Basics:
Who: Michigan @ Maryland
Where: Comcast Center, College Park, MD
When: 7:30 PM ET
TV: ESPNU
Line: Maryland by 6
Preview: Stat Sheet
Radio: MGoBlue, WWJ-AM (950), WTKA-AM (1050)
Streaming Video
(This is through a stream on Justin.tv which is apparently ran by an MSU fan but it seems to consistently stream ESPNU)
It seems like every game is a new challenge for Michigan. Next up: win a tough road game in College Park. The tricky part about predicting this game is that Michigan matches up pretty well with Maryland. Both teams are undersized in the post and have a playmaker on the wing. Not to mention that Maryland and Michigan both have upset victories over top 10 teams but have also looked less than impressive at times.
The Terrapins’ Adrian Bowie is insistent that Maryland will not have anymore performances similar to their performance against the Hoyas:
“We’re not getting blown out like that no more this season,” Bowie said. “This is Maryland basketball. We can’t get blown out this year. We’re trying to get back to the NCAAs, so we can’t let that happen anymore.”
The atmosphere in College Park will be a big test for Michigan, especially for freshman Stu Douglass and Zack Novak. The place will be rocking for what is probably Maryland’s toughest non-conference home game this year (Note: It’s not sold out as I had previously written, tickets are on sale here). For a sense of the atmosphere, check out this video and this description of the student section from Wikipedia:
Maryland students are primarily positioned along courtside and “The Wall,” which top to bottom are filled with student seating behind the opponent’s 2nd half basket. Normally there are 4,000 students in attendance, so Maryland is considered one of the most intimidating student sections in the ACC alongside North Carolina and Duke.
Michigan has played at places like the Breslin and Cameron Indoor so it’s not completely foreign but of course they haven’t got any Ws. And of course we can barely sell 500 student tickets and struggle to get 4000 people to show up at Crisler. At least we have the right attitude:
“We’re going in knowing we can win if we stay together,” guard Manny Harris said Tuesday. “That’s all we can think about.”
Back to the teams on the court, the go to guy for Maryland is junior guard Greivis Vasquez. The Venezuela native averages 17ppg, 5.2rpg, and 4.2 apg but he isn’t necessarily an efficient shooter. Vasquez only has an eFG% of 45.8%, you can compare this to Manny’s eFG% of 58.3%. He’s a playmaker though so Michigan’s first goal has to be to take him out of the game.
Maryland has several solid complementary players around Vasquez but none that really stand out. Adrian Bowie, Eric Hayes, and Landon Milbourne all average between 8 and 11 points. Bowie (50%) and Hayes (career 38.6%) are the main threats from long range for Maryland.
Maryland has been in a huge funk from three point range though and they have made only 4 of their last 31 attempts (12.9%). Steve Yanda from the Washington Post writes that Maryland is stressing patience on offense and not settling for jumpers. The Terps don’t sound like a great passing team, and we have seen great passing teams like Duke tear up the 1-3-1 contrary to a mediocre passing team like UCLA which struggled.
In terms of size, the Terrapin starting lineup measures: 6-4, 6-4, 6-6, 6-7, 6-8 and they don’t really have any contributors off the bench with a lot of size either. This is good for an undersized Michigan team and I would love to see Michigan dump the ball down low to DeShawn Sims early and often.
Maryland likes to play at a faster pace than Michigan, they average 71.2 possessions per game compared to Michigan’s 62.9. As a team Maryland rebounds 48.3% of shots to Michigan’s 50.2%. Michigan also has a slightly higher free throw rate of 34.5 compared to Maryland’s 32.5. However Maryland has a lower turnover percentage (18% ) than Michigan (21.1%) this season.
The key to this game for Michigan is having someone besides Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims step up and score some points. I don’t care whether it is Zack Gibson, Stu Douglass, Zack Novak, or Anthony Wright but someone has to make some three pointer shots tonight. If Michigan can get a third scoring option that scores in double digits I think they have a chance.
Overall Michigan definitely has a chance in this game if they can keep their composure. Maryland is a solid team but they aren’t spectacular. On the road I think John Beilein realizes how important it is to get a good start and I fully expect DeShawn Sims to start tonight (probably for Zack Gibson). It’s all about weathering runs and if Michigan can do that they have a chance to make another statement.
