keegan murray

Senior Night at Crisler Center provided Michigan with an opportunity to secure their position on the NCAA bubble heading into the Big Ten Tournament in Indianapolis, if they could beat #24 Iowa at home. They could not. A hot Iowa shooting night combined with poor Michigan finishing in the paint early on and a wretched energy level in the first half to doom the Wolverines to a 82-71 loss to the Hawkeyes Thursday night. Eli Brooks shone in his final appearance at Crisler, scoring 17 points, but he did not get nearly enough help from his teammates on either end of the court until it was too late. The Wolverines will now head to Columbus in a still-precarious bubble position on Sunday, getting ready for the postseason. 

The first half was the central problem for Michigan. Iowa got off to a hot start out of the gate and never slowed down during the full twenty minute period, posting a searing 72% eFG%. The Hawkeyes were 7/10 from three in the first half and the defensive effort from Michigan was exceptionally poor. Iowa got everything they wanted inside and knocked down their shots outside and in the process, hung a near half-century on the Wolverines to build a massive halftime edge. Keegan Murray led Iowa in the first half with 15 points on 5/6 from the floor and was perfect on his three triples, and the visitors had only two turnovers total in the first twenty minutes. They scored at 1.52 PPP in the first half... Fran McCaffery Basketball at its finest, ladies and gents. 

Michigan's offense found themselves having to keep pace with the Iowa onslaught that their defense helped enable and struggled to do so. The big men were dreadful offensively for Michigan in the first half, as the Wolverines managed to shoot 2/6 on dunks/layups and 7/17 on other twos. As a team, their FG% in the first half sat at 37.5%. Dickinson and Diabate combined to go 2/11 from the floor and posted just six points total. It was a stark comedown from Dickinson's exceptional performance on Tuesday against the Spartans. Eli Brooks' 13 points led Michigan, but the central problem was that the rest of the team couldn't score inside and bricked open threes. Non-Eli Michigan shot under 30% in the first half, all while getting spanked defensively. As you can guess, the halftime margin was ugly: 47-30 Iowa. 

Eli had a nice showing on Senior Night [Campredon]

The Wolverines did win the second half, but it's pretty hard to dig out of a hole that big without a dominant offensive display and/or suffocating defense. Michigan's defense improved and their offense started to connect on a few more shots, but neither were devastating enough to get the win you'd need in those circumstances. Iowa led by 16 with 8:19 to play in the game before Michigan made the only run of sorts that they'd embark on in the second half, going on a 11-2 stretch over about five minutes to get the lead down to 7. Unfortunately, taking five minutes to trim the lead by nine points didn't leave them much time to finish the deal. Even when they were getting stops in that period to hold Iowa off the board, Michigan still wasn't exploding offensively to the point that was necessary. Turnovers dented the offensive flow and the Wolverines simply ran out of time. 

The other Murray, Kris, led Iowa in points in the second half after going 5/5 from the floor. He was followed closely by Jordan Bohannon, who had a special night from three point range (5/7), including two low-percentage looks that went down in that half. Michigan finally got Dickinson going in the second half, scoring 15 points on a perfect 7/7 from the floor, while Brooks cooled off. Problem was that Diabate remained dreadful, committing a couple fouls in that half and turning the ball over three times. His best collegiate game against the Hawkeyes in Iowa City and one of his worst came tonight against the Hawkeyes in Ann Arbor. Michigan was an excellent 64.3% from the field in the second half, yet committed 10 turnovers and made only four threes in the half, which was the main reason why they couldn't chop down the Iowa lead more quickly. 

Hunter got it going in the second half [Campredon]

In all, the FG% numbers, rebounds, and turnover numbers look similar between the two teams, and the final margin was only 11, but it was a game that didn't feel all that close. Iowa went up 15-6 early on and never looked back. Michigan, despite its improvement in the second half, could never bring it within a couple possessions. The crowd tried to will the Wolverines forward in the late stages of the second half, but it was not to be. Iowa made more threes and were nearly perfect on more free throw attempts, a well-oiled offense that clicked inside and out, and Michigan's defense didn't do enough to stop it early on, while having an off-shooting night at the other end. 

