Villanova 60, Michigan 55
Sometimes you just have to tip your cap.
After a forgettable first half, Michigan and Villanova put on a show, trading big runs and phenomenal plays in one of the best college basketball games of this young season. Unfortunately, one of them had to lose.
The decisive play was representative. With five seconds left, down by a point, Michigan inbounded the ball from the Villanova baseline. John Beilein drew up a beauty of a play, freeing up Zak Irvin for what looked like an uncontested layup. Out of nowhere, JayVaughn Pinkston contested it, emphatically. The Wolverines were good; the Wildcats a hair better.
What cannot be lost is how encouraging this game became from Michigan's perspective, especially considering the first half and change. From the 7:13 mark of the first half until the 17:21 mark of the second, they didn't score a single point, allowing Villanova to turn a one-point deficit into a 13-point lead. John Beilein rotated through all four centers in the first half to poor results and lots of foul trouble. With 20 points on 30 possession at the break and an ugly start to the second stanza, a young M squad easily could've packed it in; this game would stand as last year's Duke game did, a learning experience via rote blowout.
Instead, they hit Villanova back. Zak Irvin, Caris LeVert, and Derrick Walton made consecutive baskets to make the game tight in a flash, and Spike Albrecht's triple with 11:19 left gave Michigan a lead they would tenuously hold until Dylan Ennis tied it up with a dagger from the corner with 2:36 on the clock.
The teams would trade buckets until Pinkston scored the eventual winning points with a strong—some might say too strong—move down low for a lay-in with 13 ticks left; moments later, his clean block of Irvin all but ended it. Michigan's last hope to tie it up faded ingloriously when Max Bielfeldt threw away a long inbounds attempt, but that shouldn't take away from a tremendously exciting game.
Yes, Michigan let a shot at a signature win slip away. That they were in position to get one in the first place against a much more experienced, and quite talented, Villanova team was a victory in and of itself, however; those bemoaning the loss ... well, "can't see the forest for the trees" comes to mind.
Admit it, that was a hundred times more fun than any football game this season. There will be bumps in the road, but this team is pretty darn good right now, and I can't wait to see what they're going to look like come March.
November 26th, 2014 at 1:26 AM ^
Both Donnal and Kam showed their first real signs of contributing. Donnal is soft yes and will remain soft but had some nice vision out there as a passer and looks like a guy who will improve. Kam had his first game as a Wolverine where he made more than 1 shot. So those 2 guys along with Doyle are the 3 guys I see contributing meaningfully out of the freshman/RS freshman. Still holding out hope that Dawkins will be giving us 5-7 minutes a night by February but thus far he has not been a big piece of the rotation.
Wilson is going to get eaten alive by Big 10 physicality and on most Michigan team's would be redshirting. He and Sanderson need a year together. And MAAR is basically insurance on a catastrophic injury to one of the 3 guards.
Again to put in perspective that was a team tonight that didnt play 1 freshman in their top 7. They had 5 SR/JR + 2 SO. A team that lost 1 major piece from a 29? win team last year. And it was a matchup of 2 even teams. We looked a lot worse last year at this time with what probably was a team with more NBA talent on it.
TL;DR In Beilein we trust.
November 26th, 2014 at 1:28 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:31 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:44 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:36 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:47 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 1:43 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 2:05 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 2:26 AM ^
I'm on a 2 hour delay watching this one. Logging in to see what everyone else thought and oddly....you are all right.
- A lot to be encouraged about tonight. Good fight, diffferent freshman contributing
- Tough, tough, tough whistle tonight. From the post guy that had 2 blatant travels leading to a 3 point shot with about 17:00 minutes left, to too many ticky tack calls, to Walton being fouled with 10 seconds left. (oh, and Caris earned a charge on that last key basket...make the call
- Shouldn't be complaining about that last block. That was a great defensive play.
- Nova won the game in the last 30 seconds. Tip your cap and move on.
- This is more fun than football has been.
November 26th, 2014 at 2:40 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 3:39 AM ^
Yep, just watched the game after coming home from Sturgill Simpson in Portland (holy crap, what a show). Wish we had the win, but saw a lot of promise for an exciting season. Thanks for the recap, Ace.
November 26th, 2014 at 7:10 AM ^
isn't that some neanderthal sport played at places like east lansing and columbus?
November 26th, 2014 at 7:13 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 7:17 AM ^
for an up and under move right there. He's right handed, it would have been a much easier play. . .
