Iowa 72, Michigan 54
Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog
Two weeks ago, Michigan made Wisconsin look like Iowa.
Tonight, they made Iowa look like Wisconsin.
While much of the focus will go on Michigan's 8:51 scoring drought that spanned both halves, their woeful defensive play was the main culprit in this loss, as the Hawkeyes shot 63% from the field to finish with 1.39 points per possession. All five Iowa starters finished in double-figures.
The ease with which the two teams scored could hardly have contrasted more. 52 of Iowa's 72 points came in the paint, as they ran their offense through the post with equal success against man and zone defenses; they rebounded nearly half their (rare) misses. Michigan managed just 16 points in the paint and looked completely befuddled when Iowa went to a 2-3 zone, moving little and shooting prayer after prayer.
Aubrey Dawkins scored 16 points on nine shots, hitting a couple second-half threes that briefly drew Michigan within striking distance. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had a couple decent drives on his way to 11 points, though he struggled to shoot from the outside. Kam Chatman had a solid stretch in the first half, scoring six points, then went cold in the second. Pick a player and he probably blew at least one assignment on defense.
The bubble didn't just burst; Iowa took a shotgun to it, and gleefully pumped in a few more rounds to the detritus for good measure. After an inspring performance against Michigan State, the Wolverines fell flat, and it'll be a long final month of the season if their effort on both ends doesn't improve.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:17 PM ^
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February 5th, 2015 at 9:18 PM ^
This team sucks, and that was an embarrassing performance tonight. What'd Iowa get, like 70 points on uncontested dunks and layups? Good god. This season can't end soon enough.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:26 PM ^
This wasn't going to be our year anyway. This was another learning moment for the guys. They never expected to play this much and the physical and mental demands are catching up with them. This team will improve a lot over the course of the season and through the offseason. They will bulk up and get more sound in their fundamentals. Tonight wasn't fun to watch but when you've seen a team play way out of their league for two games then eventually you are who you are.
Grab a few shots of Basil Hayden and settle down. I think it's impressive that our Z team is doing so well.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:29 PM ^
Really? Because I saw a team that was actually playing well the past month or so, only to have a complete breakdown both offensively and defensively tonight. I bet every team we play from here on out goes to a 2-3 zone considering how helpless we looked against it.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:16 PM ^
February 5th, 2015 at 10:19 PM ^
This wasn't just a cold shooting night, it was a night where we literally couldn't get any decent shots. It was evident that we couldn't figure out the zone. I expect other teams will employ it against us from here on out, and it will get ugly.
As far as Iowa, they're not good, sorry. And they were on a 3 game losing streak coming into tonight. I dunno why the hell you thought they would win the conference.
February 6th, 2015 at 7:14 AM ^
The truth is in the middle. First of all, UM is not a good team and second, they played awfully. vs. Iowa. To compound matters, Iowa found our 2 big weaknesses (inability to create their own shot and lack of size/defense in the paint) and did a great job of pounding them over and over.
JB's teams can sometimes make up for their deficiencies by hitting threes. On nights where the threes don't fall, they lose, especially if the opponent is hitting on al cylinders.
I agree, at present, this is a lousy team. They have given a very good effort up till now but last night wasn't the best.
February 6th, 2015 at 11:11 AM ^
to listen to Brian and Ace's podcast from yesterday. We lost 3 players to the NBA last year (all sophomores) and our recruiting isnt at the level where we can just plop in 1 and dones like Kentucky. This "down" year was coming but the future looks bright. The guys have been busting their ass to keep games competitive but the superior teams in this league have too much experience. So please spare me with these bashing comments. We almost won the National Title, we made the elite eight last year and JB is producting NBA talent like crazy.
February 5th, 2015 at 11:05 PM ^
You know, a team can have an off night. And sure, at times they looked confused by the 2-3 zone, but if you don't believe Beilein will continue to work with them to counteract it in the future, you are fooling yourself.
February 6th, 2015 at 5:30 PM ^
We have a roster suitable for a mid-major program ... of all underclassmen. Kenpom saying we were going to win by 2 gave me hope and made me think maybe im missing something. But then things went exactly how I expected things to go as our tiny, unathletic team went against a team of athletic 6'9+ people. Our roster sucks right now, thats just the way it goes when everyone goes pro, graduates, or gets injured and we can't recruit very well for whatever reason. I'm just shocked and pleased the MSU, Wisocnsin, and Nebraska games didn't go the same way.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:19 PM ^
February 5th, 2015 at 10:10 PM ^
he consistently does a silly pump fake allowing the entire defense to reset. it's fine to look to pass first but know where you are going with the ball before you even catch it.
February 6th, 2015 at 11:55 AM ^
February 5th, 2015 at 9:22 PM ^
Is that image the dunk that got White ejected?
February 5th, 2015 at 10:08 PM ^
I turned the game off at the 9 minute mark during the second half.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:11 PM ^
he was assessed a second technical foul for hanging on the rim. his coach just sat him for a few minutes.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:27 PM ^
Normally i'd be more disappointed, but i'm still laughing so hard that DeBord got hired.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:38 PM ^
how to stop a much bigger team that also came to play defense. The injuries, inexperience, and lack of size all caught up with Michigan at once tonight with predictable results. It is what it is for the rest of the season I'm afraid. Hopefully, we'll have a healthy team next year - and Zak Irvin figures out what's wrong - and a big, inside, physical player falls into our lap.
