2013-14 Season

Defensive Score Sheet: Minnesota at Michigan

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The Wolverines played one of their best defensive games of the 2013-14 conference season on Saturday, holding the Gophers to 56 points in 59 possessions.

Michigan dominated the defensive glass, thanks mostly to Jordan Morgan, and played surprisingly strong transition defense in the first half. Glenn Robinson III was able to use his athletic ability to break up a number of fast break. The Wolverines were also able to cause a number of turnovers against a sloppy Minnesota team.

  • Caris LeVert tallied team highs in forced misses and forced turnovers. As the season wears on, he’s doing a much better job of utilizing his length to disrupt opposing offenses. He had a number of other deflections that didn’t end up as turnovers, but still rattled the Gopher offense. LeVert has had the toughest defensive assignments all season and I think it’s fair to say that he’s improved over the last month.

  • Jordan Morgan played a whale of a defensive game and the numbers back him up. Morgan was responsible for 30% of Michigan’s defensive possessions, mostly because he grabbed so many defensive rebounds. Morgan also forced three turnovers and caused havoc drawing offensive fouls while bothering Minnesota’s big men.
  • Nik Stauskas struggled on the defensive end, surrendering a team high 6.5 made field goals and 2.5 free throw attempts. Stauskas has struggled defensively of late, and both Andre and Austin Hollins combined for six of his 6.5 made field goals allowed.
  • Derrick Walton and Spike Albrecht both graded out at roughly the same level. Walton has the better natural defensive abilities, but Albrecht is the more experienced option. John Beilein has managed to platoon both players effectively this season and both guards have made critical last offensive and defensive plays in Big Ten wins.
  • Jon Horford gets a boost from grabbing two boards in 8 minutes, and while I criticized him a bit in the game recap he didn’t grade out too poorly.
  • Zak Irvin always gets hurt a bit in these rankings because he doesn’t play too many minutes and doesn’t grab too many rebounds. Irvin did get beat on a three for Charles Buggs, but otherwise had an uneventful defensive game.

PREVIOUS DEFENSIVE SCORE SHEETS:

Find the full calculations regarding the defensive score sheet here. The primary stats that may be unfamiliar are:

  • FM – Forced field goal miss (includes blocks)
  • FTO – Forced Turnover (steals, charges taken)
  • FFTA – Forced missed Free Throw Attempt
  • DFGM – Allowed Defensive Field Goal Made
  • DFTM – Allowed Free Throw Made

Defensive Rating (DRtg) is calculated based on the stops and scoring possessions assigned to the player, it’s an estimated measure of points per 100 possessions.

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