November 26th, 2014 at 10:46 AM ^
Hindsight is 20/20, but yes I agree after watching the highlights. That'd be a high level move to pull off but if he reverses it he probably gets fouled at worst, at best gets the and-1
November 26th, 2014 at 8:04 AM ^
But a very impressive game by Michigan against a much more experienced team. These two games were great experience builders for our young team going forward.
November 26th, 2014 at 8:14 AM ^
Albeit not one that had a huge impact was the pass that was cut off by levert on the baseline. Looked to me like Caris got there first and even if it was bang bang play let the players play and make no call. They bailed the kid out because he was trapped in the corner and his pass wasn't good. They wanted to call a physical game in some facets but called nit pick fouls in others. The reffs didn't lose the game for us but they certainly didn't make it easy. For stretches of the game it felt like we were playing against six on the floor. Kind of have to agree, nova was gettin a little east coast duke treatment.
It's clear that Max is well overmatched when playing good teams. I said it when he first got here that his ceiling is very low. I think it's going to be Doyle and Donnal getting the bulk moving forward. Wilson I agree needs a year with Sanderson. He moves like he's still in HS
At the end of the day though, Beilein will have good material to coach off of here.
November 26th, 2014 at 8:36 AM ^
"Admit it, that was a hundred times more fun than any football game this season."
Absofuckingly right. I watched from the opening tip to the very last and all I could think (especially during the second half run) was "God it's nice to have a team that's well coached and GOOD." It was such good basketball from both teams.
With Beilein on the sidelines you know you're never out of a game because at worst, you've got a push with the other team's HC and in most games you're clearly at an advantadge. With Hoke it's exactly the opposite.
November 26th, 2014 at 8:49 AM ^
Came here to say that it's great to feel feelings about sports again.
November 26th, 2014 at 8:56 AM ^
I can't pinpoint the exact reason, but I'm enjoying watching this team even more than the teams in the past couple years. They seem to have great chemistry and grow not only with every game, but it seems on every possession. Watching Beilein coach these guys up for the rest of the year is going to be great. I'm ready for another long run in March.
November 26th, 2014 at 9:18 AM ^
... I find that my initial (over) reactions to bad calls were mostly off base homerism in the heat of the moment. This was not one of those times. Nor was the BS call on Trey's Siva-snuff.
But still immensely encouraged by the performance. Monday, my line was "if we get by Oregon" that's a good step forward. Then it was "if we can make this competitive against" Nova, that's a good step forward. Then it was "if we seal this comeback", that's a great step forward.
Expectations shift. Especially with Beilein's teams in the past few years. But let's not lose sight of the fact that they're pretty much always shifting forward. That's a very good thing, and in pleasantly marked contrast to what we've become conditioned to during football season.
November 26th, 2014 at 9:19 AM ^
The officiating didn't cost us the game! If Donnal makes his foul shots the game is over. Debate all you want but you MUST make your free throws in tight games.
November 26th, 2014 at 9:50 AM ^
I don't see the debate you're referring to. I was unhappy with some of the calls, sure, but the main thrust of my post (including self-described homerism) was the positives to take away from the game.
As for Donnal, yes you gotta make free throws, but my take is that it was also on the rest of the team, particularly the guards, to ensure that the game was not in the hands of an inexperienced player without crunch-time exposure.
November 26th, 2014 at 10:10 AM ^
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November 26th, 2014 at 10:50 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 11:33 AM ^
No, sometimes teams actually miss a free throw and still win. Yes, Donnal needs to make those but don't try to pin the loss on him.
November 26th, 2014 at 9:22 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 9:24 AM ^
The mystery double post, although I'm so happy basketball is here it's worth a double.
November 26th, 2014 at 9:46 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 10:45 AM ^
The little flashes that Chatman and Doyle (and even Donnal) are showing have me hoping that those guys can be average-to-decent by the end of the year. If they can just be serviceable, we can go far with our 1-3 and help from them
November 26th, 2014 at 10:43 AM ^
Even in a loss, I had more fun watching this game than I've had watching football since......probably last year's OSU game? Before that, I dunno
November 26th, 2014 at 10:53 AM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 11:07 AM ^
I felt the officiating was terrible. At the end of the day, Michigan did not play well enough to take the officials out of the game. You can't expect to beat a top 25 basketball team when you go ten minutes of game time without scoring. The fact that Michigan almost did anyway is a testament to the heart and resilience of the team. I felt like Michigan took th brunt of several bad calls, but they also looked lost on offense for a full quarter of the game.
