BasicsWho: Michigan (8-6) vs. Northwestern (11-3) |
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Michigan is in the midst of their first winning streak since beginning the season 3-0, and they welcome the Northwestern Wildcats into Crisler Arena for a Sunday afternoon matinee.
While many (myself included) were quick to write off Northwestern’s season after Kevin Coble was sidelined by a preseason injury, Northwestern kept chugging and has even made an appearance in the top 25. Northwestern is 11-3 with wins over Notre Dame, Iowa State, at North Carolina State, and Stanford. They might not have any signature wins but they have respectable losses (Butler, at Illinois, and Michigan State) and have handled their business.
John Shurna is the go to guy for the Wildcats. The 6’8” sophomore has embraced the void left by Coble’s injury and is averaging 18 points and 7.5 rebounds per game. Shurna can score inside and out and is one of the most versatile power forwards in the league.
Michael Thompson gives the Wildcats a scoring option in the backcourt. The 5′10″ point guard leads Northwestern in minutes and scores 14.6 points and 4.4 assists per game while shooting 40% from three point range.
Similar to Michigan, Northwestern loves the three point shot. They shoot 49.7% of their shots from three point range (3rd nationally) and hit them at a respectable 35.2% clip. Michael Thompson, Alex Marcotullio (40%), and Drew Crawford (35%) are the Wildcats resident snipers but John Shurna and Jeremy Nash don’t hesitate to hoist up three point shots despite both shooting 31%.
On the offensive side of the ball, Northwestern looks like a traditional perimeter oriented team. They don’t turn the ball over (16.9% turnover rate), they shoot a lot of threes, and they don’t crash the offensive glass or shoot many free throws.
On defense, Northwestern is solid across the board but doesn’t really excel. The bad news for Michigan is that the best element of Northwestern’s defense is their ability to defend the three point shot, allowing opponents to shoot only 29.3% from three point range. 6′11 sophomore Luka Mirkovic starts down low for Northwestern and is their best defensive rebounder and also blocks a fair amount of shots.
Shurna is an extremely tough match-up for Novak because of Shurna’s size and versatile skill set. Jeremy Nash is a very capable wing defender who will likely draw the assignment of guarding Manny Harris. Harris had one of his best games of last year versus Nash in an overtime win in Evanston.
If Michigan learned something last week, it is that they need to play inside-out, get the ball to DeShawn Sims early and often and let him get comfortable. Defensively, Michigan needs to do their best to force Northwestern into bad looks, allowing shooters like Marcotullio and Thompson to get into a groove is just asking for a disaster.
Let’s hear your thoughts, predictions, and in-game discussion in the comments.
Dylan two great postings today. We just have to take it game by game and keep winning. The strength of schedule and big time opponents will be there (although today Marquette lost again by 2 and Uconn blew a tough one so not a great day for the SOS/RPI). Last game was painful to watch in the first half, but the offense does look more insync than it did in the Oldspice – we just need to hit shots at a better rate. NorthWestern has continued to impress and have even surprise Beilein despite their injuries. I do believe that we will be beat them and continue the win streak. Go BLUE!
NW has played well on the road, and i wouldn’t be surprised if they lead for a long time… but I see Manny bouncing back for a big scoring night, lots of free throws, and a 4 point win.
This will probably be a tough game. NW always makes you guard them and defensively they throw a lot at you to prepare for. As good as Peedi has been the last two games and as much as I think this team really plays better when he gets inside touches, that might not be as much of an option this game. If I recall NW plays a couple different zone D’s and I expect them to try and prevent Sims inside.
I think the keys to this game are, Manny being aggressive and attacking the basket, and UM making open outside shots (always a key for this team). But I really think the inside game will be neutralized and therefore a lot more pressure is on Harris. He must attack, attack, attack. And everyone else needs to be ready to fire and make open threes.
Sims two games against NW last year were: 8 pts 6 rebs while fouling out, and 15 pts and 7 rebs in the other. Neither game did he see more than 30 minutes. Hopefully Sims stays focus if he is indeed denied the ball or doubled in the post, and does not resort to drifting out for threes. If nothing else he is still a great guy to have around the basket to grab O rebs or get dump off passes for layups.
