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Creighton gave Michigan all they could handle and then some, but Michigan prevailed in overtime. There were times when Michigan looked like a top 15 team and there were times when they looked lost. But at the end of the day this was an extremely gutty victory over a very tough Creighton team.

Manny Harris was far from his best. He couldn’t find his range from three, missed numerous bunnies inside, turned the ball over four times, and missed five free throws. But the light finally came on. Harris made just enough plays to help Michigan limp into overtime before taking over in extra time. Harris scored 7 of Michigan’s 14 overtime points and assisted two baskets which led to five more points.

While the game wasn’t pretty, this was a perfect game for Michigan. They obviously got the victory but they certainly had to work for it. Creighton punched Michigan in the mouth time and time again and Michigan managed to find an answer. There were plenty of big plays that stood out: Manny Harris dunking in overtime over a helpless Justin Carter, Stu Douglass nailing a 30 foot three pointer, Manny Harris coming down with an offensive rebound between 3 Blue Jays, and Laval Lucas-Perry catching fire in the second half.

The four factors do a great job of telling the story in this one. Creighton outshot Michigan, 56.1% eFG% to 50.7%. But Michigan won the turnover battle and got to the line. Creighton turned the ball over on nearly a quarter of their possessions while Michigan turned it over on only 15% of theirs. Michigan’s free throw rate (FTA/FGA) was more than triple the Jays however they couldn’t quite make them pay shooting a dreadful 13 of 23 from the line.

It’s a quick turnaround for Michigan, who will play Marquette at noon tomorrow. I should have some sort of short preview up after the match-up is set. Michigan only played 6 players for more than 7 minutes and they certainly run the risk of running out of gas this weekend. It’s clear that Beilein is much more comfortable playing his top 6 and is hesitant to dip below that group.

Player Bullets

• Manny Harris: In a game where he struggled for probably 35 minutes, Harris still nearly posted a triple double with 20 points, 9 rebounds, and 11 assists. Manny couldn’t buy a basket for a while and looked frustrated but he has the ability to take over games and he showed it today.
• DeShawn Sims: Peedi played well with 16 points (8-17 shooting) and 11 rebounds in 38 minutes. His three point shot wasn’t falling (0-3) and he missed a few bunnies but he scored the ball well on the block. The problem for Peedi is that he doesn’t look like he is quite in game shape, looking gassed for long stretches and still shaking off a bit of mental rust.
• Laval Lucas-Perry: Laval has been searching for his offensive game all year but he caught fire in the second half and unleashed a barrage of three point shots. 18 points on 5 of 11 (4-6 3pt) shooting is a very solid day from Laval, especially considering 14 of them came in the second half. I think he has the worst handle of the three “point guards” but when he’s hot he’s hot.
• Stu Douglass: His three point shot to tie the game was one of those “no, no, no, no, YES” moments. It had to be about 28 to 30 feet deep but it was all net. Stu couldn’t find his shot for most of the game, but he bailed himself out with that shot.
• Zack Novak: 14 points (5-7 shooting), 3 rebounds, 2 steals, 2 assists,  1 block in 38 minutes. Novak had a great first half before disappearing for much of the second half. In the first half he was active in the 1-3-1 zone and had a very nice backdoor reverse layup.
• Darius Morris: I love Darius’ length on defense especially in the 1-3-1 but it was clear that Beilein wanted to go with the sophomore guards down the stretch.
• Zack Gibson: I expect we will see healthy doses of Gibson this weekend just because of Peedi running out of steam but he managed 2 points and 3 rebounds in 7 minutes.
• Anthony Wright: A productive couple shifts for Anthony today, he hit a three and punched in a nice layup to go along with two boards and an assist on a perfect backdoor bounce pass.
• Matt Vogrich: Got one shift in the first half but looked rattled against Creighton’s pressure defense.

