Michigan 62, Arizona 80
If you fell asleep again while waiting for one of these Las Vegas games to start, and then couldn't find find it, you wouldn't be alone. ESPN's commercial break-loaded broadcast finally started at 9:50 pm, by which point four minutes of basketball had already elapsed. The Michigan team you tuned in to watch didn't make it.
Their cancelation was mostly the work of a tough Arizona outfit that proved itself far better than advertised. That said, this was easily the worst basketball Michigan has played yet in the Juwan Howard era, as once again his young team couldn’t find its identity in the forest of a tall opponent. Michigan tried lineup after lineup, but couldn’t find any that could shoot, rebound, hang onto the ball, or play defense with any consistency.
A few of the things that went wrong usually go better, and probably will again. Hunter Dickinson had just ten looks from the field, including several all alone that found a way to rim out. He took the brunt of a career night for Arizona’s bouncy frontcourt pair Christian Koloko, who scored 22, and Azuolas Tubelis. The normally defensively stalwart Dickinson also started to look lost, joining some of his younger teammates in giving up an unending sequence of alley-oops. Freshman Moussa Diabate got pushed around, and rarely got an opportunity to use his switching skills. He broke one double to kick out to an open Houstan, but his four points, four personal fouls, and three turnovers in 18 minutes are likely to fall on the bottom end of a promising career.
Michigan’s transition defense was nonfunctional as the rotating lineups struggled to figure out whom to guard. There were bad matchups created all over the court as Michigan’s smaller guards wound up checking any of many towers that Arizona runs out in the backcourt, and the ball screen defense was atrocious. The team finished 1/14 from three, almost every one of them clean looks. Frankie Collins looked audacious with the basketball, but unfortunately his teammates were even less prepared for a lot of the passes he made than the fans. Even Kobe Bufkin, a bright point emerging since the loss to Seton Hall couldn’t get his shot off. Terrance Williams II missed a couple of bunnies, missed a few box-outs, and only played 17 minutes. Eli Brooks missed his first and second free throws of the season.
Houstan’s shooting should get better, but if he’s going to stay on the floor for it his defense needs to. [Campredon]
Unfortunately, many of the rough spots that started to fray in the first four games are threatening to become like gaping holes. Starting point guard Davonte’ Jones again found himself in foul trouble, playing just 8 minutes in the first half after following up a reach-in foul with a charge. He returned and finally managed to lead a few good half-court sets by driving into the lane, but followed up his best offensive possession—a gorgeous runner through the redwoods—with an awful third foul 80 feet from the basket. His scoring ability was evident again, but like Mike Smith's early defensive struggles and turnovers last season, Michigan's latest transfer point man is going to have to adjust his game to lead Michigan.
Without Jones, they couldn’t get the ball to Dickinson, and when they did and he got it back out to a shooter, they missed. Caleb Houstan went 0/5 and was the man most responsible for the continued defensive breakdowns. He still played 33 minutes, and contributed a few turnovers and one drive and dish to Dickinson to hint at his 5-star potential, but Arizona also seemed to know right where to attack on defense. Even his brightest moment of the night found a way to be disappointing: he created a steal and his own breakaway, pulled up for three, but had his foot on the line.
His fellow winger Brandon Johns Jr. too had his moments—he canned Michigan’s lone triple—but his discombobulated play this season continued as he turned down open three-point opportunities that subsequently converted to bad possessions. The two-big lineup of Hunter Dickinson and Moussa Diabate destroyed Michigan’s spacing, and in this game even they couldn’t staunch the offensive onslaught. Only Arizona’s own bad shooting from distance—they went 4/21—kept the final score remotely close.
Arizona’s pogo sticks were impenetrable down low [Campredon]
In good things that continued to be pretty good, Eli Brooks paced the Wolverines with 14 points, found his floater, and continued to cash in whenever he was left a crack into the lane. For that, Brooks took a lot of punishment from Wildcat elbows, and ended one possession in some kind of choke-hold.
Michigan falls to 3-2 and will almost certainly drop out of the top ten. They play Tarleton State on Wednesday then get Thanksgiving weekend off. It’s a good spot in the woods to look down at a glassy pond, and figure out who’s in the reflection, since a trip to Chapel Hill comes next.
[Box score after the jump]
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:03 AM ^
The roster makeup is horrible. Does Frankie Collins look to take a jump shot?
Kinda like us taking Glenn as a recruit. Too many athletes, but none that can shoot.
The lack of effort was appalling.