The guy for NW that really impressed me when I watched one of their games earlier this year was Michael Thompson. He can do a lot of different things and I imagine Stu/Darius will have their hands full.
All that said, I think UM keeps the momentum going and gets a tough win at home. UM 65, NW 63. Go Blue!
P.S. why is Charles Barkley in the NFL post/pregame on NBC? Just strange. Its almost as awkward as John Salley today during the Duke-Ga Tech game. Nessler asked Salley about the first time he met Mark Price and Salley told some story about how he thought the guy was black beforehand and when they met he was like, “Man, your white!” Its pretty typical Salley stuff, but Jay Bilas was obviously caught offguard by it.
While NW always presents match up problems for all of their opponents, I like that their strengths are in many ways what we want our strengths to be (and what we practice against every day): 3pt shooting %, low turnovers, forcing turnovers, etc. I’d like to think that being the home team, we’ll be able to do those things better than them.
I also feel that we’ve been crashing the boards a lot better since conference play began, and there is no reason why we shouldn’t see a lot of offensive put-backs in tomorrow’s game.
Let’s hope we can neutralize their shooters and pull away in the last 10 minutes. Good guys win 72-63.
Eddie is right, Michigan has been making an effort to crash the boards, whereas NW practically concedes rebounds a lot of the time. To me the key is we must either get inside early and often, or start out shooting well from 3. You can get behind VERY quickly if you miss a lot of 3’s early on. Plus it will encourage your opponents to play a tight zone to deny 2pt baskets.
Tweeter, i think it’s because he hosted Saturday Night Live. Promo stuff.
If DeShawn keeps playing the way he has been, we have a very good chance to win against NW. We need to also keep playing good defense.
Forum poll: Does anyone else think Mike Hall is an idiot? I was watching the Minn/OSU highlights on BTN and his comments were extremely obnoxious.
Ahh, thanks JimC. I didnt have the volume on, just saw him up there between games.
Jeff- dont know if he is an idiot, but he is certainly obnoxious. I mostly try to stay away from BTN highlight shows.
too bad UM isnt ranked or close to being ranked, yesterday was upset city. 16, 14, 13, 10, 8, 5, and 4 all go down yesterday.
Also, big game for the Titans today, as they host #24 butler at 1pm. Also would help out our rpi and sos. Not that we need to be worried about that right now.
here’s the updated live tempo-free stats for Michigan/Northwestern…
http://www.scacchoops.com/View.....edule=5242
I was just trying to find some kind of superstition to hang onto today. I think it’s the maize jerseys. Looking back, I think UM has only busted them out a few times this year.
1. Loss to KU. But it was a close loss and without doubt the teams best effort this year.
2. Win over OSU
3. Win over Penn State
I hope they bust out the maize jerseys again today.
I think we put up a ton of points today, but our lackluster defense will give up a ton, too. We hit something like 20-45 from beyond the arc. Every shooter makes it rain on both teams.
Michigan 88
Northwestern 80
…of course, having said that, now I think it’s gonna be more like 41-39: just an ugly ugly game haha.
I’m feeling a big victory today! We play our best game of the year, finishing with a 78-66 victory.
Go Blue!
i love almost everything about the big ten network’s basketball coverage. mike hall’s not my favorite, but i love it when gus johnson does play by play. i always think that jimmy jackson’s analysis is pretty good, too.
but most of all, they had 8 hours of big ten hoops on yesterday. has that ever happened before? i’m certainly not gonna complain about that. i love their hoops coverage.
Anyone on BTN beats Stephen Bardo. At least they are familiar with the conference and players.
right, even if they are stupid, they only cover big ten sports. so none of them* are ignorat, as many national analysts are.
*except chris martin on football coverage, the guy who always worked m football games this year. he’s incredibly stupid, and says more incorrect things per minute than any color guy i’ve ever heard.
Eso Akunne ineligible for the winter semester. He can still practice with the team.
jeez Eso…hit the books man!
