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South Carolina 61, Michigan 46 Comment Count

Ace

Sometimes it's not your day.

Zak Irvin had the worst performance of his career, fouling out with five points on 2-for-13 shooting and eight turnovers. The rest of the team followed suit. Michigan shot 19.2% from the field and 7.7% from beyond the arc, and no, those are not typos. They had two assists and 16 turnovers. Derrick Walton hit both of Michigan's three-pointers; they were separated by 32:10 of game time.

Sindarius Thornwell was everywhere for South Carolina, posting 21 points, ten boards, three assists, and three blocks. Michigan's defense otherwise held firm, holding USC below a point per possession, but there was little to be done on that end to overcome M's shooting woes.

While a game this ugly tends to leave a lasting impression, this is one best worth forgetting. Michigan may not be quite as good as they looked last week; they are certainly not as bad as they looked today.

Comments

Real Tackles Wear 77

November 23rd, 2016 at 8:01 PM ^

This team played literally the worst game they possibly could by a large margin. Their baseline is much, much higher than they looked tonight. So long as we come to play, people will forget about this one soon enough.

Joined: 07/05/2008

MGoPoints: 9704

bronxblue

November 23rd, 2016 at 8:12 PM ^

This is just one of those nights. The defense didn't fall apart, but you shoot 2 for 26 from 3 and you are in trouble. To their credit, they did get to the line some.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 172158

bronxblue

November 23rd, 2016 at 8:18 PM ^

It is refreshing to see the same complaints come out after a loss. And because they are always so generalized, they reply regardless of the actual game. It's all toughness and bad coaching, because teams never have bad shooting nights.

Joined: 11/22/2008

MGoPoints: 172158

Rabbit21

November 23rd, 2016 at 8:20 PM ^

I thought the defense was encouraging and the effort was always there. Something was just off offensive and I think the bad shooting just killed everyone's confidence. Hopefully they shake it off in time for Texas and UCLA, there is still plenty to play for and I think the improvement is real.



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Joined: 11/12/2009

MGoPoints: 30387

KTisClutch

November 23rd, 2016 at 9:05 PM ^

The team could have made more 3's if they were all half court shots. Which shows that today was a statistical anomaly. Irvin played terrible. Wilson was off. Wagner and Donnal couldn't get going. But the defense was still there which is encouraging and a good another sign that the defense is a trend.



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Joined: 03/02/2014

MGoPoints: 2677

Bones032

November 23rd, 2016 at 9:33 PM ^

Thank God only 1 of our 8 remaining non conference games is on the road. Playing on the road is just F'ing hard for college athletes alot of times, I don't care what anyone says. Look at the series vs Arizona recently, they were #1 in the country, we played them at home, lost by 1. Next year they were worse, and we played them on the road and got smashed.

Joined: 09/01/2012

MGoPoints: 1032

MinWhisky

November 23rd, 2016 at 9:49 PM ^

I didn't watch the game and wondered if the UofM made any half-time changes on offense.  If they did, and it still didn't stop the bleeding, then maybe it's one of those nights.  If they didn't adjust, then i expect we'll see whatever USC was doing in future games until UofM does come up with a way to respond.

Joined: 10/17/2011

MGoPoints: 1261

Eyzwidopn

November 23rd, 2016 at 10:30 PM ^

It's not the poor shooting, it's the "same old, same old"  theme we see with Coach Beilein's teams - getting punched in the mouth and not finding a way to respond in kind.

Where's the scrappy dog on this team, the enforcer or who has that "street fighter" mentality to not get bullied on the court?

I know it's early in the season, but these are the same issues we've seen when JB teams come up against physical, smothering defenses and you would think by now they would have an answer for that... not only in scheme but in recruits as well.

 

Joined: 09/16/2013

MGoPoints: 3086

Maizen

November 23rd, 2016 at 11:21 PM ^

Seen this movie before, looks like the same team I've been watching the past two years. This has to be one of the worst shooting nights in program history no? After a decade it's incredibly frustrating that Beilein, a supposed offensive guru, still has no counter punch when 3's aren't falling. This is why you need an inside post up game. He recruited a bunch of shooters that can't shoot. Go figure.

Joined: 08/15/2015

MGoPoints: -99993347

True Blue Grit

November 24th, 2016 at 7:28 AM ^

Long before he fouled out.  He was terrible and dragging the team down with him.  We would have been better off giving a freshman minutes.  Anyone else on the roster would have done better.

Joined: 01/21/2011

MGoPoints: 32488

L'Carpetron Do…

November 25th, 2016 at 2:44 PM ^

He was horrendous.  I was shocked at how bad he was and that Beilein left him in.  I understand that every player is going to have a bad game from time to time, even veteran seniors, but good lord that was f---in terrible.  It's disappointing that his floor is still as low as some random freshman.  I agree he should've been yanked well before fouling out.  I couldn't believe he fouled out with 5:33 left. Un-freaking-real. I hope he gets it together and bounces back. This has got to be a low point in his season and career and he's gotta use it to motivate him from here on out

Joined: 03/15/2010

MGoPoints: 8801

theWritist

November 24th, 2016 at 3:19 PM ^

This game is on Beilein. South Carolina is not really good, but they do things that make up for bad offense. Like pressure the ball. Rebound, especially on the offensive glass. Attack the lane. Michigan does not. If Michigan shoots well, they are ok, but when they're off, they seem to just shrug and say "not our night." In basketball, you have to make up for bad shooting elsewhere, and Michigan doesn't. There are so many intangibles in basketball. It's time for Michigan to go find the basketball equivalent of Harbaugh.

Joined: 02/13/2015

MGoPoints: 1680

atom evolootion

November 24th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^

If a team adjusts to their strengths to shield their weaknesses while exposing their opponents' weaknesses in order to win, are they "not really good"? They played ball in a way that allowed them to keep us out of the paint and they ran out to block two of our outside attempts (one was an iffy foul on Walton) and contested the three-point line. That's a sound plan against Michigan, I'd say, which, in turn, shows that at least right now, they're a good, undefeated team. I don't know how they'll end up when the season's done, but to say they're "not really good" because they beat up on us and we're salty is an uninformed take. Also, is this not the equivalent of Harbaugh's Iowa game two weeks ago or his Utah game last year? Beilein's a good coach. He's won about as much as Harbaugh has in college and is considered as much a guru in coaching as his football counterpart. He'll do his thing this year and we won't even be thinking about South Carolina anymore.

Joined: 11/03/2013

MGoPoints: 1069

L'Carpetron Do…

November 25th, 2016 at 2:36 PM ^

After last weekend I was really psyched about this game.  And I can't believe how bad they looked.  It literally looked like an entirely different team out there.  

South Carolina wasn't particularly good.  Michigan let it slip away even while SC was ice cold and committing foul after foul.  The thing that really bothered me was that they looked like last year's team - someone punched em in the mouth and they looked stunned.  They were soft.  

I was begging Beilein to get Irvin off the court. He was just awful and it was blatantly obvious he was a drag on the team. I thought 'this guy is a senior and he looks lost out there'.  I would really like the team and these seniors to get PISSED. If they're not playing well it has to bother them and they should respond by playing hard as hell. I didn't see that last year and I was waiting to see it on Wednesday but it never came. They should HATE losing. They've lost so much recently I think it would bother them by now. 

I really hope that this was a one-off and it ends up being an outlier for the season.  I love John B and his teams and after last weekend I thought this could be another great one.  They got some serious upside but they have to respond BIG TIME now.  They won't achieve that potential unless they get mentally tough.  

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