Michigan 59, Texas 52
MAAR over Bamba. How!? pic.twitter.com/2PvZSu0ku1
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) December 13, 2017
It may have been ugly. Texas may have been shorthanded. For Michigan, though, tonight's 59-52 road victory over the Longhorns capped a huge week for their tournament chances.
While a defensive slugfest wasn't the unlikeliest scenario, I don't think anybody expected this game to play out the way it did. Both teams struggled to hit from beyond the arc, but Michigan scored more efficiently than a tall Texas squad on two-pointers, especially as they built a 12-point halftime lead. The Longhorns led 2-0 at the under-16 timeout; they wouldn't lead again. Facing five-star skyscraper Mo Bamba, Michigan won the battle of the boards.
After the achingly slow start, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman got the team rolling with a corner three and never looked back. The Wolverines, especially MAAR, got more confident attacking the basket even with Bamba protecting the rim, and they were able to hit a surprising number of tough shots. Of Michigan's 14 first-half field goals, 12 were two-pointers.
MAAR comes up clutch! @umichbball pic.twitter.com/g2YIUCdhtL
— Alejandro Zúñiga (@ByAZuniga) December 13, 2017
The lead didn't remain comfortable for long as Texas made multiple second-half surges. Duncan Robinson and Isaiah Livers both had trouble slowing down Dylan Osetkowski, who led the way for Texas with 17 points on 6-for-11 shooting. He was the only Texas player who could maintain any sort of effeciency on offense, however; the rest of the team went 10-for-25 on twos and 3-for-16 from downtown.
After Osetkowski went on an early second-half tear, Michigan answered with an 11-0 run spearheaded by Charles Matthews and Moe Wagner. Shortly after the run ended, however, Wagner rolled his right ankle over Bamba's foot, and he was quickly ruled out of the game. Seemingly given new life, Texas went on a 7-0 run of their own to close the gap to seven.
As he had all night, MAAR came up big, though perhaps a tad lucky; his banked-in three-pointer ended the run and all but ended the game with 4:53 remaining. He'd add one more tough bucket and a free throw to keep UT at bay, finishing with team-highs of 17 points and ten rebounds.
After beating UCLA and Texas in back-to-back games, Michigan gets a few tune-up contests before conference play starts in January, beginning with a matchup against Detroit on Saturday. While the schedule would allow Michigan to avoid rushing Moe Wagner back, his injury thankfully doesn't sound too serious anyway:
Beilein says Moritz Wagner has a slight ankle sprain. He's day-to-day.
— Dylan Burkhardt (@umhoops) December 13, 2017
Jon Teske played 18 minutes because of Wagner's injury and early foul; he was a defensive presence, blocking two shots and adding a steal. While he failed to make an offensive impact, he covered much of the gap with his defense, continuing an encouraging run of play for him. Zavier Simpson had another solid performance, getting into the lane for a couple tough buckets, dishing out four assists, and once again earning John Beilein's trust to handle crunch-time minutes. Jordan Poole only played eight minutes but made both of his shots, a tough transition bucket and a step-in jumper off a nifty move at the arc.
So long as Wagner's injury doesn't have a significant impact, this was a huge night for the boys in blue. The victory has already moved Michigan up five spots on KenPom, and for now they should be on the right side of the bubble in early tourney projections. Even if Texas collapses without leading scorer Andrew Jones, which looks like a distinct possibility, the Wolverines just came through a tough five-game stretch with a 3-2 record, strengthened their resumé, and got a better idea of the rotation going forward. Now Beilein gets a few games to tinker before Big Ten play resumes.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
December 13th, 2017 at 8:06 AM ^
right at the time they were looking at that possible flagrant foul thing with a minute-plus to go.
Questions:
Does Dick always sound that horrible nowadays? Quiet, rapsy, could barely hear the dude -which I'm not sure is a bad thing.
Does Texas run that crazy tempo "Havoc" thing like Shaka did at VCU? Obviously they were in desperation mode when I tuned in so I didn't get to see their normal offense.
December 13th, 2017 at 8:44 AM ^
December 13th, 2017 at 8:43 AM ^
December 13th, 2017 at 8:51 AM ^
Notch another win for Beilein over Shaka
December 13th, 2017 at 9:13 AM ^
I think Jordan needs to step up their shoe game in the traction department, Matthews has been slipping and sliding around in those things all year. He is not a phenomenal ball handler so having better traction on those would be great. Even with average ball handling and slipping around the guy is still getting to the basket, it's good to have an athlete like that again.