What They’re Saying:
- U-M basketball trying to build Big Dance résumé
“We’re playing for more than ourselves.” – DeShawn Sims - Wolverines brace for two tough meetings
“They’re searching as well, but the Michigan State game was very, very impressive,” Beilein said. “I think more about that one than how they played without any preparation against Georgetown.” - Beilein Starts Small, but Has Big Plans for Michigan Hoops
Washington Post on Michigan hoops - Testudo Times
The opposition blog which will undoubtedly have a game post up later today. It’s interesting to note the Maryland fan base’s embarassment with their performance against rival Georgetown. - B10/ACC Challenge Blogs: MSU vs UNC, Clemson over Illinois (how do you not get a shot off?), Duke over Purdue, Minnesota over Virginia, Ohio State over Miami, Boston College over Iowa. Big Ten Geeks has a wrap up of yesterdays action.
Let’s hear your predictions in the comments!
We’ve got a 10-strong contingent heading up to College Park from Washington tonight to represent Michigan. Go Blue!
Prediction: 76-74 win, another strong game for Jevohn and some clutch 3-point shooting from Novak and Douglass.
68-63 good guys. Manny hits some free throws to bring the final margin.
I said the same thing about Illinois last night, Dylan. How do you not get a shot off? As soon as he hesitated at the top of the key, I was like “They aren’t going to get a shot off…” and sure enough. McCamey looked like he had no idea what kind of situation they were in. As the announcers said, take it to the hole.
Unbelievable. That may very well be what gives the ACC ANOTHER win in the Challenge. Unless UM, PSU, and Northwestern take care of business, or two of those three win and MSU or IU pull of the upset of the year to this point, we’ve lost to the ACC, yet again.
I see a 65-61 victory for Michigan.
With Dave’s 10 and my 2 we’re up to 12 Michigan fans in attendance!
I know the local alumni club sent around a notice for tickets awhile back, so my guess is there will be a few more of us.
This will be the first time for me in an ACC gym.
Count four more fans chanting, “Go Blue” in the Maryland student section tonight. I can’t wait to get in there.
Any word on if we can catch the game streaming online?
Seven more for the good guys.
This game seems like a perfect matchup for Jevon to have a serious breakout game at the 4 spot, but handling the ball ‘like it is a grenade’ according to Beilein could be a factor for an away game.
I really hope we dump it down low to Gibson and Sims in the first 10 minutes and give them a chance to get going and maybe get a shooting rythm from the foul line before they start chucking up out side shots (especially Gibson). I hope Wright is on a short leash with shooting the ball, like if he misses his first three shots he’s done shooting unless it is a layup.
Have to finish every chance on the fast break. hopefully we’ve been working on this a lot. That will be key to calming their crowd down a little is if we can generate a few early turnovers and get some fast break points.
If the kids can play with the heart they’ve showed so far we definitely have a shot: 62 – 60 Win for Michigan in a squeaker!
wow, a lot of optimism in these comments for a Michigan win. i’m not so optimistic, but of course i’ll be cheering hard for the upset. i thought the game would be streamed on ESPN360, but i just checked the schedule and it’s not on there. anyone have any information about streaming? a sopcast link maybe?
Most basketball games I’ve wanted to watch on ESPNU this year were streamed on justin.tv. I would definitely do a search on there for the game, ESPN U, something along those lines tonight. I’ll check before I head out to watch the game as well. The quality is pretty decent besides the obnoxious chat on the right side of the screen.
I don’t think we will cure our slow start blues. I can see us playing catchup all night. I’ll take Maryland 70-61. Hopefully I’m wrong.
I will be there with 2 other Michigan alums. The game is not a sellout and tickets are still available at http://www.umterps.com.
Thanks for the streaming tip, Dylan. I just checked out justin.tv and it looks promising… I didn’t see anything definitive yet but I’ll check it out closer to game time.
i know there is a game tonight but i just got tickets for Saturday’s game against duke…not sure where yet but i can’t wait
I tried buying tickets off of mgoblue.com for one of my buddies last night, and it was all sold out. Now, I know stubhub, ticketcity, and others still have tickets, but I was wondering where you got those tickets from aaron?
