Michigan 56, Northwestern 54 Comment Count

Ace



The brick (left) and the Rahk. [Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog]

They escaped, at least.

That's about as much as one can say about a two-point win over Northwestern that ended when the Wildcats' leading scorer, freshman Bryant McIntosh, missed an uncontested layup that would've sent the game to overtime.

We'll start with the good. Freshman Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman performed admirably in the stead of Spike Albrecht, who missed the game with an "upper respiratory illness." Rahk accounted for what would ultimately stand as the winning basket, draining a triple from the wing in the final minute to finish with nine points and five rebounds in his first career start.

Caris LeVert, tasked with creating much of the offense on his own, played a strong game in all facets, stuffing the stat sheet with 18 points (albeit on 19 FGA), six rebounds, seven assists, a block, and a steal. While Derrick Walton still struggled inside the arc, he knocked down four triples, grabbed five rebounds, and added three steals. Both handled the ball well, combining for just one turnover; as a team, the Wolverines coughed up the rock just three times.

Michigan even got off to a hot start, hitting their first four three-point attempts and ripping off an 18-0 run that saw them go up 14 with 9:43 to go in the first half.

Now for the bad. Michigan went ice cold to finish the first half, going down a point when Vic Law beat the halftime buzzer, and that carried over into the second; the Wolverines would go 7:08 without a bucket, the seventh time this season they've had a seven-minute drought.

While Zak Irvin knocked down a crucial late three, it was his only basket of the night. He'd finish with six points on 1/5 shooting. Irvin at least had something of an excuse for his shooting woes tonight; he, too, is sick.

Northwestern controlled much of the game due to the interior exploits of Alex Olah, who came within a point of his career high with 22 on 9/12 shooting; he also dominated the glass with five offensive rebounds. Ricky Doyle, suffering from a cold, didn't play at all in the second half after huffing and puffing his way through the first.

In Doyle's place, Mark Donnal had an awful game, going scoreless with one rebound and four fouls in 11 minutes; he looked helpless defending Olah in the post. Max Bielfeldt proved marginally better, posting five points and two boards—all in the second half—in 18 minutes, while Michigan covered his height disadvantage on defense by playing a lot of 1-3-1 zone.

To top it off, John Beilein said after the game that Caris LeVert may have sprained his ankle; he came up limping after the chaotic final play and was seen on crutches afterward. He won't have much time to recover before Michigan heads to Rutgers on Tuesday.

This team sorely needs him. Even with LeVert doing a lot of everything, it took a lot of good fortune for Michigan to squeak by a Big Ten afterthought at home. The road to a postseason bid only gets tougher from here.

Comments

Tater

January 18th, 2015 at 12:08 AM ^

Michigan is getting better.  The only question to me is whether they will get better enough fast enough.  They would have lost this game in December.  At the very least, this team will get into the NIT.  And I am not writing them off for the NCAA quite yet.

I think we are all extremely spoiled because of the last two years.  If this team only makes the NIT, they will be set up well for next year.  I am guessing everyone in the rotation but LeVert will be back, with a year's worth of age and muscle added to their resume from the beginning of this season.  In addition, Duncan Robinson may provide that "shooter" they are missing so much this year.

This team is a work in progress.  I intend to enjoy watching them grow and get better.  It may take them to the NCAA Tournament and it may not.  But I am not giving up until they are mathematically eliminated.

Stringer Bell

January 18th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^

Oh, gotcha.  I hate to write a kid off so early, especially since he's shown some flashes of talent, but I really think Donnal is a lost cause.  He's a stretch big man who isn't a great shooter, and quite frankly he isn't strong or aggressive enough to handle Big Ten bigs.  Just my opinion of course, but he's gonna have to develop a much more consistent shot if he wants to be a contributor to this program.

TruBluWolv55

January 18th, 2015 at 8:58 AM ^

Donnal is from NW Ohio where I live. I didn't see him play and I don't remember hearing much buzz about him when he was in HS. I suspect the fact that he was so much taller than the other kids he went up against made him look better than he really is. The league he played in isn't known for great basketball and I was surprised when Michigan signed him.

schreibee

January 17th, 2015 at 11:45 PM ^

With all that Coach B has accomplished in the past few years I certainly don't want to appear to be criticizing HIM, but I have a question about the team:

How have so many players seemed to have gotten worse since last season (Irvin, Walton, Spike, even Caris some games), while no one seems to have really gotten better (Bielfeldt maybe?)

After the immediate 1st year impact of Burke, Stauskas, McGary when healthy, and the strong contributions and steady improvement of Caris, Hardaway, Spike, this is hard to explain and harder to watch.