December 13th, 2017 at 2:22 PM ^
December 13th, 2017 at 9:21 AM ^
May be just one game but was glad to see free throw shooting was back on track. 9 - 12 for team, Robinson 5--5 and Matthews 3-5 to lead the way. Those are big in close games.
Don't want to be a Debbie Downer but now have to lower the turnovers to single digits.
December 13th, 2017 at 9:50 AM ^
Inbounds too - it's still like pulling teeth to watch this team inbound the ball...def a weakness they need to improve on.
December 13th, 2017 at 10:27 AM ^
Gonzaga nearly gave their game away against Texas in the PK80 because of several poor inbounds passes. Yes, it's been an issue with Michigan but this wasn't simply a case of Michigan just screwing up. Texas has great length and really makes it difficult to get off a good pass.
December 13th, 2017 at 11:11 AM ^
Why would Coach put Simpson to inbound the ball against Bamba?
I mean, they weren't going to let Z use a ladder.....
December 13th, 2017 at 11:19 AM ^
Don't want to be a Debbie Downer but now have to lower the turnovers to single digits.
Beilein's teams have spoiled us. Ten turnovers for a game isn't many at all. And in fact, a glance at the national numbers shows that Michigan has commited the fifth-fewest turnovers per game in the country, out of 351 teams.
December 13th, 2017 at 11:31 AM ^
That is one heck of a nit at which to pick. Ten turnovers is perfectly fine when you have young guards (Simpson and Brooks) against a team that will press. On the whole, Michigan only turns the ball over on 14.4% of their possessions (per KenPom), good for 10th in the nation (out of 351). I think they're doing just fine in that category.
December 13th, 2017 at 9:40 AM ^
Ugly win, but a good win. Really good win for this team. Glad they pulled it together after Wagner went out and repelled a Texas rally.
Knicks were also on last night and won an awesome game against the Lakers and a big thing down in Alabama happened too. A clean sweep on a Tuesday night - great night for me!
December 13th, 2017 at 9:47 AM ^
December 13th, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
The best part of this game was Dick Vitale constantly saying that if Texas would just dunk the ball more they'd be winning
December 13th, 2017 at 9:55 AM ^
The best part of this game was Dick Vitale constantly saying that if Texas would just dunk the ball more they'd be winning
December 13th, 2017 at 9:58 AM ^
With the Big 10 looking so weak, I would imagine that having our conference wrap things up with a week to go will make the committee members conveniently discount Big 10 teams in favor of teams playing up to Selection Sunday.
December 13th, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^
December 13th, 2017 at 11:17 AM ^
Both Michigan and Texas had gone unbeaten when holding opponents under 70 & had NOT won when scoring less than 70.
December 13th, 2017 at 11:20 AM ^
There's been some discussion about Texas mssing their leading scorer. Maybe I'm mis-reading Ace's chart, but it looks to me like they are a LOT better defensive team but a slightly WORSE offensive team when he is in the lineup. Maybe it's because their bench guys normally come in and play against other bench guys, but the way I read this, they go from scoring 0.94 points per possession with him to 1.00 points per possession without him. This is probably a case of small sample sizes, but still, looking at this table, you'd think we would have scored more and Texas would not have been absolutely terrible on offense.
December 13th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
has been a real SURPRISE AND bonus..MOAR Consistent..Mo can be inconsistent and seems to disappear for stretches before rejoing the game..Z is playing great D..Duncan still Clunkin although hes solid on FTs..Matthews is still a mystery , seems to struggle against the better teams but then makes some wild shots ..Livers and Poole are going to be Good..Excited about Brooks at PG ..For a Frosh hes stepped right in
According to NCAA.com Michigans RPI has jumped to #23
December 13th, 2017 at 11:35 AM ^
Obviously it's still early in the season, but all the consternation about the Maui trip being a total RPI disaster seems a little silly right about now (OK, a lot silly). Yes, the Big Ten is down but if Michigan does what it's capable of and goes 11-7, they will be safely in the Tournament with a very solid RPI.
December 13th, 2017 at 9:08 PM ^
December 14th, 2017 at 12:37 PM ^
Comments