You know, we’re 5 and 1 without actually having a game where we’re shooting hot, especially from 3pt range. Maybe this is the game we finally get in a groove, but it’s unlikely considering the setting. Tonight, we win the turnover battle and continue to play stellar defense and win by 5 pts.
Let’s not overplay the “we match up well with them because they’re undersized” card. Remember that Savannah State was also undersized, and look what they did to us. I’m not suggesting that Maryland will come out shooting 71% and 100% from three, but still…
Re: the conversation above about where to watch, I called and the Arena in downtown A2 has ESPNU. Has anyone else checked around town?
Big game tonight, probably last chance in nonconf to get a solid win. I don’t see us being able to play with Duke or Uconn, but this game is very winnable. I watched all three of Maryland’s games last weekend and was not impressed. They are a wild team on offense and do not seem to have any identity. They try and run flex mostly on offense, which we should be able to negate with the 1-3-1. Although I expect them to try and post up our point guard on the back end of the zone. Other than that they live off Vasquez’s ability to attack off the dribble and he is very inconsistent with his play making ability. They are decent on defense mainly because they have a lot of interchangeable parts. I expect us to force some TO’s and get out in transition. I predict Gibson has his break out game for the season, and by that I mean 15 points. But that should be enough, and Mich wins 73-65. Anyone have a link yet for the game tonight?
Thanks rdlwolverine… My Mistake.
Here are a couple more links worth a read:
http://weblogs.baltimoresun.co.....t_win.html
http://voices.washingtonpost.c.....actor.html
Streaming video link added to the top of the post. Same guy that did the recent MSU game on ESPNU…
http://www.justin.tv/timmex if you dont want to scroll up.
Discussion of course is encouraged here and I’ll also try to post updates from my phone while I’m watching the game.
Go Blue.
62-59 Beilein Bunch
would Love to Finally have the BigTen win the challenge
also would help mich get to tourny, cuz conf would have better RPI
Isn’t Timmex a huge Sparty fan. I thought he might stream the game, but was worried that he might switch to MSU or something else just to spite the UofM fans. I hope someone else streams it.
Good question, it seems like he just streams ESPNU… And someone posted on the rivals board he would be showing it but I don’t know. The Cards channel that streamed ESPNU before seems to be MIA… Seems like the best option I’ve seen let me know if anyone sees anything better.
predicting the score is dumb but what the hell, Michigan losses 197-14. Grady runs for two touchdown and converts a 2pt attempt late in the 4th quarter.
link for michigan vs maryland game
http://www.justin.tv/timmex
http://www.justin.tv/timmex working for you guys? anyone find other options out there?
7-6 Michigan at the first media time out. Stu has a triple. Ant has three missed shots. Peedi a put back and manny a runner in the lane.
15-12 11:35.
I was watching it through http://www.justin.tv/timmex earlier, but now it’s now showing and just looks to be loading.
Nice to have a good start to the game with Sims in there!
23-14 michigan. 810 left. Maryland calls to. Michigan is shooting great. Maryland hasn’t hit a three.
justin.tv has been working for me, but I imagine the stream is overloaded. Did you quite your browser? Mine’s been working for 45 minutes or more.
Ant is overthinking his shot.
ant wright is broke. 23-19 mich.
Jevohn Shepard > Ant Wright
yep- now at least somethings coming up but its saying its not broadcasting… thanks for the help though
Others are having trouble with Justin.tv too……It is now stuck on the N Championship banner
Yeah, it quit working as soon as he claimed to have “fixed” it.
35-29 at the half. Peedi has 10 and 4 and Michigan is 6-14 on threes. Shep playing very well too.
how many more shots is ant gonna miss before jb pulls the plug on his shooting? Ins getting rediculous.
I love the Good Shepherd
I am starting to lose confidence in ANT!! He needs to contribute other things to the team when he is not hitting!! VERY FRUSTRATING. had a wide open look from three in the corner and wasnt even close. UGH!
Shep is really starting to come into his own rite now. I guess when one is struggling another steps up. We just look like a well coached team out there! If Amaker was still on the sidelines we wouldve had about 23 turnovers by now.
any other feeds?
I tried espn360.com, but don’t see the game there
Here is a video link, no audio yet though
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/maryland-vs-michigan
41-38 maryland. Not a good start for Michigan. Md picking up momentum and getting the crowd involved.
