), and DeShawn Sims (11). The defense also was very good throughout the night. Holding Norfolk State to 49 points on 75 possessions is impressive.

A couple highlights on an individual basis:

Jevohn Shepherd: Best game he has played at Michigan, Jevohn did a little bit of everything. He hit a three, drove the lane, had some rebounds, didn’t turn it over, and stepped up when Gibson went down. His final stat line: 17 minutes, 11 points (5-9), 3 assist, 0 TO, 4 rebs

Manny Harris: I was a big fan of moving Manny to the wing and he seems a lot more comfortable there. Manny had 16 points on 7-13 shooting, 15 rebounds, and 4 assists in only 26 minutes. Manny didn’t force it either, his shots weren’t there early in the first half but he didn’t force things. Norfolk State wasn’t necessarily

“I am just more comfortable and I am stronger. Over the summer I worked on ball-handling, shooting and getting stronger. Now I feel like I am more of a complete player.”

I think Manny wraps it up pretty well, last year he could score, this year he’s doing it all.

Kelvin Grady: Kelvin didn’t shoot it well but had 5 assists to 1 turnover. He looked pretty good running the break at times but he still had some of those “Grady moments”. The one that comes to mind is a pass into Cronin in the high post with less than 15 seconds left in the half that went the other way for an easy layup. A solid game from Grady though and he is definitely starting to get more comfortable.

Stu Douglass: Stu can play, he’s not going to jump out of the gym but he can shoot it and pass it just as well as anyone on this team. I’m still waiting for a game when he really gets hot to see him do some real damage. He just looks really comfortable in the offense and his shoot is a thing of beauty when it goes up.

Zack Novak: Novak struggled a bit in New York City but he looked to be getting back on the right track tonight. Zack had 10 points (4-7) and 4 rebounds in 16 minutes. The highlight of Zack’s game was when he took it coast to coast, splitting two defenders for a lay up. I think it’s too early to count Zack out from being a contributor on this team, he missed a week or so of practice before the season and is still catching up a bit.

Anthony Wright: I think it might be time to end this experiment. Anthony missed 5 shots during Michigan’s 0-10 start. I think a lot of the time Anthony just tries to do too much out there, 10 shots in a game is too much for Anthony at this stage in his career. He settled down a bit later in the game and hit some shots but it was not his finest night.

Laval Lucas-Perry: The hype builds… Apparently Tim McCormick anointed Laval Lucas-Perry as the best Michigan point guard since Rumeal Robinson. I didn’t hear the quote but I saw it mentioned in various places. I think this might be a little bit of a stretch for a guy that might not even be a pure point guard but I really do think Laval will make a big difference on this team.

Zack Gibson: Gibson went down hard early on a layup where he got fouled. He landed hard and it’s apparently a tailbone injury. Here’s what Beilein had to say:

“He fell right on his tailbone on the little step across move under the basket. He just fell right on it. He tried to give it a go and he was really in a lot of pain. Usually a tailbone bruise is a matter of a few days we hope, so we have to treat it with ice right now. If it had been a closer game, I think that we could have done a few more things with him, but it as a shame he got hurt, he was having a good night.”

His “good night” included 1 basket, a missed free throw, and 3 boards in 6 minutes. Hopefully Zack is ok but it was nice to see Jevohn get some minutes.

Overall it was a fun game to watch and the crowd was actually not bad for an 8:30 tip against Norfolk. The student section was packed for a game against a team like Norfolk State and it’s safe to say that a little (just a little) bit of excitement is surrounding Michigan basketball.

There were some fun plays, some dunks, and we even outrebounded them 53-37! Fun night at Crisler and Michigan has to keep the momentum rolling. A win over Norfolk State doesn’t really say much (I would guess they will have an RPI of 300+ when all is said and done) but a win is a win.

Basics:
Who: Norfolk State @ Michigan
Where: Crisler Arena
When: 8:30 PM EST
TV: BTN
Radio: MGoBlue, WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050), WCHB-AM (1200).

Norfolk State makes the trek from Virginia up to snowy Ann Arbor for tonight’s late tip off at 8:30 ET. This is the first ever meeting between Norfolk and Michigan and it appears to be a winnable game as the Wolverines look to build on their New York City momentum. Game preview courtesy of StatSheet.

Looking down Norfolk State’s roster the main scoring threat is Michael Deloach. The 6′0″ guard is off to a hot start early averaging 25 points per game and shooting 50% from three point range along with 7.5 rebounds and 5 assists per game. Deloach is complemented by wing man Corey Lyons, Lyons is averaging 16 points per game but also an astonishing .1 assist to turnover ratio.

Aleek Pauline, Brandon Monroe, and Joseph Dorsett-Jeffreys (of Maize Rage infamy) round out the starting line up averaging a combined total of 12 points and 11 rebounds per game. Freshman Kyle O’Quinn (7ppg, 4.5 rpg) and James Williams (4.5 ppg) as well as senior Kevin Worlsey (4.5 ppg) appear to be the main options off the bench. Because Norfolk State is averaging only 12.5 assists per game and 17.5 turnovers I would expect to see the 1-3-1 early and often as Michigan tries to get in passing lanes.

As for Michigan, this team is full of confidence after their win over UCLA and it shows in the press:

“That’s a big point for our confidence, beating the No. 4-ranked team,” Harris said. “I felt like our team was confident before, but now it’s to another whole level.”

