We all want this team to be good. After watching last season we all know that they have at least a little bit of ability. We can keep hoping that they turn it around. But right now this just isn’t a good team.

They are painfully inconsistent and the chances of them putting together any sort of winning streak are slim to none considering the fact that they struggle to play 40 minutes of solid basketball.

The story of this game was the Michigan backcourt’s inability to hold onto the ball. Michigan, who ranked 3rd nationally in turnovers (15.5% per game) before today’s game, turned the ball over on 29% of their possessions.

This is one of the worst marks of the Beilein era in Ann Arbor. To put it in perspective how bad the turnover number was, the short list of other games that Michigan turned the ball over that often include nightmarish performances like Savannah State, the home loss to Central Michigan, and last year’s loss at Ohio State.

After watching Michigan dominate from the jump and build a 17 point lead. Northwestern made just the right tweak to their 1-3-1 zone. All of the sudden the aggressive trapping worked and Michigan struggled to even start their offense. Stu Douglass, Darius Morris, and Laval Lucas-Perry were exposed as they consistently dribbled into Northwestern’s traps, forced passes, and just made foolish mistakes.

That’s not to say Michigan’s defense shouldn’t shoulder any of the blame. In a performance that was eerily similar to Michigan’s game at Penn State, Northwestern put on a shooting clinic in the second half. After shooting a dismal 4 of 14 (28.6%) in the first half, Northwestern went 7 of 10 from three in the second half en route to an eFG% of 71.7%.

Drew Crawford was the guy who simply killed Michigan. The freshman from Naperville, Illinois single handily kept Northwestern in the game through the first half with a personal 11-0 run. He also made all the plays down the stretch to keep the Wildcats ahead. His stat line is not only impressive but extremely efficient: 25 points on 7 of 9 shooting (4-5 3pt) with 8 rebounds. For those of you keeping track, that’s a 100% eFG%.

Down the stretch, as seems to be a theme, Michigan was one or two plays short of getting over the hump. Missed layups, getting beat on backdoor cuts, in and out shots, and poor shot selection were just an assortment of the ways that Michigan found to fall just short when they needed a big play.

This season is going nowhere fast and right now it looks like its time to hope for a couple nice upset victories and an NIT berth.

Other Notes: Eso Akunne has been ruled academically ineligible for the winter semester. John Beielin signed a contract extension through 2015-16.

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Basics Who: Michigan (8-6) vs. Northwestern (11-3) Where: Crisler Arena, Ann Arbor, MI When: Jan. 10th, 2:30 PM EST TV: BTN Radio: MGoBlue, WWJ 950 AM/WTKA 1050 AM Line: Michigan by 6 Stats: Live TFS Pomeroy Profile

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.

It was a busy week but David Merritt managed to find time to answer a couple quick questions about Michigan’s last two wins as well as what the Wolverines will face versus Northwestern.

You have played in comeback games similar to Thursday’s Penn State
game, how much of that momentum can Michigan take from that game and
will they be able to parlay that momentum into future success?

I can’t predict Michigan’s momentum. They won’t let me. (laughs) You would
figure that the momentum they were able to create in the Ohio State
game would transfer right into the first half of the Penn State game:
wrong. And after that dismal first half at Penn State, you would
figure that Michigan had no chance in winning that game: wrong. So, I
have no answers for you Dylan but I hope they realize why they were
able to come back in that second half versus Penn State and parlay that
momentum into future success. They played with a lot more energy, a
lot more focus on defense, and played inside out.

Looking ahead to Northwestern, how do you think Michigan matches up?

I think this will be a pretty close game, but again, what do I know?
The main reason this game could be difficult is the fact that Michigan
only gets two days to prepare. And it’s not really two days because I
don’t believe they did much work on the court on Friday, coming off
the game on Thursday night. Northwestern runs a TON of stuff on
offense and defense, which is hard to prepare for in such short time.
If Michigan can be patient enough on offense, find the middle of
Northwestern’s zone schemes while not turning the ball over, I think
they have a chance to put up a good number of points. On the other
end, they have to really focus and play good, solid defense. For
guys like me and C.J., playing defense against Northwestern wasn’t
always a great matchup because we wanted to get out and pressure.
Pressure just sets up their backdoor and they will have a field day.

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It’s the sign of a painfully inconsistent team but yet again Michigan’s game at Penn State was a tale of two halves. In the first half, Michigan played some of the worst basketball they have played all year (and that’s saying a lot). They didn’t defend, allowing Penn State to shoot at a 59.6 eFG% clip. They turned the ball over 9 times and shot only 34.8 eFG% from the field while failing to make a three.

Rah-rah pump up speeches never struck me as John Beilein’s thing but he definitely has a nice collection of psychological ploys in his library from “Queme Los Barcos” to Thursday’s half time silence. In a season that has lacked proud or even notable moments, Michigan has finally put together a couple wins to build some momentum.

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