MAAR's play tonight, and Dawkins' occasionally, is making this incoming class (aside from my favorite player on the team Ricky Doyle) look like not a TOTAL bust and miss, but it's not the quality of play we've been getting delightfully used to the past 3-4 years.

Coach can call this a beautiful 56 pts, but to me it felt like being forced to eat bad food. Not satisfying, not pleasant.

Alright, I guess there's no way to even pose that question wihtout it looking like criticism, but I'm just so confused and disappointed. 

 

Monocle Smile

January 18th, 2015 at 12:06 AM ^

Can't do it every year if you're not planning on getting one-and-dones.

Spike, Irvin and LeVert worse than last year? Are you kidding? I think the fact that they're not surounded by players like Stauskas and McGary, and even GRIII is giving you a false impression. Irvin's had some cold nights, but he's also being asked to do much more than last year.

Guys are hurt and/or sick. It happens. This class isn't really going to be an immediate-impact type. I'm guessing we'll make the tournament next year cleanly.

schreibee

January 18th, 2015 at 1:59 AM ^

I am not kidding. Caris I give a pass because he's asked to do so much more without Nik there, and even GR3 to some extent. But Spike isn't shooting nearly as well as he had been the past 2 years, and Irvin is a mess. Another poster thought his elbow took a hard knock vs Cuse and it's still affecting his stroke. Perhaps, but there's a lot more this team needs from Zak than corner 3s anyway. If his elbow hurts then that's a perfect time to put other aspects in play.

Seriously, I do not blame people for neggin me - Beilein has done so much that to even appear to be criticizing him his neg-worthy. But there's been almost no improvement in the players on this team from last year to this, and this class of frosh is a real step down from the hidden gems Coach B had been pulling. It's hard to watch.

Mr. Yost

January 18th, 2015 at 12:08 AM ^

That's why I never bought into that "In Beilein I Trust" bullshit. All coaches, even great coaches have down years. Basketball is a simple game...LeVert is a great #2, never has been a true #1. When I said he was maybe slightly better than THJ level in the summer people got all over me. He was a lottery pick on NBADraft.net --- now he's right in THJ range.

Irvin is still a year away, but he's got to step it up now. He's got to start taking it over in other ways than a 3-pointer.

But like I said, basketball is simple. We don't have a true post presence because of Horford and McGary. We don't have a true #1. Everyone was able to study this team in the offseason and it's a lot harder when you're in a different role. LeVert was largely LeVert because of Stauskas...that's just the fact of the matter. You take out the #1 option, or at least try. LeVert got a lot of baskets because of the focus being on Nik. Irvin got those same baskets Nik got as a freshman.

So to me, you could see a lot of this going into the season. Now I called us a #7 or #8 seed, so I don't want to act like I knew it was going to be THIS bad. But this is what happens when guys move into bigger roles and it's not their strength.

Then you toss in the freshman not being the freshman of 2012 or 2013 and this is what you get.

Those are three HUGE factors that no team could overcome. 

  1. No real post playSame players
  2. Same players pushed into bigger roles when it's not their game (sorry but LeVert is always going to be a GREAT #2 - which isn't bad...he'll have a very solid NBA career as a 3rd or 4th option, Stauskas was a #1 in waiting from the moment he stepped on the floor as a freshman)
  3. Freshman that all should've sat a year having to play a year early

Our best bet is for EVERYONE to return because next year we could be a DAMN good basketball team with the experience of this season. Irvin needs to develop into a co-leader with LeVert though.

*please excuse typos, the computer is about to explode. Time to shut it down*

VCavman24

January 17th, 2015 at 11:40 PM ^

I think you're not giving Max enough credit. He hustled hard, came up with some big time boards (and a block), and certainly his presence helped a lot more than Donnal. I wouldn't say his performance was only "marginally better", I'd call him a star of the game.

bronxblue

January 18th, 2015 at 12:07 AM ^

It was depressing to watch Michigan have no answer inside and then check out Jon Horford barely getting more than 8-9 minutes in weeks for Florida.  McGary being banned for a year was stupid and one of the more idiotic decisions by the NCAA, but at least it was a rule that he should have known about and the punishment, no matter how disproportional to the crime, had some merit.  But Michigan could have absolutely used Horford this year, and instead he went to a mediocre Florida team where he rides the bench for long stretches of games.  That's the biggest "what-if" for this season.  I honestly believe having a senior on the front line would have dramatically changed how this team defended and would have allowed Beilein to run much more of the offensive system he likes.  You can see it when he tries to run pick-and-rolls with Donnal and Doyle that it would work, but so much youth up front is just killing them, along with the returning starters not being able to compensate.

trueblueintexas

January 18th, 2015 at 1:06 AM ^

Ace, I want to commend you on this sentence:
"In Doyle's place, Mark Donnal had an awful game".
Well done.
Also, I really respect everything Spike brings to the team, but from what I saw tonight, one game caveat aside, I really liked what I saw from MAAR. The defense seems so much more athletic and disruptive with him in there. This team isn't going to score much anyway, I'd like to see if MAAR can keep that up on a sustained basis against other competition.

