Michigan 107, Houston Baptist 53
Photos by Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog. Optional, highly recommended soundtrack.
While most of you were probably watching football, Michigan blasted an overmatched Houston Baptist squad this afternoon, tying a school record with 16 three-pointers en route to posting an absurd 1.64 points per possession and winning literally every statistical battle.
Nik Stauskas led the team with 25 points, shooting a scorching 6/9 from downtown and looking quite spry on his previously-injured ankle after being rendered completely ineffective Tuesday at Duke. Glenn Robinson III scored 17 points on 6/9 shooting, mostly getting his buckets in transition, including a couple of spectacular alley-oops. Derrick Walton Jr. and Zak Irvin each posted 14 points; Irvin was very effective wit his perimeter shooting (2/2 2-pt, 3/5 3-pt) while Walton was a perfect 3/3 from downtown.
The story of the game, however, was Mitch McGary, Fast Break Point Guard Extraordinaire. The master of chaos finished with a stat line of 14 points, nine rebounds (one off.), six assists—tying his career high from last year's Syracuse game—four steals, and a block; five of his six dimes came in transition, as did a couple of his buckets.
#10's face pretty much says it all (Fuller)
"He's one of our better push men," John Beilein said in the post-game radio interview, referring to McGary's ability to start the fast break. "I don't think anyone wants to take a charge from him."
No kidding. I can't describe the experience of watching McGary charge down the court any better than The Wolverine's Andy Reid:
Mcgary leading a break is like seeing a car skitter uncontrollably down an icy hill, then whip around perfectly into a parallel parking spot
— Andy Reid (@AReid_Wolverine) December 7, 2013
For a brief moment in the second half, it looked like McGary's day had skittered to a halt; after attempting to block a Houston Baptist shot, he fell hard onto his back and lay on the court in what appeared to be a good deal of pain. Being Mitch McGary, however, he popped up to his feet, attempted to wave Jon Horford away from the scorer's table, and waved for the crowd to cheer louder as he skipped—no, seriously, skipped—to the bench. The crowd obliged.
From there, McGary continued to put on a show, a freakily-skilled bull on parade leaving terrified defenders in his wake. Yes, it was a rote blowout against a bad team—the 54-point final margin was the largest for Michigan under Beilein—but it was a pleasure to watch. If this is Mitch McGary still rounding his way into shape, I can't wait to see what he looks like at full strength.
December 7th, 2013 at 2:42 PM ^
Good to see that Andy Reid is continuing to display the talent he showed at the Daily.
December 7th, 2013 at 2:55 PM ^
December 7th, 2013 at 4:11 PM ^
The music was fitting, wouldn't mind a song to go with more post-game write-ups.
December 7th, 2013 at 4:37 PM ^
Went to the game. McGary seems to just enjoy himself some life.
December 7th, 2013 at 4:50 PM ^
Largest margin of victory since 1946. At one point, HBU hadn't missed a shot in the game, but they were still down by 6 points.
December 7th, 2013 at 4:51 PM ^
the crowd obliged because he's Mitch MF'in McGary!
December 7th, 2013 at 5:41 PM ^
is going to really carve up the Houston Baptists of the NBA.
December 8th, 2013 at 12:58 AM ^
the Knicks, Nets, and Bucks?
December 8th, 2013 at 12:36 PM ^
The Eastern Conference?
December 7th, 2013 at 6:07 PM ^
I'm watching on BTN2Go while watching these football games...
I'm starting to see guys find their roles and I'll say this again, I personally don't think we lose again until we go to EL.
That said, we're going to go as far as GRIII takes us. Stauskas is a legitmate #2 option, LeVert is a legit #3. Walton, Irvin, and Albrecht each can fit the #4 role.
I know the thinking is "WHAT ABOUT MCGARY!!" Well, our offense doesn't run through the post, so I pretty much take McGary out. IMO, he's going to give you what he's going to give you. We don't need to account for him, he's going to give you 17-10 no matter if he's the 1st option or the 6th man. He doesn't need the offense to run through him to get his...so I take McGary out.
So, that leave a #1 option. If GRIII becomes a legit #1 option on this team so Stauskas can be #2, LeVert #3, Walton/Irvin/Albrecht #4....we're a top 10 team.
Right now GRIII is playing the same role he played last year. Easy buckets, some spot up 3's, transition dunks. If he gets the mindset and develops into the role of a #1 player. We're dangerous.
If not, Stauskas and LeVert are great secondary options that can play like #1 any given night, but they're not going to lead us to the Sweet 16or further. It's all on GRIII.
December 7th, 2013 at 8:59 PM ^
It's not really fair to expect him to become a #1 option on a top team. He's never gotten shots for himself in the halfcourt successfully - that isn't going to warp midseason into a go-to offensive player. He'll do his work on the baseline, in the corner and off transition, with hopefully a little off the dribble mixed in.
I don't understand the whole premise here, though. Why can't Stauskas be the #1? He's been doing it the whole season. I agree they we need GR3 to step up, but there's no reason he needs to surpass Nik, who's playing like an All-American.