Basics Who: Michigan (2-0) vs. Creighton (2-1) Where: Milk House, Orlando, FL When: Thursday, November 26th, Noon EST TV: ESPN2, ESPN360.com Radio: MGoBlue, WTKA (AM 1050), Sirius Ch. 127/XM Ch. 105 Line: Michigan –5 Old Spice: Bracket, Preview More: Interview Preview

The lights are finally on. Michigan has rolled through Northern Michigan and Houston Baptist but those games were little more than glorified exhibition games. We have waited patiently for this season and it’s finally here. This weekend will provide fans with a chance to see Michigan take on some very tough competition.

Michigan’s first game against Creighton provides an interesting test. The Jays are a perennial Missouri Valley power house and, judging by their fans behavior, a team that is relishing the opportunity to make a name for themselves.

John Beilein and Creighton head coach Dana Altman have gone head to head before, in a first round 2005 NCAA tournament game. Beilein’s Mountaineers came away victorious, 63-61, thanks to a blocked three point shot and break away dunk in the closing second. In a game that featured plenty of threes and few free throws, the shocking number was the turnovers. West Virginia turned the ball over on 26% of their possessions, an incredibly high number for a Beilein led team.

Creighton lost MVC player of the year Booker Woodfox to graduation but the cupboard is far from dry. The Jays are incredibly deep, with 10 players averaging more than 12 minutes per game and five scoring in double figures.

In the backcourt, P’Allen Stinnett is averaging 12.6 points and 4 assists per game. Junior college transfer Darryl Ashford has given the Jays a wing scorer but they Jays also have several three point threats. Kaleb Korver and freshman Ethan Wragge are both deadly outside shooters who can’t be left open.

Similarly to Michigan, the Jays run a perimeter oriented offense. They aren’t a great rebounding team and love to shoot three pointers. They also have begun to implement some aspects of the dribble drive offense that John Calipari made famous.

Creighton has a very small lineup and this could be one of the first games where Michigan might actually have a size advantage. The main low post presence is 6-foot-9 junior Kenny Lawson who is averaging 10 points and 6 rebounds per game. Wayne Runnels is a 6-foot-6 forward who leads the Jays in rebounds with just over 7 per game.

For more on Creighton’s personnel, make sure to check out my Q&A with The White and Blue Review.

With two teams that are so reliant on the three point shot, shooting is obviously going to be huge. It’s always interesting to see how both teams react to an early start time in a smaller gym. With Creighton’s various styles of defense it will also be interesting to see whether Michigan is able to hold onto the ball as well as they have early this year (TO% under 10%).

The biggest advantage for Michigan is that I’m not sure that Creighton has anyone that can guard DeShawn Sims or Manny Harris. They have plenty of bodies to run at Harris but no elite level stopper. Kenny Lawson is big but he should have trouble with DeShawn’s inside outside presence. Because of these tough match-ups, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Creighton play around with several defenses.

Have a great Thanksgiving and Go Blue. Thoughts and predictions are welcome in the comments.

Patrick Marshall, of The White and Blue Review, and I agreed to exchange a few questions about the upcoming Michigan/Creighton game on Thanksgiving Day.  There will obviously be a full preview later on but this should help provide an idea of the challenge Michigan will be up against on Thursday. My answers to his questions should be going up on their site sometime tonight.

Does Creighton have someone that can simply take over a game? They seem to be more of a balanced team without that one star player who can make everything happen.

Creighton did rely a lot last season on MVC Player of the Year Booker Woodfox for the scoring punch needed, but this season will probably be different with the possibility of a different player stepping it up each night.  Junior P’Allen Stinnett has always been an offensive weapon for Creighton his first two seasons being the 2^nd leading scorer on the team last season.  However, there are several offensive weapons for the Bluejays this season including newcomers Wayne Runnels, Darryl Ashford and Ethan Wragge.  Throw in center Kenny Lawson, PG Cavel Witter and SG Kaleb Korver, you never know what might happen.  Then when Carter and Harriman return, they could be the scoring threats as well.  In the last game against Arkansas-Little Rock, 5 players were in double figures while a sixth had 8 points.

What is the latest on the injury situation? I know Creighton has been playing shorthanded due to injuries and illness.

You would have thought Creighton had been snake-bitten with how a bunch of players went down at once.  Chad Millard has been out since September with a foot injury.  He did suit up Sunday against Arkansas-Little Rock and played a few minutes in preparation to play in the Old Spice Classic games.