Novak for three and fouled. Going to the line for the ft. Mich down 4.
Beileive!
51-49 Michigan. Novak is stroking it. Maryland to the line.
Zac is stepping up! We gotta work harder on D….
The starting 5 that should be is on the court
grady
novak
harris
sheppard
sims
only one of those started before this game…
this is before LLP comes back, and who knows what will happen then if novak is playing liek this and grady continues to play well…
To listen if having trouble with um radio. Though its Terp broadcast:
https://radiotime.com/station/s_29822/WJZ_1300.aspx
59-55 about 6 mins left. Maryland leads.
3:53 md up four after vasquez dime for the flush. Crowd back alive.
Neal three might be the dagger. 7 points.
Manny is playing lazy D in the second. He’s letting his poor play on O carry over….
Need a some stops!
Ant!
Anthony wright is automatic from three haha
final 75-70 md
man, we started out strong DESPITE wright’s best efforts to ruin everything early. when is beilein gonna turn off the green light on him? i just dont understand how many shots the guy has to miss before people will admit he cannot shoot. (maybe he’s a practice hero, whatever, he is lifetime <28% he CANNOT SHOOT)
Did you watch the end of the game?
seriously? 2/8 is the line dude. dont give me that “he’s clutch” or “he’s streaky” crap. he is a 25% shooter, when his supposed upside is his shooting. EVery game this year, we’ve gone into the first TV timeout with him taking almost 50% of our shots, and making close to 0%. the guy’s a joke.
the 2 missed layups by KG really killed us. We have NO inside game. We are going to be in trouble when we play teams with true bigs (which we have yet to do). Our 1-3-1 looked lazy in the 2nd half. Guys were not quick enough to the ball and they were not trapping when they could have. LLP cant get here soon enough.
Well the glaring concerns that I get from watching this game tonight is in the paint!! I had a feeling that we would get destroyed on the boards. Really no offense Dylan but I didnt agree with your assessment that we matched up well with them down low..Size wise and on paper we did, but in terms of athletic ability we werent even close(other than Peedi) Gibson is an absolute joke of a big. He is weak with the ball, he has no vertical…no athletic ability WHATSOEVER and had maryland forwards taking him out back!! He is SO frustrating to watch…he is soo slow it makes me want to barf! I understand that he has the ability to stretch the defense a bit, but when you are too slow to get open or create your own shot it negates your ability to shoot. I know a lot of people will disagree with me but I say if Riley has an interest in UM bring him in. Get Regan and Riley if at all possible. The only reason Im saying this is because when we play teams of this magnitude(Duke, MSU, OSU, Uconn….ect) we are going to struggle mightily!! I might be wrong but I think that a guy 6’11″ 225 with athletic ability would help a bunch. It was making me sick watching maryland grab offensive rebound after rebound. I understand JB’s not overly concerned about rebounds but it gets to a point where you have to make it a point of concern! Other than the HUGE problems in the paint I thought the team looked pretty good. I wonder what the outcome would have been tonight if LLP played??…I mean he wouldnt have helped in the paint much but it would have been interesting. All in all I thought we played pretty good. We kept our composure in a hostile environment. Good Job Boys. GO BLUE! cant wait til Saturday.
umd got way too many open looks from behind the arc whenever we went to the 1-3-1.
antwright up to TV timeout stats:
Northeastern
0/2, taking the two of UM’s first 5 shots in the first 4+ mins. (the first two)
UCLA
0/1, taking 1/4 of UM’s shots
Duke
0/1, taking 1/5 of UM’s shots
Norfolk st
0/4 taking 4/10 of UM’s shots
Savannah St.
(No play-by-play on ESPN, but he shot 0-6, and I want to say 3 of those were early)
maryland
0/3 taking 3/7 of UM’s shots
In other words, ant accounted for 11/31 of the shots (like 31%) and ZERO PERCENT of the points!! and thats not counting SSU, which was the worst of them all, i think, maybe maryland
in other news, i should say, im happy with the guys effort today. grady was great from deep, but man, he has trouble finishing in the lane. also, the 1-3-1 finally had a game where it was totally ineffective. MD seemed too fast/athletic for us. it’s too bad, too, because this was the first game of the year that we really shot pretty well for most of the game/ i actually feel better about our game against duke, as 1-3-1 was getting some turnovers first time we played them. if we shoot like this again, it will be a game for sure.
