Michigan 61, Montana 47
(Left) Charles Matthews' dunks were a (the?) bright spot.
(Right) That game, the feeling. [Photos: J.D. Scott/MGoBlog]
Queme los game film.
Make sure the audio track burns, too.
Jane i'm so tired and there may be a living mythological siren in Wichita of all places, what happens if this game ends and I turn off the speakers but the screams still reach me
— Ryan (@kurogane) March 16, 2018
In the Before Time, when I could still hear pitches above a high B-flat, Montana jumped out to a 10-0 lead over a Michigan squad that very much looked like it'd had an extended layoff. The Wolverines adjusted to the aggressive trapping Grizzlies defense and held a three-point lead at halftime. A woman screamed as if she, also, was trapped by grizzlies.
Hopeless. [Scott]
The second half barely got started before the scorer's table lost power, causing a long delay. Just after the clocks returned to working order, TBS went to a media timeout. The screaming continued. Someone help her, please.
Montana went 34 minutes of real time—and ten minutes of game time—without a basket. In the interim, we all moved one day closer to death.
While Michigan didn't look a whole lot better on offense, they were at least capable of occasionally putting the ball in the basket. Charles Matthews mostly dunked his way to 20 points to lead all scorers. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman chipped in 11 as the only other Wolverine in double figures. Others contributed. The screaming grew louder as the arena emptied. Both teams, haunted by visions of murder, failed to crack a point per possession.
The Wolverines face Houston, winners over San Diego State, at approximately 9:50 pm on Saturday. May the wailing of cursed souls cease by then.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
is it over [Scott]
Jaaron Simmons made a significant contribution with Zavier Simpson in foul trouble. [Scott]
Whoever was wailing must have been sitting next to the TV microphone. From my seat in the Aztecs' cheering section, I never noticed it.
Mostly i just noticed the officiating, of which I was not a fan, and the free throw shooting in the last five minutes, of which I was. And the defense, by both teams.
He almost nailed the final score and game scenario in the Montana Preview thread:
Seems like their ISO offense plus our slow pace will lead to a very short game. And since they can't hit threes, the margin will likely chip away into a larger and larger hole. I could see a final score around 60-44.
http://mgoblog.com/content/preview-montana-ncaa-tournament#comment-4965…
As well as to The Man Down the Hall, from the same thread:
"Game starts. Michigan is rusty as hell as they have only played scrimmages against each other for 2 weeks and that doesn't keep the rust from hitting. They fall behind and struggle early and through the first half. The MGoBlog open thread is full of F-bombs and screaming at Delaney as we panic and start wailing to the world and bargaining our first born to the devil for a win."
Those words were ringing in my head as I watched the first half.
even though we didn't really snap out of it in the second half, I still think we go Gallagher vs Grapes on Houston. We're not losing to this:
Hair! A side by side comparison... :) pic.twitter.com/MwV6kReCTK
— TheMan DownTheHall (@TMDTH1) March 16, 2018
Except the short game turned into a VERY VERY long game.
Except the short game turned into a VERY VERY long game.
Screaming Woman was close to a TV microphone, because she's in the band.
I saw Ace had proposed a GoFundMe to get her to stop screaming. Donate enough to the Michigan Marching Band, and I'm sure Dr. Brown will be happy to move Screaming Woman or have her shut up. Until then, we'll have to get used to her screams annoying us (but more importantly, annoying the other teams).
March 16th, 2018 at 10:49 AM ^
I liked the Bandshee.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
*inhales from oxygen mask*
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
I just hope she doesn't have tickets for Saturday too.
She has tickets for every round throughout the final four.
She will be in our ears Saturday in Kansas. She will be in our minds when Michigan travels to LA, and she will be in our souls as we cut the nets in San Antonio. She will be us for eternity.
If she's with us that long, at least we have a Final Four to ease our pain.
for the year, so she has plenty of free time.
Ma Trice, is that you?
I always wonder if people like that really think they're impacting the game, they clearly don't realize they're actually only irritating the shit out of everyone who's not on the floor.
I know it's an "old age" thing ... but I guess my hearing deficiencies are actually helpful !!
Go Blue!
there are some things that are better left unsmelled
March 16th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
I somehow didn't notice the screams. Maybe good living has paid off, and I'm too far from the gates of hell? Or, since I was playing catch-up for most of the game, maybe my DVR doesn't capture the shrieks of demons? Or maybe I need to get my ears checked -- although I think I'll wait until after the tournament, just to be on the safe side.
March 16th, 2018 at 10:27 AM ^
I like screaming woman; she's impressive. Imagine The Big House if all of us were like her, it'd be the most haunting and intimidating place to play in sports.
missed the majority of the game. We're the fouls on Z legit?
Ehhh..yes. If they called the game like that the whole time, but the refs were inconsistent all night. There was definitely light contact.
But those plays also get a pass a lot, especially in non-meaningful games.
He probably 'earned' them in a way, as you could see them getting called, but they weren't smart ones. The one on MAAR to start was also a bit of a phantom call and Beilein yanked him immediately
Touch fouls . . . and the officials later started letting contact on the perimeter go. Annoying.
