Oregon 69, Michigan 68
The final shots. [Joseph Dressler]
In the movie script, that shot goes in.
Michigan hadn't played their best game—far from it—but Derrick Walton nevertheless had a clean look to send the Wolverines to the Elite Eight and keep this magical run going. With time about to expire, Walton cleared out space, rose, and fired. His shot caught iron. Walton clutched his head, likely feeling the same combination of surprise and dismay as the rest of us.
"I had a good look at the basket and it just didn't drop for me," Walton said.
This is not a movie script.
In a disjointed game, Michigan's seniors fought valiantly to the finish. Walton shook off a hard fall on his elbow in the first half to finish with a game-high 20 points on 6-for-10 shooting, five rebounds, and eight assists. Zak Irvin poured in 19, going 8-of-14 from the field, pulled down eight rebounds, and played lockdown defense on Oregon star Dillon Brooks, who needed 13 shots to score 12 points. In the last five minutes, the two combined for three go-ahead shots, and Walton added a nasty fadeaway jumper to give the Wolverines a three-point lead with 2:02 left.
They could not get a fourth. Instead, Oregon's two best players on the night made the plays in winning time. Jordan Bell, a force in the paint all evening, put back a missed free throw to get the Ducks within one after Walton's jumper. After Walton couldn't get a tough layup to fall, Tyler Dorsey got a step on Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman and finished at the rim for what were ultimately the final points of the game.
Michigan would get two more shots to win. DJ Wilson's three-pointer with 46 seconds remaining was well off the mark. After Dylan Ennis missed another free throw with 15 seconds to play, Oregon surprisingly chose to give only one of their three remaining fouls to give, allowing Walton to get that final look. It fell short.
"I've seen him make that shot thousands of times, so I had confidence in him knocking it down," said Irvin. "It looked good from my angle. No one else on this team that we wanted taking that shot. He's been on a run and he's such a great player. I'm proud of him."
Jordan Bell made play after play in the paint. [Dressler]
From the start, this didn't feel like Michigan's night. The Wolverines went just 11-for-28 in the first half, and while they only trailed by two at the break, it could've easily been worse. Wilson sat for much of the half with foul trouble. Oregon's guards repeatedly blew by Michigan defenders. Dorsey sunk three of his four first-half three-point attempts. Walton grinded out 11 points and seven assists by halftime, keeping his team within striking distance. With Wilson set to get back on the court, the hope was Michigan could find their groove.
It never quite clicked. Moe Wagner barely played in the second half and finished the night with only seven points on 3-for-10 shooting. Abdur-Rahkman all but disappeared, tallying more turnovers (3) than points (2). Duncan Robinson's eight points weren't enough to offset his defensive shortcomings. While Wilson hit four three-pointers, he didn't get a bucket inside the arc as Bell dominated the paint; his missed second-half layup will stay with him for a while.
While tonight wasn't their night, this team can hold their heads high. Walton and Irvin battled to the bitter end, and this season will ultimately be remembered far more for the remarkable highs of the last month than tonight's low. When it mattered the most, this team galvanized around its leaders, and the most difficult part of tonight is knowing we won't get to see them all play together again.
"It's the tightest bunch I've been around in all my years of playing basketball," said Walton. "Just a very selfless group. I had the joy of being a part of it and being one of the leaders. Like I said, I wish we could have more games to play together because I think a couple minutes throughout the game we didn't show the type of team we were becoming and overall just thank them for allowing me to be part of such a great team."
"We're very close-knit, playing our best basketball and didn't want the season to end," said Irvin. "This team had a lot of great memories. We battled through adversity and just a team that I will always remember."
He's not alone.
You don't have to tell that to Michigan fans.
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:48 PM ^
Wagner
I was shocked by the CBS announcers I like Kevin Harlan, but i saw Moe was hurt on that fall to the floor he was clearly holding his wrist. then he left the game holding his wrist, and they never mentioned it once. One of starters missed most the 2nd half, a 6-10 fwd, replaced by a 6-8 G/F three-pt shooter and they never discuss it. It was a big moment in the game and CBS just missed it!