Who’s going to step up today and be the third scorer?
Vogrich? Morris? Douglas is due for a bounce-back game after the PSU game. LLP and Novak were big against PSU. Will be interesting to see if the defensive intensity is there from the start. I have a bad feeling about his game, unfortunately. I hope the guys prove me wrong of course. Go blue!
Thanks for the info. on Eso – Dylan. I assume that is why he did not get a chance to play or get some of Ant’s minutes.
There should be a law against sticking with the womens game once the men have started.
8-4 at 14:40. Michigan looks a bit sloppy at times but they are making an effort to play inside out.
Now is the time to put some distance between us and NW before taking too many 3’s.
the emphasis on dribble penetration so far is awesome.
Novak with his 2nd foul. Vogrich time?
Novak picks up his 2nd foul with 10:47 to play….
Keep pouring it on, blue. Its only a matter of time before NW makes their 3s…
Love the way Michigan is playing on the offensive end. Attacking Northwesterns 1-3-1 and getting everyone involved. 20-11 with 7:44 to play in the first.
Any streams anywhere available? Damn you RCN for not carrying BTN!
UD almost choked the game away fouling Butler with 1 second left. Missed one of the FTs so its overtime.
SSSSSSSIIIIIIIIIIMMMMMMMMMMMMSSSSSSSSSS
wow nice dunk Peedi
FIRE BEILEIN!!!!!!!
Michigan starting to get some of their swag back…I like it, but there’s a fine line. Hopefully they don’t get overconfident and sloppy.
Crawford reminds us that the three point shot can be the great equalizer. Michigan leads 31-20.
yeah right
This is what NW can do. Drew Crawford is on his own 11-0 run.
Michigan shooting well (58% eFg%) and scoring 1.29 points per possession. Turning it over way too much, 24% of possessions. Also we have rebounded half of our missed shots.
Pathetic start. Maybe Morris can handle this trapping a little better?
Looks like Michigan fell asleep at the half. NW cuts it to 3 points and UM offense looks extremely sloppy.
I’ve seen this movie before.
At this rate Drew Crawford could outscore both teams combined.
Great to have Darius running a break. Kid makes really good decisions.
Manny on Fiyah!
LOL, AG2
The 2nd half has become a duel between Crawford and Manny. You’d think it wouldn’t be too much to ask to not lose the 2nd half by double digits at home to Northwestern.
Thanks for rewarding Darius for playing great D, Jim Burr. Absolutely pathetic call.
Douglass’s one handed passes drive me NUTS! Quit turning the ball over and throw a safe 2 handed pass!
Uh oh.
That’s an awful lot of offensive rebounds allowed to a team that doesn’t try to offensively rebound.
I don’t think I can watch this team anymore.
Its 53 – 49 as NW is ON FIRE from 3 in the 2nd half. Actually its 56-49 because you can assume that Marcotullio is good for at least 1 3 before the game is over
Back on the ledge. And ready to seriously kill my douche bag spartan fan roommates. How do I hold back?
Manny and Stu both have the bad habit of leaving their feet when they pass. NW has been lights out this half, but we’ve hurt ourselves with too many careless turnovers. And our defense this half has…oh, the hell with it.
NW on a 43 – 18 run.
Turnovers and threes… did we forget that this is Northwestern’s MO at halftime?
Anybody at home, can you let us know what our turnover count is? And NW’s three point shooting in the 2nd half?
I believe that’s 7 straight makes from 3 for NW.
NW is currently 7 for 10 from 3 in the second half, and we have 14 TOs
Sigh, Manny doing it all again.
14 turnovers for Michigan to 11 for NW
They are shooting 7 for 10 from three this half.
Still in this. Just get a W doesnt have to be pretty.
Burr hates us.
Down 2 vs. NW and you’re taking 3s when you’re in the bonus? You want to try to out-run UNC, too?
Manny on a breakaway 1 on 2 with crawford in front of him. Crawford’s got 4 fouls, take him on Manny. Could’ve fouled him out right there.
