Michigan 57, Wofford 40
Michigan didn't earn any style points in their NCAA Tournament victory over Wofford, but those don't really matter this time of year. A substandard offensive performance didn't prevent the Wolverines from advancing with relative ease.
The Terriers certainly helped in that regard, erasing any good that came from hitting 50% of their twos by going just 1-for-19 from beyond the arc despite generating good looks. They played like a 15-seed, and on a night when Michigan sat below one point per possession for much of the second half, that was fortunate.
Nik Stauskas cracked the career 1,000-point barrier with a second-half triple en route to a team-high 15 points on ten shot equivalents. Glenn Robinson had 14, albeit on 14 shots, while adding seven rebounds. Jordan Morgan played the best all-around game of any Wolverine, tallying ten points (4/6 FG), ten boards, two assists, a steal, and a block.
The numbers tell the story here. In a very low-possession game—just 56, a slog even by Big Ten standards—the shooting gap made an enormous difference, one that wasn't so easy to see due to the pace and some uncharacteristic turnovers. With the officials letting the teams play (hooray!), it was all about which team could generate buckets, and Wofford was just as likely to get the ball stuck above the backboard—yes, this happened—as they were to connect from the outside.
Michigan can't hang their hat on this defensive performance; Wofford's inability to make shots was due to their inaccuracy more than anything the Wolverines were doing. By the same token, the offensive performance wasn't as bad as it looked at times. Caris LeVert isn't going to get held to six points very often, and Zak Irvin missed all four of his three-point attempts despite getting some decent looks.*
It wasn't a fun game to watch, and Michigan will need to step it up offensively if they want to make a run in the tournament. After they ran out to a double-digit lead against an overmatched opponent in a somnolent atmosphere, however, the ugliness of this game is at least understandable.
Now the Wolverines await the winner of Texas/ASU, which is happening right now on CBS.
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*Admittedly, also some not-so-decent looks.
Ace what does somnolent mean?
March 20th, 2014 at 10:46 PM ^
I knew what it meant but did find it to be an unnecessarily obscure adjective for a game write-up.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:55 PM ^
On a blog filled with the most abstruse, complex, and arcane statistical sports analysis you'll find anywhere on the web, run by a guy who routinely references David Foster Wallace, and you're complaining about "somnolent?"
We do we want to play Texas or ASU? I still can't decide
March 20th, 2014 at 10:04 PM ^
March 21st, 2014 at 10:59 AM ^
He said yesterday was probably his team's best defensive performance (see last paragraph of linked article from UM Hoops).
Or Bacari Alexander. Or Albrecht or Morgan. All them credited their defense as the reason why they won. They know Wofford is terrible, but they did set goals and took a step forward in how they worked. Saying M can't take any credit for Wofford's woeful offense performance is incorrect, in my view. They can't take all, but certainly can take some, and see it for what it was worth: a better performance defensively.
http://www.umhoops.com/2014/03/21/michigan-makes-defensive-progress-win-wofford/#more-59867
March 20th, 2014 at 10:08 PM ^
I don't want to slog through the liveblog to find out, but did Beilein change the rotation today? I seem to remember Stauskas being the first wing player to sit down. Any ideas as to why that change would take place?
March 20th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 10:14 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 10:22 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 10:30 PM ^
That's about as diasppointing a 17 point win as can be.
IIRC we had a terrible offensive performance against Wisconsin and relatively shaky game against SDSU last year, and things ended up alright. This year we had a shaky performance against MSU and a meh game against Wofford, hopefully we pull it together again.
March 21st, 2014 at 12:29 AM ^
Also we were actually a little nervous before the game, because SDSU was a trendy upset pick and Nate Wolters was really good. The game itslef was no blowout, but you also had McGary coming to life which was an encouraging sign.
We just looked kinda flat this game.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:32 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 10:44 PM ^
Wofford's 10 days off made a difference on both ends of the floor. They were rusty as hell shooting-wise but had a ton of energy and used it to force tough looks for us.
We were very lethargic (turnovers, missed bunnies, not much hustle on loose balls). Hopefully that's mental and not physical. Definitely time to turn it up now.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:48 PM ^
I was thinking about that - this was our fourth game in seven days, so the next round will make it five games in nine days. Hopefully we will have our legs. (I don't know if that was an issue tonight or not - our misses from three weren't necessarily coming up short.)
March 20th, 2014 at 11:05 PM ^
This is why I didn't watch the semifinal vs OSU. Obviously I was never going to root for us to LOSE, but I couldn't watch it under normal circumstances because I really was not crazy about playing three straight days when we knew were heading to Milwaukee or Buffalo (both Thurs/Sat sites).
If we had a deeper team, it'd be less of a concern. But we only play eight and Stauskas, LeVert and Robinson rarely leave the floor.
Win Saturday and I think our energy will be back next weekend.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:45 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 10:50 PM ^
Played pretty terribly and won by 17. I guess we're pretty good.
Just need to get through this game and get back to playing games on a relatively normal schedule.
March 20th, 2014 at 10:51 PM ^
I hate these early round games when we are a huge favorite. They came out with good effort but not much emotion, which is just natural when playing an inferior opponent. I was very worried at the start of the second half because our guys looked like they were just mailing it in. Thankfully, Wofford couldn't shoot because neither could we. We had 6 points halfway through the second.
Better pick it up. ASU both look like they play up-tempo and can score. However, not much defense being played either.
March 20th, 2014 at 11:00 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 11:07 PM ^
It shows how far Beilein has taken the program when we fans are finding fault with a 17 point NCAA tournament victory.
March 20th, 2014 at 11:41 PM ^
March 20th, 2014 at 11:48 PM ^
The dichotomy is still intact
But here is a rare non-dichotomous photo:
Everybody plays tight in the first game. Anyone not satisfied with this game should go to the Ohio State or Oklahoma boards right now. I'm guessing either team would love to trade places with the Wolverines right now...
Just imagine what the Louisville fans are saying today.
Probably just blaming the committee for putting their ex-assistant who ran the exact same system against them.
it was a drowsy game. Not unexpected following their last performance. I believe that Texas will be up for Michigan and the boys will have to bring their A game. Its just what they really need an opponent to get them out of their sleepy mode. Fouls and which team gets into foul trouble will be critical I think.
Our offense has looked impotent and sloppy for the last 10 games or so besides the Illinois blowout. We're not getting any shots at the rim and just jacking up long jumpers all game every game while being terrible at inbounding from the baseline and throwing lots of sloppy passes that turn into turnovers. Hope we can turn it around Saturday and start playing the way we were in the middle of the season.
March 21st, 2014 at 10:03 PM ^
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