December 8th, 2013 at 9:52 AM ^
Stauskas hasn't been doing it all year. "All-American" is quite the hyperbole. In fact, he was obviously totally shut down at Duke (I don't buy the ankle excuse - all pre-game tweets said he's was fine and he played 34 minutes). While he scored 20 against Iowa State, he had to take 18 shots to get there.
I want to see him against another great man defense. Duke gave me enough reason to worry - what can he do in B10 play if he's the guy? Can he create off the dribble? Can he shake loose a defender to get open? Or does he need to rely on others to create?
I don't mean to be negative - like Robinson, Stauskas has a lot to prove. I think they'll both get better as Walton gets more acclimated, obviously. McGary playing starters minutes will also be huge.
Duke was a huge, huge wake-up call. Arizona could be the game that quells worries or re-establishes expectations. We shall see.
December 8th, 2013 at 3:14 PM ^
That's crap.
He's averaging 19 points a game on 51% shooting with 3.5 boards and 3.3 assists. Those are all-american numbers. Compare him to the supposed best prospect since LeBron, Andrew Wiggins: 15 PPG on 51% shooting, 5.5 boards, 1.4 assists. Gary Harris is at 17.6 PPG on 40%.
Just today NBC published a story about how he's *still* not at 100% percent with his ankle, and the Duke game was several days ago. So, yeah, he was hurting, and that was eminently obvious if you actually watched him play. They took him out of the game because he couldn't move well enough to get the ball. You can't just faceguard the opposing team's best perimeter player successfully all game unless he's hurt.
You're really gonna knock a 20 point, 6 assist performance @ Iowa State because he "only" shot 44%?
And did you miss him completely take over the Forida State game with drive after drive? FSU, by the way, typically has one of the best defenses in the country, usually better than Duke by the numbers. It's pretty innane to question if he can create his own offense at this point because of one injured game at Cameron Indoor. He's been doing it the entire rest of the year.
Link to still injured:
December 9th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
Just got around to reading this article. Thanks for articulating what I thought was obvious--Nik was physically limited against Duke. Add the face-guarding--which was smart--and it would have been near impossible for Nik to shake free. And you could see it on TV. Nobody seems to be cutting anyone a break.......particularly GRIII......Brent Petway, really?
December 9th, 2013 at 3:41 PM ^
I'm just not going to excuse the Duke game. Doing so is ignoring what could be our biggest issue: how does Stayskas handle the #1 option. Thus far we have 3.5 real data points: Duke, ISU, FSU and .5 to Charlotte. Sure the averages look good, but that Duke game is going to be much more representative of the competition we face all the time in the B10. You cannot throw it out.
And it's not just the Duke performance. Stauskas has relied on his shot to create: the pump fake on the over-close out gets him to the rim. How does he react when the D doesn't help and doesn't need a hard close out? That's the open question I'm concerned about. McGary at starters minutes and playing in the post will help.
December 8th, 2013 at 1:00 AM ^
Perhaps you missed the national semifinal last year where the offense ran largely through McGary against a ridiculously difficult Syracuse zone. The team does not need GRIII to miraculously become their primary option nor is it going to happen.
December 8th, 2013 at 6:56 PM ^
at this point, everytime at see the name GRIII, I replace it with Brent Petway. Then I LOL and my expectations for him, and the seasn, come right back to reality.
December 7th, 2013 at 9:07 PM ^
When they can do this against a Good team...
December 7th, 2013 at 10:23 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 2:27 AM ^
Initially read that tweet as if it meant a cat skittering down the icy hill and then into the parallel parking spot. The visual and mixed metaphor were pretty amusing.
December 8th, 2013 at 9:53 AM ^
But damn if McGary doesn't remind me a bit of a bigger Dave Cowens with less shooting touch.
December 8th, 2013 at 10:30 AM ^
It wasn't his back. I wouldn't have been surprised to see his leg snap the way he landed. It looked painful, and he was testing it out on his way back to the bench. That's what the skipping was about.
December 8th, 2013 at 1:15 PM ^
it's fun and all, and it's great that he can semi-competently take a few dribbles, but the moment he locates Walton or Stauskas, he needs to give the ball up and fill the lane like a dominant big man on the break should.
It's scary that Beilein is okay with him doing this. Mitch leading the break leads to steals, blown fast break opportunities, balls getting poked loose and Mitch fouling as he tries to get the ball back, and charging fouls against well-coached teams.
December 8th, 2013 at 5:50 PM ^
December 8th, 2013 at 10:05 PM ^
This was Mitch's reaction to Dakich making a three at the end. This was just one in a series of awesome reactions from Mitch on the bench all day.
December 9th, 2013 at 2:54 PM ^
I couldn't look at the kid in the pic behind "Bull in China Shop on Fast Break" (#10 PG for Houston Baptist), without thinking "You can run with these guys ten! You got 3 times the steak. That's what a man eats!". "Hurricane Ten is gonna make it rain", and he did, with two threes on the game I believe.
The look on that kid's face in the pic is classic, and was pretty much the same look I had on my face, watching McGary steam in for that finger roll.
They are fun to watch, even if the results so far are a little uneven, which, really to be expected with McGary's injury.
Go Blue.
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