However Beilein claims the team is staying grounded and practice and still working hard:

Coach John Beilein said he put the players through a grueling practice Sunday — “You’d have thought we lost two (in New York),” he said — and has told them that these opponents don’t care about a national-attention grabbing win.

CJ also updated his blog after the trip to New York City, the focus of the team seems to be to trust the system and go all out for 40 minutes.

What I mean by this is, we need to trust what we have been taught to do on the court by our coaching staff. Trust in our system got us a 1-1 record versus two top five teams in the country. The system we have in place is designed for us to have success. Without question we have done a better job of this so far this year, but we still have a ways to go.

The problem with this week is that Norfolk State and Savannah State are perfect trap games. If coming off a big weekend in New York City and looking ahead to a big game at Maryland wasn’t enough of an issue, it’s also Thanksgiving. It’s important for Michigan to come out and execute, they can’t afford a slip up here.

Let’s hear your predictions in the comments.

Around The Big Ten:

• Diebler Leads Buckeyes Past Falcons
  Ohio State squeaks by Bowling Green
• Maui Invitational game one: Notre Dame 88, Indiana 50.
  Indiana gets drubbed by Notre Dame in Maui, faces St Josephs today.
• UConn’s tough
  The Badgers kept it close at times but UConn pulled away for an easy win.
• Old Spice Classic Preview
  SpartansWeblog looks at the tournament which includes MSU, Maryland, Gonzaga, Tennessee, Oklahoma State, and others
• Plenty of other college hoops on tonight as well. Texas/Notre Dame, UNC/Oregon, Kansas/Syracuse, and Oakland/Kansas State should all be interesting or at least feature teams on Michigan’s schedule.

Recruiting Rankings. Rivals put out their list of 2009 team recruiting rankings by conference. Michigan finished a respectable fourth in the Big Ten behind Indiana, Illinois, and Minnesota. Darius Morris was also named the top dog at the point guard position. Looking ahead to next year has to have a Michigan fan excited as long as Manny stays. You take away CJ, Dave, and Jevohn and add a freshman class of Darius Morris, Matt Vogrich, Blake McLimans, and Jordan Morgan to what is mostly the same core.

DaShonte Riley. I have received a lot of emails about DaShonte Riley choosing not to sign with Georgetown and whether or not he is an option for Michigan. I don’t see any way that Michigan goes after Riley because nothing about it makes sense. Michigan is out of scholarships for 2009 and Riley isn’t a great fit anyways. Riley was considered a can’t miss prospect a couple years ago but his stock has dropped steadily from a 5 star to a 3 star recruit. Michigan will move a long and keep looking to the class of 2010.

Top 25? I also got a couple questions about whether Michigan could make it into the top 25. The polls are out and Michigan is #32 in the AP and #45 in the coaches poll. One win against UCLA doesn’t warrant a move into the top 25 at this point in my book. Polls in college basketball are relatively meaningless compared to football so I think this is the least of Michigan’s concerns. The most important take away from the UCLA game is that it will be a resume booster if Michigan finds itself on the bubble.

Tickets. There is a graphic on MGoBlue that says the Duke game is sold out but it looks like you can still buy singles. If you are planning to get to that game I would buy my tickets sooner than later. Another reminder about tickets, tomorrow’s game is $1 if you bring two canned goods for the Food Gatherers. This is a great deal and hopefully people make it out despite the 8:30 tip.

Laval Lucas-Perry. It seems like no Michigan basketball broadcast is complete with out a mention of LLP. Dickie V spoke very highly of him and I haven’t heard anyone who doesn’t expect him to be a contributor. The questions I have are where he fits, does he play the point guard or the two guard. Reports have him as more of an undersized two who could play some one. I just worry about putting all these expectations on a guy who is coming into the middle of the season cold and hasn’t played college hoops since last Fall.  There are still lots of questions with how LLP changes the rotation as well. Beilein has talked about playing less people and I think Novak might be the odd man out right now.

Links!

• Well, maybe UCLA just isn’t as good as everyone thought
  Beilein’s turnover magic still worked against Duke and a look at other Big Ten action.
• Ray Floriani on Michigan/Duke
  A good look at the first four minutes of both halves.
• Ray Floriani on Michigan/UCLA
  First four minutes again
• Off the bench, Sims provides huge spark for ‘M’
  If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.
• On Men’s Basketball: Duke is just another measuring step for Michigan
  “It’s like we’re in the same league,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “But playing against John’s teams will always make us better. One of the reasons we scheduled Michigan was because playing them will make us better, win or lose.”
• Manny Being Manny, Johnny Being Johnny
  So, how has Michigan all of a sudden become relevant again? The answer is simple: Manny Harris and John Beilein.
• All-Detroit Preseason 2008
  I know they aren’t Beilein recruits but it has to help recruiting in Detroit that Manny and Peedi are two of the best players from the city in college hoops.
• Michigan Sleeper Report
  If your looking for some names to watch — I don’t know about Michigan interest but they are worth keeping an eye on.
• Michigan Rolls to Upset Win Over No. 13 Vanderbilt
  Huge win for Borseth and company.

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.

MGoBlog has some good guidelines for live blog conduct here that are worth following. I’ll be the only moderator to start. If I can’t keep up with your posts I apologize in advance but we’ll see how it goes.