Justin Carter partially tore his MCL in the final exhibition game and had a timetable of 2-4 weeks of rehab before returning.  There is a possibility he may see his first action in the Old Spice Classic, but may be held out until December.

Forward Casey Harriman, one of the Jays more physical threats, had been out since playing in the first exhibition game with the swine flu that turned into tonsillitis that turned into strep throat into mononucleosis where he spent several days in the hospital and was just cleared for practice. In fact he ended up playing Sunday for about 5-7 minutes against Arkansas-Little Rock

Starting point guard Antoine Young tweaked his knee right before the Dayton game and re-irritated it during the Florida A & M game, but has been playing OK on it.

Continue reading ‘Creighton Q&A: White and Blue Review’

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Sorry that this post is late and a bit shorter than usual.

The result might not look terrible on paper, but it was a painful performance from Michigan. Michigan looked sloppy from the get-go against a subpar (to say the least) Houston Baptist team. They seemed rushed on offense and settled for mediocre shots time and again.

The most painful part of the game was that Michigan played little to no transition defense. Houston Baptist’s guards would consistently push the ball the length of the court and get to the lane. Nobody made an effort to stop the ball, and often times men were left completely unmarked.

John Beilein was clearly peeved by the product on the floor. He appeared to keep his cool through most of the first half but after some lackluster defense to start the second he called a timeout and, with his face beet red, simply ripped into the team. A little later he took a timeout and devoted some quality instruction time to Stu Douglass. Beilein tends to be extremely composed on the sideline but the move was definitely deserved.

Michigan won this game because they won the turnover battle. They didn’t turn the ball over (an impressive 9.2% turnover rate) and Houston Baptist turned it over constantly (31.6% of possessions). Houston Baptist was terrible on offense, shooting a 36% eFG% and scoring only .72 points per possession.

Hopefully this game is a wakeup call for this team. Creighton is going to be ready to play on Thursday and if Michigan doesn’t come out with a level of effort and mental intensity we haven’t seen thus far, they will be in trouble.

Player Bullets

• Stu Douglass: Stu still has to work on being more assertive on the court but he gave Michigan some very solid minutes despite shooting the ball poorly (3pts, 1-5 3pt). Stu posted 7 assists to only 1 turnover in 20 minutes. The 58% assist rate that he posted means that he assisted 58% of Michigan’s baskets while he was on the floor. Not bad.
• Manny Harris: An extremely inefficient 25 points on 21 shots. Manny shot it poorly from long range (1-5) and had trouble finishing inside. He scored the ball but he didn’t put together the same kind of complete game that he did versus Northern Michigan. He needs to be more patient
• DeShawn Sims: Another inefficient game, but his four made threes in a row at the end of the second half were huge toward getting this game rolling in the right direction. Peedi was only 2 of 10 from inside the arc so it’s safe to say he had trouble finishing.
• Zack Novak: Another Novak-esque stat-line: 8 points (3-6 shooting),7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 block. He shot 50% from behind the line and provided all of the hustle plays. He was also battling against a guy much bigger than him for much of the night.
• Zack Gibson: 8 points on 7 shots and an impressive 6 rebounds in 14 minutes. There are times when Gibson appears to be allergic to rebounding but 6 in only 14 minutes is impressive. He didn’t shoot it all that well but it wasn’t a terrible performance.
• Laval Lucas-Perry: Probably the best option to defend faster and smaller point guards but he only posted one assist in 24 minutes.
• Darius Morris: He has the tools but he is going to have games like this one. His stats aren’t terrible, 25 minute, 5 points, 3 assists, 2 turnovers, but he definitely struggled a bit from a missed layup to some defensive lapses.
• Anthony Wright: It seems like he is one of the two options to backup Manny Harris but he really doesn’t bring all that much to the table when his shot isn’t falling. 14 minutes, 4 rebounds, and one missed shot.
• Matt Vogrich: Almost invisible. Missed a very deep three and botched a tough finish on a surprising drive late in the game.