2022-23 iowa

Things Discussed:

• Howard/Sanderson incident: Now you have to let it play out. Subordination or HR issue?
• Howard other than that: assessment isn't good. Biggest issue has been LSA's admissions policies.
• Iowa: Best game they've played all year.
• Rose Bowl: Get to Milroe early. They're 2021 Ohio State except they'll bring an extra guy into the box every play.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]

Well that sucked. Michigan Basketball is left to pick up the pieces after another late game sequence that wasn't sufficient to win after blowing a 77-70 lead with just two minutes remaining to the Iowa Hawkeyes tonight. Despite a strong effort from Jett Howard through much of the game, Michigan couldn't make enough shots late and got a number of unfavorable whistles, leading the game to be tied late, before a complete collapse in overtime. The team seemed overwhelmed by the Iowa City crowd in the late stages and couldn't finish off a win they seemed to have put away, losing 93-84. 

The first half was the duel of Jett Howard and Kris Murray. Howard scored Michigan's first 11 points and just kept going, making his first five triples and driving Michigan's offense in the half-court. The whole team shot it well, but Jett was unconscious. He shot 8/11 from the floor, five of which from three, and led Michigan with 21 points. Hunter Dickinson was stellar as well, making all four field goals and as a team, Michigan shot over 50% from the field and from three. They scored 43 points, but were not crisp defensively, a true Iowa game.

The Hawkeyes shot both 42.9% from the floor and from three on the way to scoring 40 points in the first half, and their focal point was Kris Murray. He was not as efficient as Jett, but made six buckets of his own, three of which from three, for 15 points. The rest of the Iowa offense was something of an ensemble effort in the first half, but they rebounded 40% of their misses and were able to hang around with the Wolverines. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

The second half opened with Terrance Williams II and Kobe Bufkin knocking down a couple triples to boost Michigan's lead up to 7 points, before Iowa answered with a 9-1 run over three minutes of game time to grab the lead back. Michigan of course turned to Howard to get momentum back, swishing a three on the very next possession to give the Maize & Blue the lead back, and he followed it up with three more scores to put Michigan ahead 62-55 with 11:34 left. Will Tschetter chipped in his own three moments later and Michigan led by ten.  

Iowa answered with its own 7-0 run, punctuated by a Murray three, which cut it to a one possession game with 9:27 left, but Dug McDaniel put an end to it with a floater. The game continued with a tight score line under four minutes remaining, with Michigan clinging to a 72-70 lead when McDaniel's heroism continued, hitting a pull up triple late in the shot clock. His fellow freshman Tarris Reed Jr., who played much of the game in a two big lineup with Hunter Dickinson, got a steal on the defensive end and Dickinson put-back a McDaniel miss to boost Michigan's lead to 77-70 with 2:18. Realistically, Michigan needed just one or two more buckets or stops to get it done at this juncture. 

Which is when things went sideways. Michigan got their needed stop, but Jett Howard was cornered on the base line and turned it over. Iowa got it back and big man Filip Rebraca got a layup to trim the lead to 77-72. Michigan wound their next possession down and Kobe Bufkin drove along the offensive baseline, but turned it over as his foot stepped out of bounds. Iowa's Payton Sandfort, who was hot in the closing minutes of this game, knocked down a three to make it 77-75 and Michigan again opted to wind a possession down. Bufkin got Michigan the one basket they need, a pull-up jumper late in the shot clock which made it 79-75 with 29 seconds left. Iowa went up the floor and set up Sandfort for a shot from beyond the arc. Sandfort made it and the referees whistled Bufkin for a foul when there appeared to be minimal contact. Sandford made the free throw to complete the four point play and tie it at 79 with 20 seconds left. Michigan got one last crack on their final possession, a possession interrupted by Iowa using its fouls to give, but Dug McDaniel's shot at the horn was blocked and the game went to OT. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Overtime was a lopsided affair. Michigan did not score in the first 3:20 of the extra session, allowing the Hawkeyes to score the first eight. Sandfort stayed hot, Murray turned it on even more, Michigan's offense was stuck in the muck with Howard cooling off, and the poor refereeing continued, with marginal fouls consistently going against the Wolverines while the raucous crowd intimidated the visitors and the officials. That's how it goes in college basketball in true games a lot of the time. By the time Michigan started going, it was much too late. OT never felt competitive and in the end, Iowa had a nine point win. 