Locally have they said anything about his wrist?
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:51 PM ^
March 23rd, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^
Tough loss, but that was one helluva fun stretch of basketball. I only got to watch the first half and thought they looked a bit off. Thought/hoped they would come out firing on all cylinders in the 2nd half. Alas...
Watched the replay of the final shot and am still amazed it didn't go down. It was a good look...sometimes they just don't go in. Thanks for the write-up Ace.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:05 PM ^
Yeah, even the best teams can't win that many games in a row against top flight competition. Usually, a high seed and semi-home court advantage like Kansas is enjoying are required to win it all. Michigan had to run a gauntlet. It probably would have been different if Rhode Island had been able to hang on on Sunday.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:10 PM ^
Seems amazingly low for their style of basketball. Wonder what their average is for the year?
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
and we don't get fouled with our style of offense. This was probably the best refereed game out of our three in the tournament. Might have missed a couple here and there but I don't remember anything egregious so have to think it wasn't that bad.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:24 PM ^
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:33 PM ^
I thought both of Wilson's fouls in the first half were clean blocks.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:44 AM ^
They average less fouls than us surprisingly, however refs sure seemed to call a lot of ticky tack stuff against us and not them.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:16 PM ^
15.9
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:43 PM ^
They don't get whistled for fouls, anyway. They seemed incredibly handsy -- while several of their steals were clean, I also saw a few that looked like they got arm first. Their point guard also went through a sequence in the first half where he fouled Walton with the body nearly every time up the court for a couple of minutes -- he basically ran by him and bumped him. I don't remember seeing it create a turnover, but it did get him off balance once or twice. I didn't notice if he stuck with it later.
I also saw Rahkman take an (inadvertent) knee to the head while chasing a loose ball, and someone (Irvin?) took a forearm to the nose while playing defense, then subseqeuently gave up a three. They also set a number of moving screens. (I also thought the first-half offensive foul against Michigan -- Rahkman, I think? -- was a pretty clear flop).
So, I wouldn't call the 9 fouls legit, no.
Having said that -- I saw several questionable calls go Michigan's way. Wagner traveled at least twice that I noticed, and DWJ did once; I don't think they called travelling in the entire game. I also thought they got an out-of-bounds call wrong near the beginning of the game, in Michigan's favor.
Basically, I spent the entire game thinking that the referees were, once again, ruining a perfectly good product. If Michigan had won, Oregon fans would have been complaining about the officiating, for certain.
Officiating didn't cost Michigan this game. It basically came down to luck; Oregon shot well above its season-long three-point percentage, and Michigan shot just below its; Oregon missed that one dunk and Michigan missed at least three shots from within 5 feet. "Bad luck" is a crappy narrative, which is why people tend to make up other explanations (e.g., "they wanted it more," etc). But I think it's the most accurate. If they play this game 1000 times, I think Michigan wins 550. Today the coin came up tails. :-(
March 24th, 2017 at 11:06 AM ^
They didn't really press much, and when they did it was more of a soft press to just make Michigan eat time to get the ball across half court before they get into their offensive sets. The couple of times Oregon went aggressive with their press, UM made them pay.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:11 PM ^
and agree this hurts not to get another chance to see this team play. They became extremely likable and fun to watch. A complete team.
What an incredible second half by Irvin to keep us in it and couple big shots by he and Walton down the stretch. They each hit a three and a jumper in the last 5 min to bring us from down 3 to up 3. Wanted this one for the seniors badly. They played so well.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:12 PM ^
Oregon just ... played better. They were tenacious on D and we couldn't get the shots to fall, while Bell dominated the paint and Dorsey just buried his looks. Just have to tip our caps here.
For all the mis-seeding in this tourny, there have been a ton of great, close games.
Go Blue!