The team is vastly improved and LLP will add another dimension when he comes in. Thats the positive. The negative is that Gibson should never play, period, im serious. He is worthless, slooow, miserably unathletic. How many times will he allow someone to take a rebound right out of his hands??? Anyone that thinks Deshonte Riley would not help this team is not watching closely. Another negative is A. Wright, he is not a good shooter. Just stop already, face the music and give Shepard and Novak his minutes. Grady, Douglas, Novak/Shepard, Harris, Sims is the best lineup available.
We would have won this game at Crisler, no doubt. Also might have won at MD with LLP.
Overall, we should be happy. 12 three pointers is a great sign, Peedi finally starts over Gibson, Novak showing that he can be our “3rd scorer” as a spark off the bench, and Shep continuing to impress. Problem is, in the 2nd half Maryland got hot and had some big time momentum plays – they are a very streaky team, and it’s safe to say that they were hot all game against MSU, cold against Zaga and G’Town, then cold in the 1st half but hot in the 2nd against us. Terps also got the typical home court treatment from the refs, shooting 14 more FTs than us (and I don’t think we fouled much more than they did).
I like:
Grady
Douglass
Manny
Shep
Deshawn
… with Novak the first guy off the bench.
Spartina’s getting hammered roflcopter
Stats that jump out:
Rebounding: 43-26 Maryland (MD had 8 more offensive rebs)
Can’t wait for LLP to take these minutes!
Free throw attempts: 20-6 Maryland
Merritt/Lee: We really don’t get much production at all out of them..I know they are providing leadership, but I think that can be done from the bench as well
Last but not least, UM lost to them by less than MSU did AND this wasn’t on a neutral court!
This is one that got away. We had them, man this hurts.
First, I agree with everyone else, Gibson is terrible. He weak in every facet of the game. And down low he is a joke. Every minute we have to play him is a bad minute for us.
Second, Wright is also a joke. I don’t give a crap about the couple of threes late. He is a horrible shooter. Every minute we have to play him is a bad minute for us.
The Gibson issues hurt me more, because I was one who thought he would really improve this year and be a solid contributor. Right now, he is worse than last year and shouldn’t even play at all.
Besides those two guys, I was happy with the team. I thought Grady played great (just finish the lay in!!). Novak is a stud who took the “air ball” chant and shoved it right back in their faces. Shep has to play more!
everyone needs to settle down regarding LLP. will he improve the team? yeah probably but we haven’t seen him in game action at all yet and already we are declaring him the savior of this team. i’m not trying to be a downer but just look to the football team as a lesson in believing in the hype before seeing the product on the field.
that said i was relatively pleased with what i saw tonight. i didn’t expect michigan to win this game on the road, i was just hoping michigan would keep it close and show some poise. had it been at crisler arena i would have been disappointed with a loss. i’m looking forward to seeing what this team can accomplish as the season progresses. michigan needs to win some more games that they are expected to lose.
I’m confident LLP will be a pleasant surprise but we will just have to wait and see
We also need to win the games we are supposed to win…which I think JB has this team at a position now where that will happen. I agree that LLP has to play some games before we crown him savior. The issue with LLP is yes he will add depth to our team, and according to, well basically everyone is yes he will add some backcourt scoring. While I am guessing that he will only help the team and we will be better with him…I only wish that he was about 6’9″ and about 220 lbs with a 37 inch vertical. Thats the immediate need right now in my eyes. Will we have an easier time scoring with LLP?? yes probably so….But our real problems are in the frontcourt. Its beginning to look like Grady can run this team fairly well.having said that he needs to continue to work on being able to finish at the rack. He has no problem getting there, now he needs to finish, and I think he will. And it will be a nice 1 2 punch with him and Dmo. So we are looking stacked in the backcourt, especially now that Novak is starting to get into the mix, now we need guys in the frontcourt with some ability.(rebound, block some shots, rebound, dunk, post up, and rebound) all of which Zack Gibson is inept at doing…and from what Ive seen Cronin is a slight project.