But hooray recruiting I guess. At least MattD loves the guys we recruit instead of hating everything Beilein did.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:06 AM ^
Man, don't drag Matt D for this. He's the one who was telling me to cool about Caleb Houstan.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:52 PM ^
I thought Collins looked promising considering his lack of experience and the opponent. So far I’ve liked what I have seen out of him more than what Jones has done.
I’m not disappointed with the fresh recruits in this game. They’re still learning and shouldn’t be expected to carry the team. I was disappointed with the rest of the team, with the possible exception of Eli Brooks. Johns just hasn’t panned out. Hunter needs to learn to jump. He’s so used to not having to jump that he gets beat on rebounds and when going to the rim by guys who are shorter but do jump.
Overall, I think your complaints about the roster are overblown. We just need a point guard and we might have one when Jackson returns or Collins matures into a starter. I still think the sky is the limit for Diabate and Houstan, but I do think it’s clear that Diabate is more of a PF than C.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:22 PM ^
While I do agree that shooting is a huge issue for this team that is forcing us to play a certain way and that we aren't exactly doing much on the recruiting trail to alleviate that, take a chill pill
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:11 AM ^
I have "resigned" myself to expecting this first half of the season to look off; they just don't have enough experienced players to cover up for the young guys making mistakes, and it's imperative for Howard to figure out a rotation and start getting guys into roles. I know it's probably not optimal but guys like Houstan and Johns may need to see more bench time and come into low-pressure situations a bit, even if it puts a strain on other guys. Jones will have to make the leap up but I've heard some people say he could just be Jarron Simmons and that's not out of the picture. Some guys just can't break habits that quickly as the competitions increases.
This has been a tougher opening slate than people perhaps realize; UM has played 3 teams in the KenPom top-100 and UNLV is probably a bit better than their current ranking. They've also been bouncing around DC, Ann Arbor, and now LV in a bit over a week, and that's going to mess with a young team that is already lacking some cohesiveness. Hopefully the break will set them straight.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:55 AM ^
Then schedule easier opponents?
What is the point of this hard schedule?
We will be unranked in the poll on Monday.
November 22nd, 2021 at 3:18 AM ^
Why don't you sit in the corner and have a good wank.
November 22nd, 2021 at 7:45 AM ^
Dude, it's college basketball, not football. You can afford early season losses. These are good learning experiences for the team. That's why you schedule tough opponents. Duh. Whether this team has the makeup to capitalize on these learning experiences is yet to be seen, but they have some time on their side still.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:32 AM ^
I assume as an NBA player you'd understand how basketball works but I guess when you assume you make an ass out of u and me.
Anyway, maybe just relax today.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:47 AM ^
Nobody but you cares where we are ranked. We haven't played a single conference game.
We can be ranked #235 but as long as we win the conference and the tourney, it doesn't matter.
November 22nd, 2021 at 5:20 AM ^
Problem is bench Houstan and Diabate for who? Other guys don't really seem to be playing better. I do think they've had a lot of tough games. Lots of new faces too. They'll get better.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:37 AM ^
Yeah, it's a problem in terms of the beach, but I guess you give Williams a shot at the 3 and give starter minutes to Diabate (he's basically there now) and do a lot of switching. Again, not optimal but right now you've got a guy who can't shoot and is awful defensively and another guy who won't shoot and is mediocre defensively in Johns. Diabate isn't an offensive piece but he can switch defensively and Williams in an energy guy who will at least stay in front of his defender. The goal on the end is get guys like Houstan and Johns going, but the only guy who looks even semi-confortable shooting right now is Brooks and you can't build an offense out of just him. So maybe you grind a bit and see if you can just best teams in low-scoring slogs.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:43 AM ^
Their best lineup statistically thus far has been Eli, Bufkin, Williams, Diabate, Dickinson. Not advocating for that but I just want to show you how weird things have been so far.
If it were up to me I would start Williams at the 3 and Diabate at the four right now. That's a lineup that can D up, and score just enough. Houstan isn't giving you enough offense right now to justify his defense. But he can sub for Moussa instead of playing the three, and that can hide his defensive weaknesses better.
.Jones will get his game under control. Johns is a wild card.
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:45 AM ^
This makes sense.
Getting Caleb to accept bench play may be good for him as well. Caleb is playing like he is the only offensive option and forcing some shots sometimes because he has too.
Playing time for Williams will up his game. Bufkin as well.
Johns needs to shoot when he is open period. When he doesn’t the entire offense bogs down. Guys are are boxing and watching expecting the ball to go up.