I mean, let's face it -- the offensive numbers for the game are just plain ugly. 0.89 points per possession, 6/21 on 3-point shooting, 3/5 from the line (after going 23/29 vs. Oregon), and a 17.7% turnover rate -- none of that is good enough to get the job done.
However, the defense is turning into an unexpected, and very welcome, strength. Villanova has a KenPom adjusted offensive rating of 109.4, and Michigan held them to 0.98 points per possession, and even that's skewed somewhat by the four late free throws -- it was 0.93 points per possession for the first 60 possessions, when Michigan was playing defense, and then 2 points per possession for the last two, when they were just fouling to extend the game. That is an excellent performance and one that will win most nights.
This team actually seemed to grow on the court from the first half to the second. They're getting to know each other and learning their roles. The freshmen are making freshman mistakes, but that's to be expected -- and, because John Beilein is the coach, they won't be making those same mistakes come January. The team's youth is going to lead to inconsistency, but it also means that they may grow more between now and the tournament than anybody else save maybe Kentucky.
Michigan had three chances on the schedule to pick up a marquee non-conference win. This was one, and they let it slip by. @Arizona is going to be very tough, and I doubt any of us expects a win there. Tuesday vs. Syracuse is going to be critical to the team's résumé come Selection Sunday. Michigan beat Syracuse in the Final Four with McGary's assists from the high post. I'm not sure that offense is likely to work Tuesday, since I don't see any of Michigan's frontcourt dishing out passes like Mitch; I'm curious to see what Coach Beilein has up his sleeve.
Go Blue!
November 26th, 2014 at 11:25 AM ^
in that game. Nova's an experienced team, and blew out a decent VCU team the night before. Given our relative inexperience, I liked how they hung in there when they were down by 13 early in the 2nd half. We didn't rely too much on the 3, and frankly didn't shoot the ball all that well, but were in position A to win the game before Nova's flurry at the end. Beilien made the comment after the game that "If we win it, we get false ideas of how much more we still have to improve..." I'll take it under the circumstances.
November 26th, 2014 at 11:42 AM ^
This game looked like it would be a blowout starting the second half. We seemed tired and baskets were not falling. However, this team showed a lot of heart and nearly pulled it off. The intensity was awesome. This team will grow from the experience. Fun to watch.
My only comment on the officiating was it didn't seem consistent for either team. Either let them play a physical game or make the calls throughout the game.
#GOBLUE
#BEATHOHIO
November 26th, 2014 at 12:28 PM ^
We took a team that has only 3 upper classmen and lost 4 starters from last year against the defending Big East champs with 4 seasoned returning starters and came out close to even? Yeah, I'll take that. As I said last night, this team will be a tour de force in the spring. It's going to be another great hoops season!
November 26th, 2014 at 5:09 PM ^
Looking forward to seeing another successful basketball team. Go Blue!!!
November 26th, 2014 at 2:46 PM ^
Don't know how you can call that game enjoyable. It was ridiculously frustrating, from the 10 minute drought to the questionable officiating to our still horrendous freshmen play (besides Doyle). I'm impressed that we could play so horribly and still nearly win vs a talented, experienced team that had such a huge advantage in the post. If our freshmen become solid contributors instead of 'oh god he has the ball something bad is goign to happen's we're going to be quite good. But as of now our freshmen (Doyle aside) are absolutely terrible and I have no idea what they saw in Donnal in practice last year because I see a slow, weak, clumsy guy who can't do anything right. I have hope for the other freshmen, but not him.
November 26th, 2014 at 4:04 PM ^
November 26th, 2014 at 7:37 PM ^
I don't even know how to respond to your response, it seems to have very little to do with what I wrote and is all over the place including the nonsensical metaphor at the end. The only controversial opinion I have is that Donnal will never be any good. I was initially amused that we have a Sheldon Cooper look-a-like on our team, now I'm disappointed that he also plays like Sheldon Cooper...not that you gave any indication that was the part of my post to which you responded. We probably agree on most everything else except about which one of us is the idiot.
November 28th, 2014 at 9:39 AM ^
November 27th, 2014 at 1:45 AM ^
The refs sucked. That is all.
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