The Wolverines are now 16-13 on the season and 10-9 in the conference. They head to Ohio State on Sunday afternoon, who bested Michigan in Ann Arbor back in February. A win there would do wonders to shore up Michigan's bubble position heading into Indy, but it will not be easy. The Buckeyes defeated Michigan State tonight, though they have not been playing great as of late. That game is scheduled for 12:30 pm EST and will be televised on FOX. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

Sometimes it's not how you finish, but how you play for the first 36.5 minutes. Michigan played a very strong game and seemed to have a solid Iowa team in a vice grip on the road with a shade over three minutes to go in the contest. They led 78-66 and just needed one or two makes and a stop or two. They got next to none of that equation, and replicated the performance of a crashing blimp in nearly blowing the lead over the fading few minutes. But just enough makes from DeVante' Jones at the line and two Iowa misses from three with chances to tie in the final ten seconds helped Michigan survive. Just like last week's game in State College, it didn't look pretty, but it ends up in the win column all the same... and this one ends up in the Q1 bucket on the tournament resume too. 

We expected an offensive showcase between two teams who entered with top 25 offenses AND defenses outside the top 75 in adjusted efficiency, and that is exactly how the game started. Iowa shoveled in 14 points in the first four minutes, before Michigan went on a quick 11-0 run to make it 21-14 only seven minutes in. The only stops either team were getting were of the turnover variety, with Michigan forcing a few that DeVante' Jones turned into dunks for Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan off nice skip passes. 

Kobe Bufkin was a pleasant surprise off the bench [Campredon]

Iowa responded to Michigan's quick outburst with a 13-2 run of their own as Michigan's offense sputtered with Hunter Dickinson off the floor and Frankie Collins running the offense. An ugly near-airball three from Collins during this stretch was a low point of his night. Dickinson was off the floor due to foul trouble, which became a notable storyline in the first half and it would continue throughout the night. All three typical Michigan bigs, Dickinson, Diabate, and Brandon Johns Jr., picked up two fouls in the first half, which meant Jaron Faulds made a rare appearance (his attempts at guarding Keegan Murray left a lot to be desired). The inconsistency in refereeing crescendoed when Juwan Howard picked up a technical foul in the first half following a no-call of what seemed like an obvious foul drawn by Faulds. 

The technical free throws put Iowa ahead 37-35, but Michigan tied it moments later and held the ball with the same score on the board and under ten seconds left. Rather than holding for the final shot, Michigan hurried, passing it up to Kobe Bufkin, who rushed a three point attempt and it airballed out of bounds with three seconds left. Iowa then hurled a 3/4-court pass to Murray, who was posting up on Faulds, and then he stepped out for a fade away jumper at the horn that dropped. 39-37 Iowa at halftime, and a baffling way to mismanage the end of the opening period.  

The second half remained mostly the same as the first for five minutes to start things off, with Michigan continuing to struggle mightily from three (1/13 at one point, with more airballs than makes). The only notable development was a bizarre play that saw Juwan Howard come out onto the court to field a ball that was set to roll out of bounds, not realizing he was not allowed to touch it until it officially touched out of bounds. That landed him another technical, but because this was of the Class B variety, it was only one shot, and did not include an ejection. 

Tonight was the best game of Moussa's career [Campredon]

With 14:32 to go, the two squads were tied at 50, but that's when Michigan started to make their run. They would outscore Iowa 18-7 over the next five minutes to seize command of the game. Diabate, Eli Brooks, and Dickinson led the offensive charge for the Wolverines, who shot 7/9 from the floor over that span, and also banked a few points at the line. At that point it went from "Michigan has a shot" to "Michigan needs to win this game".

They defended their lead pretty well over the next few minutes, featuring one crucial swing where Patrick McCaffery missed a dunk and then Michigan responded with a pair of makes, including a Kobe Bufkin steal and jam, which swung it from being a possible four point lead back up to 10. Another minute bled off the clock, and Diabate scored two more at the charity stripe, now up to 28 for his total, and Michigan led 78-66. At that point there were just over three minutes left and Iowa seemed to be running out of time. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: More recap]