March 16th, 2018 at 11:50 AM ^
I hate that kind of officiating, where the officials allow all kinds of contact on the perimeter (including hand checking on the hip, which is a point of emphasis) but call every piece of body contact on the interior.
As a well paid professional I hate late games. Being a sex worker means tending to business around the 10 o'clock hour, so I am hit and miss with watching the action.
Good win though, and I hope Michigan can shut down the man bun on Saturday.
nevermind, fail!-(
your hand pays you?
M00N 2: Electric Boogaloo.
Man, I am here for this post, especially in light of 8 years of restraint. Comment more?
More like 7.5 years...but I digress.
Michigan moved up to #9 on KenPom and their defense is #3 in the country behind Virginia and Cincinnati. Thank goodness, their defense travels well with the exception of Moe trying to guard someone. They weathered the storm early on and was able to take control of the game. Zavier in the 2nd half was great defensively.
Other than that, what a slopfest
The kenpom line was 8, we won by 14. We just beat a top 80 team soundly. I really don’t get why people are being so down about this.
We have a great defense. Enjoy it.
I'm not really down about it. It was just a weird game, that's all.
doesn't do it justice. We were flat and rusty as hell.
A big FUCK YOU to Jim Delaney for the extended layoff.
^ This. I predicted we'd double KenPom, and we damn near did. But that game was BRUTAL. Yet we won.
"In the interim, we all moved one day closer to death."
^ And this. Raced to the bar after watching Andre Drummond from the line at Pepsi Center. Tonight has been basketball heartburn. I might very well have a case of the heebie-jeebies.
Win and advance.
Because it was a terrible game and Montana played terribly. There's only so much credit you can give to the Michigan defense.
that was the worst fast break offense a JB Michigan team has ever played. We through away at least 16 points on breakaway turnovers (STUPID turnovers), otherwise Michigan wins by 30.
Go Blue!
That was nuts. I think we were 0.0 PPP in transition and turned it over on most of them. I don't know if I've ever seen that before.
March 16th, 2018 at 11:01 AM ^
Yeah, that was my biggest takeaway. Mind bottling.
March 16th, 2018 at 10:26 AM ^
Lol such a stupid take. Once we adjusted to their quickness, Michigan's defense cut off their drives and walled up their average skill bigs all night. Teske swallowed people multiple times. Even Wagner have some great one on one stops. Robinson and Mathews stayed in front. We were taller, stronger, bigger and better and played like after the under 12 timeout on defense; that's is why Montana played terribly.
March 16th, 2018 at 10:12 AM ^
Agreed. This was a great defensive game on both sides, and people not appreciating it is what leads to things like the current NBA. Truth is Montana came out playing super defense, Beilein showed his team how to deal with it, and then it was two defensive sluggers trading punches after that. I enjoyed it, especially how we adapted to deal with Oguine's ability with the ball. He was impressive.
March 16th, 2018 at 11:00 AM ^
The game last night was abysmal. The two sports where defense dominated games are just slogs to get through are basketball and soccer. When I watch those sports, I want to see free flowing offense combined with solid def. usually we play a very balanced game and are so efficient. Last night was ugly, hard on the eyes basketball, that I wouldn’t want to watch again. I can watch defensive battles in football, but last nights game was the definition of ugly.
Even Mrs. Trice was like "can you take it down, like, six notches? Thanks"
We just played like shit and beat the equivalent of Wisconsin by 14. Pretty good.
This game aint got no alibi!!!
Oh well - at least I won't have to obsessively re-watch on youtube.
Who would have thought M could win a game against a decent team -- and fairly comfortably all 2nd half:
- Coming out ice cold
- Out of sorts on D early on
- without hitting threes all game
- Z on the bench for big stretches with fouls
- Virtually nothing offensively from Z, Mo and Duncan
- Oh AND commiting 14 turnovers including 4 or 5 on fast breaks.
I suspect anyone replying "yes" is either lying or drinking too much blue kool-ade.
Defense was stout in the 2nd half. I even confused Simmons for Z once or twice on D.
Why not give Teske more run in the second half of this thing? He was out playing Wagner.
This is not remotely a criticism of Mo, but when Teske was in, he was going good things. He blocked or altered a bunch of shots, and his offense was at least as good as Mo's was in that game.
My speculation is that JB knows that we need Mo to be right if we want to make a run, and since the game was not in any real jeopardy in the second half, he was playing Mo to see if he could work off some of the rust and get his game back on point. If that's the case, I can see the reasoning (although Mo never really pulled it together in this game).
Everyone’s eyes are bleeding after that win. Yet, we all know that this team can and will win ugly! My motto for this tournament:
Win ugly, win often
Onward and go blue!
but for his several dumb TOs, he played a good game. he went beast mode on the glass.
Moe was awful. the fact he couldn't go 20-10 on those gumpy post players is a joke. he needs to wake the fuck up going forward.
i would have benched him the last ten minutes for teske, since at least he played good D.
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