With the loss tonight, Michigan is now 3-2 in conference play and 9-7 on the season. They are back in action on Sunday at home against Northwestern. That game is at noon EST and will be broadcast on BTN. The box score is after the jump. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

THE ESSENTIALS

WHAT	#50 Michigan (9-6) at #39 Iowa (10-6)
WHERE	Carver-Hawkeye Arena Iowa City, Iowa
WHEN	7:00 PM
THE LINE	Kenpom: Iowa-5 Torvik: Iowa-6
TELEVISION	ESPN2

THE OVERVIEW

This year's Diet Big Ten has all the same teams with all the same flavors, but the substitutes aren't really the same as the originals. Like Michigan, Iowa's relying on the diet version of last year's star. In our case that's No Longer Trying to Impress the NBA as Much Hunter Dickinson. In theirs it's Keegan Murray's left-handed twin brother Kris, who previewed this season's breakout by teeing off in Ann Arbor last year.

With him is a team not too different from Michigan's last three; in fact Iowa is five spots below Maryland, one spot above MSU, and two above Penn State in today's Kenpom rankings. Like those opponents, they're small at center, and streaky at shooting. Like every Iowa team under Fran McCaffery, they're going to score anyways, and ignore defense. Like Michigan, they're carrying an albatross loss that the two parties have agreed to never speak of again (*whispers* but theirs was so much worse). They're also dealing with injuries.

The big difference is Iowa has some Quad 1 wins, those all-important Tournament factors of which Michigan currently has zero. If they're going to come away with any from their first 16 games, a win at Iowa, who's at 40 and would have to remain in the top 75, is their best bet. Other options are hoping Maryland (#38) or Penn State (#52) get to top 30, or Pittsburgh (#64) climbs into the top 50.

Iowa's first was over land grant bro Iowa State, who shot 3/22 from the arc at Carver-Hawkeye while Iowa buried 12 of 23. Murray was absent for the albatross but present for their 66-50 loss at Nebraska—when Iowa shot 7/28 from three—that followed. Fran's son Patrick began his hiatus the next game, an 83-79 loss at PSU (Iowa shot 7/25). In his absence however, Iowa had a 91-89 victory over Indiana, and a surprising 76-65 upset of #16 Rutgers at the RAC. Three-point shooting in that game: 12/27 for Iowa, 5/18 for Rutgers (also an extremely Iowa game-uncharacteristic 27 total turnovers!).

I realize people are starting to get annoyed at the attention paid around here to "just make your shots!" but bear with me for one more week as we preview a team that takes 25 threes a game, makes 30% of them, and has won or lost every game but one (Clemson) based on which side of average they're shooting that night.

THE US

My graphic [click to embiggen]:

faq for these graphics

No changes.

THE LINEUP CARD

My graphic [click for big]:

There are some injuries to talk about. The one of least consequence is Connor McCaffery took a shot in the face last week, and is expected to be in a mask (hence the mask).

Patrick McCaffery however is taking an indefinite leave to deal with anxiety that he says is not related to the cancer he survived. Those minutes are going to his brother Connor and winger Payton Sandfort. Losing Ogundele as well means Iowa has an extremely short bench, and is extremely small up front, with Murray moving to the five when Rebraca has to come off. Sophomore big Riley Mulvey is available but has only played 1 minute since Ogundele went out. Freshman PG Dasonte Bowen was given every opportunity to push Ulis to the bench, and has seen his minutes decrease to Isaiah Barnes range since that opportunity was not seized.

[After THE JUMP: I promise to talk about something other than making shots.]