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:14 PM ^
but please call a foul a foul. The failure to call a foul on Bell on the top left photo is egregious. He got beaten and he recovered by throwing his body into Walton. FOUL.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:19 PM ^
he was straight up, Walton kind of threw himself into him trying to get the foul. Shouldn't have challenged him there.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:52 AM ^
but he started by throwing his hip into Walton. I can see your point of view, but contact was made while he was still recovering. I watched it in slo-mo, and to me, it's a foul.
March 24th, 2017 at 11:41 AM ^
called a foul, I just don't think refs call it in that situation most of the time and it's close enough that no one is going to get too upset either way.
while he was recovering.
The "straight up" concept is generally for a planted defender going up to challenge, or a player who starts a move engaged with the offensive player and not in a disadvantageous position. I don't think you get straight up very often, if ever, when you're beat and seeking to recover.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:20 PM ^
missed the game, but am happy to see that Walton and Irvin both had great games. This team was fantastic. I can't wait for next year.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:26 PM ^
We block out on that FT Oreb, and we probably win. :( Tough to swallow.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:31 PM ^
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:36 PM ^
Ace. Great team, off night. Hard to swallow.
Thanks for the memories.
Long time till football.
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:53 PM ^
March 23rd, 2017 at 11:41 PM ^
March 24th, 2017 at 12:02 AM ^
March 24th, 2017 at 12:14 AM ^
There are many "if only" moments when you lose a close game, but looking over the stats I see we were 25 of 58 from the field (33 misses), and from those 33 misses we had 2 offensive rebounds.
I know they wanted to get back on defense, but when the shooting is as cold as it was for Michigan much of the night (and for Oregon), maybe trying to clean the glass a little more on the offensive end would have paid dividends. Or maybe not, Oregon might have taken advantage of a numbers mismatch if we lingered under the rim,I don't know. I just hate to see a "chuck it toward the basket and flee" approach when the shots just aren't falling.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:21 AM ^
Oregon normally takes a ton of shots in transition. We did a really good job of taking that away tonight.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:26 AM ^
I'm leaning toward the numbers mismatch. Michigan held Oregon to its third-worst two-point shooting night of the season, and one of its worst offensive efficiencies of the season (7th worst of 37, if I counted properly, and worst since January).
They did this by sacrificing offensive rebounds. You can't expect to win every category against a team of equal strength. The same Michigan team that seemingly couldn't stop anyone in the first half of Big Ten play came within a whisker of winning a Sweet 16 game on the strength of its defense.
I see nothing to criticize here in terms of the rebounding gameplan.
PS: Despite the issues at the end of the game, this was the third-worst offensive rebounding performance by Oregon this year. Oregon only collected 17% of its misses; for the year, they grab over 32%. This game was not lost by poor rebounding.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:41 AM ^
we were 52 percent from two and 35.5 percent from three which are both just slightly below our stellar season averages. It's not like you ever expect to miss. You don't just say, oh let's change our whole offensive reboudning strategy because we expect to miss. You always think you're going to make the next shot. It is surprsing that a few more shots didn't bounce to us by accident, but we definitely went all out to make sure they couldn't transition and it worked pretty well by holding a very good offense to 1.05 ppp.
Just needed to make one more shot.
March 24th, 2017 at 12:24 AM ^
I'll take it. If nothing else it was a joy to watch this team grow. They went from NIT probable in January to final four potential in March. That was fun.
Thanks to our seniors and best of luck in the future! I'm looking forward to next year already!
Great write up Ace, keep up the good work.
Time for spring ball.
It's hard to complain about Walton's shot choices after the game he played but I didn't like his last two. On the first he used too much of the clock then drove down the lane and just threw up a prayer from the side that came nowhere close to the rim as he fell outof bounds. On the shot at the buzzar I would have preferred if he had gone straight up rather than try a step back shot that ends up coming up short.
The only second chance points Oregon converted all night were the two defensive rebounds we missed at the end of the game.