Why hasn’t this team gone to the 1-3-1 all day? NW has been hurting us with their pressure, why not fight fire with fire?
I can’t watch this team. My heart hurts.
Its not every day you see Michigan get not just out-coached and out-talented by NW, but enough to negate a 9pt halftime lead?
And thats the season. I’d say I can’t wait for baseball to start but the Cubs are going to suck too.
Team is not that good, end of story im done holding out hope. This team will be a rollercoaster ride all season. They may beat a few good teams this year in conference play, but they will lose to teams they should beat. I thought the bball season would be my reliever after the football season, but now I cant wait till August!!
Just 0 leadership.
this team has taken several years off my life
Shouldn’t we have been able to handle their pressure since we basically practice against it everyday? Even when things are going well, we have the worst hands in the nation. I think we miss Grady. He would have been able to break that pressure by running past everyone.
Just got home from BW’s. Just a few thoughts: WAAAAAAAY too many CARELESS turnovers! Any reson why LLP didn’t play more minutes…VERY confussing? Reminds me of last year when Grady would play well and then play 8 minutes the next game. I guess we haven’t had a lead all year so we didn’t know how to play with one. Douglass played well until the end…crucial turnover and missed layup! Well, on to the NFL…Colts-Ravens should be a great game!
Douglass played well until the end? He led the team in turnovers and every pass he throws is a weak one handed pass. I don’t know where he learned that it was okay to throw one handed passes, but all of my old basketball coaches would’ve had my ass on the bench if I did that. He did not take very good care of the basketball
I’m sorry to say this, but considering how calcified the top of the college basketball world has become, the corruption is just going to get worse. So many middle of the pack major conference teams are going to get more and more desperate for success and end up turning to shadier and shadier coaches? K-State would have fired Frank Martin by now if they weren’t so desperate to keep up with Kansas. I’m also convinced that someone is eventually going to give Steve Alford a call.
This team reminds me of Georgetown last year – talk about a roller coaster. The worst thing is that we had a pretty decent crowd today and they were very energized at times – it looked like Michigan basketball was getting back to being the “talk of the town” as it was going into the season. But after that 2nd half effort, we’ll go right back to the “upper bowl 3/4 empty” for all except the big games.
At least this is basketball and not football. We can afford to lose 5 or 6 more games this year and still make it to the Tourney – sure, that means beating the likes of UConn, MSU, etc but we can’t afford to give up on them just yet.
That one hurt. I thought in the first half we were pretty sloppy with the ball, but that second half was disgusting. Guys just were not strong with the ball in traffic and threw a ton of telegraphed passes. Combine that with some lazy D in the second half and thats that.
Im still in it for this season, but now this team really has to beat some people.
Everybody needs to face the facts, this team is not going to the NCAA tournament. The talent and bench strength is not there. We may beat a Purdue or MSU, but this team is just too up and down.
I’m not surprised we lost to Northwestern, what made it especially rough was building the 17-pt lead then collapsing. After we built that lead, it almost looked like Northwestern was being tipped off to everything we were going to do both offensively and defensively. For awhile there we couldn’t throw a pass without it at least being tipped. Northwestern did a much better job making adjustments than we did today. It’s going to be a long season, I just hope this season is a temporary setback and nothing more. The sports gods have not been smiling on UofM lately.
Don’t worry, we can still turn this around. Just beat UConn, edge past Bo Ryan in Madison, sweep Izzo and Tubby, and take care of business at Purdue.
Between the decrease in the portion of 3pt shots being taken in college basketball, and the absolute BRICKFESTS we’re seeing from the free throw line in so many big time bsaketball matchups, there’s no other conclusion to draw: the college game is getting bigger. Can Michigan adapt? Can Beilein recruit size?
Give NW credit in the 2nd half for making all those 3’s. Teams like NW and Michigan that are undersized must live and die by the 3. I didn’t see any coaching adjustments in the 2nd half when they applied all their defensive pressure that resulted in so many Michigan turnovers. I think the turnovers is is what lost us the game. Darius is perhaps too young and Stu is too slow. Could have used Grady. Maybe there was no coaching adjustments to make because we don’t have some one quick and experienced enough at the point? Very frustrating loss. This team should win a few more games but has no post-season hopes at all.
how many times do i have to say it…manny WILL be back for his senior year!!!!!! BALL DONT LIE!!!!!!!