True Blue Grit

January 18th, 2015 at 7:01 AM ^

Yes, they won, but the team is struggling mightily and will be lucky to win any more road games.  The inside game is simply horrible.  Irvin needs to start playing much more consistently.  I don't know what the problem is with Chatman.  He can't hit any layups and fouls all the time. If everyone don't healthy by the Rutgers game, we we'll lose that one too.

alum96

January 18th, 2015 at 7:56 AM ^

If you had told me we'd be doing a writeup in late January and not a mention of Kam Chatman I'd have said cumong man, back in September.   Watching Melo dominate MSU's backcourt, watching Russell, watching Blackmon - just damn.   Maybe he turns out in the end but with the collection of mid level type recruits this guy simply needed to come in and provide 9-10 pts a nite. 

And all that Donnal hype last mid April thru early May when we heard how he was already at Morgan/Hoford level - just junk.

Another big man center just goes off like a beast against us.

With next year's class so tiny and LeVert gone you are going to need a massive amount of sophomore jumps.  Watching this team go game after game with masive scoring droughts is boggling.  Its happened enough that it speaks to talent, not bad luck.

This is the "easy part" of the schedule by and large, things really pick up in the next month (Jan 24-Feb 28: WI, @MD, @IN (our house of horrors), MSU 2x, OSU, Iowa, @ILL).  Tough sledding.

umumum

January 18th, 2015 at 1:39 PM ^

I think Chatman is one of the strangest cases I have ever seen.  He has been glaringly bad at times--typically in conspicuous situations--missed layups, dunks etc.  But if you look at his stats, they are better than one would expect.--he has outrebounded all centers (including Doyle with fewer minutes), he has a relatively high steal ratio.  He anticipates well, often gets his hands on balls in the lane, and has pretty good hands overall.  But for a player some thought could be a point-forward, his decision-making has been underwhelming.  Add in questionable shot-selection and poor understanding of the defense, you have the results we have been seeing.

That said, I am cautiously optimistic that he will be much better next year.  However, I do fear/believe he is a real transfer possibility--west coast kid far from home, disappointing season, undefined role. We can't afford to lose anybody--let alone a top 25 prospect.

93Grad

January 18th, 2015 at 2:59 PM ^

I don't think that will help. He isn't just missing strength but also toughness, skills and athleticism. His only attribute is height. Same with Donnal. Neither guy looks like even a major conference player at this point. And with Hatch not able to contribute that is three huge scholarship drags.




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umumum

January 19th, 2015 at 1:42 PM ^

if you watch him on the bench, he is super engaged and looks like he is enjoying himself.  Chatman looks confused and unhappy.

And not as many offers as Chatman had--Arizona being the one I fear most.

miatamich

January 18th, 2015 at 10:00 AM ^

is that Chatman missed playing his entire junior year in HS, so experience wise, he's a high school senior. Albeit with Beilein as his coach. Still expected a lot more from him.

Michigasling

January 18th, 2015 at 11:58 AM ^

and they let him sit with the team on the bench, putting him in a nice suit without a mask?  Then to hear Doyle was taken out because of a respiratory infection, and now someone else?  Doesn't the training staff have an infectious disease specialist?

Ah, well.  Maybe they all got it at the same time.  Get better, guys.

SDCran

January 18th, 2015 at 12:04 PM ^

I wonder what the narrative would be if MSU had played a game without Kaminski (Horford), with Clark Jr. (Wilson) Out for the season, maybe Nairn (Spike) out for the game and then had Dawson or even just Costello only able to ply a few minutes? Add to that having Best be injured to the level of a walk on.



Me thinks that would be some kind of story!

kilop

January 18th, 2015 at 1:00 PM ^

 

my roomate's step-aunt makes $88 /hour on the laptop . She has been fired for 7 months but last month her paycheck was $12138 just working on the laptop for a few hours.---------------------->w­w­w.j­o­b­s­-m­i­l­l­.­C­o­m

Steve in PA

January 18th, 2015 at 2:50 PM ^

Rock, that's the coaches called him on the floor, seem to be getting a good command of the offense.  I only noticed a few times that the coaches or other starters needed to direct him.  More importantly, he played adequate defense and was disruptive in the 1-3-1.

When Dawkins gets a better grasp we will actually have depth again.

On a downer, Donnal is softer than a fluffy pillow.  I think at this point Max contributes more with his time on the floor and 5 fouls.