February 5th, 2015 at 9:56 PM ^
February 5th, 2015 at 10:06 PM ^
Any bubble talk can now be put to rest. The lack of depth on the team now is very evident and hurting. Time to hit the reset button and start the 2015-16 season.
February 5th, 2015 at 11:09 PM ^
I keep hearing this argument about the lack of depth, but right now Michigan is playing all the players they have available. Outside of maybe Duke or Kentucky, you remove 2 of the top 3 players on any squad and its pretty fallow behind them. The fact Michigan was able to roll out competitive lineups against MSU and Wiscy despite rolling out lineups with multiple walk-ons is damn impressive.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:15 PM ^
this team is really lacking a competent #4. it's killing this team on both ends. we will also struggle next year unless chatman or donnal improves greatly this summer.
i think our 1-3 positions will be solid and have great depth; maar and dawkins are already helping more than anyone could have imagined.
February 6th, 2015 at 1:03 AM ^
And the 5 needs to improve. Doyle had flashes early but has hit the freshman wall. Max is gone next year.
We have such little length and athleticism at the 5 right now. We were saying the loss of Morgan would be felt on interior defense - anytime he was not in last year the last 20 games it was a turnstile down the lane. Well that is basically what the lane is all day now.
Who plays above the rim on this team aside from Dawkins? And he is a 3/4. Our athleticism gap continues to be staggering. You can make up for it if you shoot lights out and get your share of rebounds but right now we have our standard 6-8 minute stretches every game we go cold from outside and have little to no interior game to go to when that happens.
I guess DJ Wilson is our only hope for athleticism infusion next year but unless he gains 30 lbs he is just going to get beat up inside.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:15 PM ^
The injuries and losses to graduation/NBA have really taken a toll this season.
Beilein and the staff HAVE to recruit better. McGary was a huge get for us, but we haven't really seen any uptick from the final four run which is really frustrating. I get that we're looking for high character guys, but a one and done player isn't the end of the world.
It's not the end of the world this year, the guys we have will be here a few more years and will develop and get better, I just wonder why the coaches are so patient (which is great) when they don't have to be.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:37 PM ^
It's the nature of the beast now. At some point you have to start pursuing the one and done type recruits. Coach K used to never offer one and done kids, now he's got like 3 of them on his team each year. We have to recruit better, especially since some of our big recruits like Irvin, Chatman, Donnal haven't developed like we all hoped.
February 5th, 2015 at 11:20 PM ^
Beilein absolutely goes after the 1-and-done kids (guys like Booker and Alexander) , but it's a two-way road. Lots of those kids won't come to Michigan for any number of reasons, and only some of them Beilein has any control over. Part of it is bagmen and that part of the sport, part of it is other elite programs, and a large part of it is just losing out on lottery tickets. But this idea that Beilein is some naive puritan who doesn't go after high-profile guys because he's afraid to lose them a year later is silly because (a) nothing in his history shows that he has any major reservations about guys leaving early provided they work in his system while they play for him, and (b) he wouldn't have been as successful of a coach at every stop if he was so stringently attached to such a myopic view of the sport. Beilein seems nice a good guy who doesn't break the rules, but he's not an idiot. He recruited a couple of top-100 kids in 2014 who have either been injured or struggled mightily, while a couple of his less heralded pickups are looking good. That isn't some failure on his part; it's what happens when you try to guess how 17-year-olds will play in college.
February 5th, 2015 at 11:35 PM ^
The problem is he only pursues a select few of the one and done types, whereas the other elite programs pursue a lot of them and maximize their chances of hitting on at least one. The problem with producing a lot of early NBA entrees is that you have to replace the players that leave with recruits that can contribute immediately, which Beilein didn't do this year and won't be doing next year. He needs to have a great 2016 class or the future of Michigan basketball will be very much up in the air.
February 5th, 2015 at 10:29 PM ^
#savior. #whiteguys #crootin'
February 5th, 2015 at 10:48 PM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 12:21 AM ^
Terrible game and effort. Beilein goes after one and dones like McGary. They just go to Kentucky and Duke. I'm not sure what we can do about it. Not going to overreact over one game. Injuries have torpedoed this season since about November. Hopefully we finally get more luck than we have in that department next year.
February 6th, 2015 at 12:57 AM ^
We literally have no one in the 8 man rotation from last year even playing other than Spike and Irvin. That's pathetic attrition.
- Nik 35.6 min
- GR3 32.3
- Caris 34.0
- Walton 26.7
- Morgan 20.1
- Irvin 15.4
- Horford 13.8
- Albrecth 14.7
- Bielfeldt 4.7
This is basically creating a brand new lineup out of scratch - not even Kentucky and Duke is doing this crap.
February 6th, 2015 at 7:08 AM ^
When the musicians were playing the most soothing pieces of music, parents shook their children and had an air of real peace in the auditorium. When the music changes to a more upbeat pace that almost could march, parents began to shake her head and limbs in time to music and children followed suit.
February 6th, 2015 at 8:21 AM ^
February 6th, 2015 at 12:18 PM ^
Not 24 hours ago, people were raving about MAAR and Dawkins's potential. They have one bad game and now they're bums?
February 6th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^
He didn't say they were bums...and they both had pretty good games...they simply wren't expected to contribute it all this year let alone be our best performers.
February 6th, 2015 at 5:33 PM ^
woops, finger spasm
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