AG2 I think Beilein has tried, and continues to try, to recruit size. Its just unfortunate that none of that size panned out for this year (Cronin, Morgan, McLimans). And as important as it is to have some size, it is still far more important to have skill. Obviously, you cannot run 5 six foot guards out there and expect to win, but you also dont need a 6′8, 6′10, 6′10 front court to win. Talent is and will always be the key.
Also, where is this decrease in portion of 3s coming from? Is that just based off last year and the first couple months of this year? I thought that the portion of threes attempted rose pretty much every year since the introduction of the the three point line. Then there was a slight drop last year with the instituting of the new line and another slight drop so far this year. But also, those two drops come after the highest point for a season in 08. So I think it is way to early to declare that suddenly the three point line is losing its effectiveness.
I was so disappointed today in both Stu and LLP. Both handled the ball carelessly. I can’t look at the box score tonight, it is too frustrating, but I bet that Stu had at least 5 turnovers. Considering his usual great A/TO ratio, it was a very disappointing game from him. LLP also looked lost at times. I simply can’t figure out his inconsistency. Sims looks like he’s here for good, but we just didn’t feed him quite enough today. The zone was killing us the whole time. Too much dribbling right into a trap and then getting the ball tipped away in the second half. I don’t think you’ll ever see a Beilein team turn the ball over that much again in one game. I also thought that we held Shurna in check well for most of the game until he got open for a couple threes. And it is also clear that Darius Morris is finally improving quite quickly and is fast becoming our best man-to-man defender. I’d be really interested to see the +/- from today’s game. Certainly losses like this aren’t good for my blood pressure though.
Stu had 4 assists to 4 turnovers. LLP’s problem was his defense. Against a team like NW you can’t afford to go under screens, giving their shooters the brief window they need to knock down threes. Stu at least played great D, in my opinion at least – I don’t think I saw him go under any screens on the perimeter. The main culprits were LLP, Manny, and Vogrich.
On the positive side I’ve really seen great growth in Darius’ game recently. He is gaining confidence every game and is playing much more assertively and much better as a result. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him back in the starting line up before long.
Gotta stay positive and support Beilein and the team. There’s still time to make a tourney run. Gonna have to shore up the ball handling, play solid defense for 40 minutes and get more tenacious in the paint.
Beilein has made some mis-steps in the recruiting process. Things are awfully thin inside and with Peedi and Zach graduating, Jordan is going to be thrown into the fire without any interior help next year unless Beilein lands a transfer or a late signee. McLimans is a perimeter big as is Evan. Neither will help much inside imo.
Dave Brandon, find us a new coach.
This team (and last year’s too) just seems to prefer being the underdog vs being the favorite. Last year, there wasn’t much expected………This year from the get go, a lot has been expected. Look at their big wins (OSU this year, Duke/UCLA/Purdue last year) and bad losses (PSU, Indiana, Alabama). They even played well vs UConn last year. Beilein talked about leadership and people needing to step up…..I didn’t think at the start of the year it would be as big of a factor as it has been. Also, just think back going into the year when we thought we had so much depth……Now it’s pretty much a 6-7 man rotation. Beilein even said he wanted it “down” to a 9 man rotation….I don’t think that’s a problem anymore!
As far as late signees down low, we really better hope that John Horford is still interested. We desperately, desperately need him.
I also think that Beilein needs to think twice about recruiting guys like McLimans. You really can’t afford to recruit a guy who redshirts. Has there ever been a guy who made a meaningful contribution after redshirting? I guess the guy I’m thinking of at the moment is Tom Herzog.
After a trip to te ER with my daughter I have realized things can be worse. Having said that, the boxscore is very ugly for a few guys. Just have to stay true to the Blue and support Coach B and the guys! Go Blue!