The stepback is his shot. Keep in mind as well that he needed to get the shot off - Oregon had two fouls to give. If he goes into the defender, he probably gets grabbed.
pretty much agree with the guy above except why settle for the 3? Drive and then kick out if you have to. He ended up with a good look but there was a better play to be made.
team made a great run. really enjoyed following them from plane crash on...
"team made a great run. really enjoyed following them from plane crash on..."
You missed a lot of great basketball before that
March 24th, 2017 at 10:47 AM ^
Always love the snark on this board. Whole bunch of A-holes.
I watched games before that and guess what it wasnt all rainbows and show ponnies.
It was an incredible run made from a near tragic event. Did they play well in a couple games leading up to that moment sure. But it didnt have the same spirit.
March 24th, 2017 at 10:06 AM ^
As jmblue said in a reply to the previous post, Oregon had two fouls to give. As soon as Walton drives, he gets grabbed. In fact, the only reason that he was able to get a shot off at all, in my opinion, is that the defender was afraid if he made the first move, Walton would be able to drive past him. The Oregon player was waiting to react as soon as Walton started moving forward.
GREAT RUN!!! proud of this team and what they accomplished.
I too hate to see any player take a 3pt shot at the buzzer, when down by 1. Zak on a curl at the elbow off a screen would have been my call, or anyone cutting to the hoop, but so be it.
GREAT RUN! GO BLUE!
Yeah I was a little disappointed he settled for a 3 when he coulda got closer to try to make something happen. Down 1, Oregon would've had to defend the whole court instead of just the 3 point line - make the defense move and find some space. I'm not totally mad at that shot though - decent look, he usually hits that.
I kept thinking that this was a classic Beilein close loss - 3s go cold but they were still good enough to be within striking distance of the W. And all they needed was one of those many missed shots to fall throughout the game and they win. I also think back to that layup Wilson missed - if he dunked that Michigan is still playing. 1 point losses are the worst.
Man - they HAD it. Such a bummer. Still a great ride though. I wish I didn't have that dream in the middle of the night that they had just won and were getting ready to face Kansas.
It's amazing how high their floor is now though. They didn't play well and they were still in a position to beat a good 3 seed. And they should've won. I hope they start out stong next year and Simpson can be half as good as Walton. Already looking forward to next season.
So proud of these guys. They showed so much heart and so much growth through the season. These guys repped our beloved university to the fullest, and I am so happy we witnessed this run. Best of the luck to Irvin and Walton and the rest of the seniors, they deserve great things in their future. I hope Wagner and Wilson give us another year. Great strides this year but they could use another camp sanderson summer and fulfilling their potential next year as leaders. If they stay, we will be good.
March 24th, 2017 at 10:27 AM ^
will destroy the ducks. Michigan would have been a better match up.
Spot on description from what I could see. This was a heckuva Michigan team the second half of the season. Basketball teams can have a lot of ups and downs, and even with the team being slightly off shooting wise, and Oregon's high energy on defense, we had great chances and a good shot to win at end.
March 24th, 2017 at 11:28 AM ^
great article Ace - through the entire game, they didn't look "right"... but credit the ducks for doing that too...
in the end, they did what i hoped they would fought back, tooth and nail, and gave themselves a great chance to win...
there's always a few what ifs in a game this close - like whether DJ should have launched that 3 with a 1 point lead and less than a minute left; missing the rebound on Oregon's miss FT attempt...
that said, you take a DWJ step back jumper at the end of the game Every. Single. Time...
Great run, Great memories, Great Team.
Hurts now, but they've cemented their place in Michigan BBall history and they'll be remembered for what they did here.
All you needed in this game was a camera inside Michigan's huddle capturing Beilein telling his guys to run the picket fence at Oregon, using Derrick as a decoy, then becoming alarmed when all the team looks uncertain at that course of action and Derrick just looking at Beilein and telling him confidently, "I'll make it"; then of course Walton goes out and knocks down the game-winner.
Boom Hoosier'd
Great season guys! Thank you for what are going to be some great memories. You bowed out too early, but you made Michigan proud.
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