There is no Livers, Franz, or Chaundee on this team yet that wants the ball with the clock winding down.
Juwan has a puzzle for sure.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:30 AM ^
Kind of like the idea of TW5, Diabate on the floor with Hunter and Eli. You would have elite D, and at least could win some rock fights against good teams.
The other option is to find someone...anyone...besides Eli who can hit an open three, and have him just stand in the corner. At least then you would have some spacing. So far that guy is not Johns, certainly not Frankie, maybe Bufkin? (You just can't win with your supposed spot up corner shooters, Johns, Houstan, forcing up bad shots and also turning it over)
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:13 PM ^
Heard from someone in Vegas for the game that the players were seen out late every night. If so...that may explain "some" of that performance.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:18 AM ^
Impressions of a non-expert, but Seton Hall seemed like "bad, but hey, we're still growing." This one seemed more "bad, and uh where are we headed here." Should we expect a lot of improvement out of the new guys, enough that this looks more like a Sweet Sixteen seed by the end?
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:33 AM ^
Let's settle on just making the tournament.
And not getting swept by msu (which they will have no shame in doing unlike us doing that deed to them in 2021).
November 22nd, 2021 at 5:22 AM ^
You'd be MaizeN except you complain about Juwan recruits instead of Beilein recruits.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:29 PM ^
The biggest issue I'm seeing is that our lack of shooting is forcing us to play in a way that is resulting in a lot of turnovers. We're sending cutters and penetrating into the clogged paint due to no spacing and that's resulting a lot of attempted home run passes and therefore lots of turnovers. I'm not sure that issue is super solvable unless multiple guys become more consistent 3 point shooters and open up the paint
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:12 AM ^
Juwan needs to get over the infatuation with Houstan. He’s killing us on both ends of the floor. I get that maybe a 5 star talent deserves to start - at least initially - but the performance has to be there at some point.
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:30 AM ^
Isn't our motto for Competitors only?
That is in every one of his tweets.
Need to practice what we preach and tweet (quite a bit).
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:50 AM ^
People need to realize with young talented players they sometimes need to play through struggles. Howard knows this team doesn’t have enough 3 pt shooting to compete if houstan doesn’t get right. So he’s playing his sets with the whole season in mind, not one game.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:36 AM ^
If Juwan is looking for a supposed knock down shooter who can't play D, he could just stick with Nunez at the 2 or 3 spot, just have him stand in the corner and fire up any open 3s. He can't be any worse than the 5 star, and at least he has an interesting social media presence!
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:06 PM ^
Nunez is like a 20% career shooter from 3. He is no ones answer to outside shooting woes.
November 22nd, 2021 at 2:32 PM ^
Uh...the point is that Nunez can't be worse than Houstan, at least the one we have seen thus far, 1 for 10 in last two games against real teams, 23% for the five games.
November 22nd, 2021 at 3:51 AM ^
This teams feels like if we fix the things we need to fix we would still lose to U of A by ten. Is Brooks the last player we have with a consistent 3? Better turn Twill into a gunner. It may be our only hope. Kobe as well.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:40 AM ^
I'm comfortable saying that if UM hit more than 9% of their 3s and didn't turn the ball over on 25% of their possessions they'd probably beat Arizona. I do think people are overreacting a bit to a team that is quite young struggling early on.
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:27 AM ^
I agree - it didn't get truly ugly until the first few minutes of the second half. It slowly devolved and they never shook off the bad play. At that point, the shooting was ice cold and they had no offensive flow whatsoever and Arizona's height and pressing on D had them completely psyched out. They looked bewildered. It was hard to tell what the worst sequence was: a steal by Collins who threw it to a wide open Dickinson under the basket who missed the easiest layup he'll ever get (instead of dunking it) or Houstan missing two straight FTs or dunks by AZ on like 4 straight possessions or Johns and Jones constantly falling down on defense and dropping the ball out of bounds.
Let's be real: They looked like shit. AZ is good but Michigan played far from it's best game and I don't expect this to be the norm from this team. They're better than this but they definitely have a lot to work on.
November 22nd, 2021 at 5:09 AM ^
As Seth pointed out, it's the worst game in recent years. It's tough watching Michigan on the other end of what it usually brings.
And considering the early games, last night's doesn't feel like an anomaly. So it will be interesting to see how the team develops cohesiveness and starts to improve.
As Howard was quoted in the Detroit News, "It’s part of the game, adversity. When adversity hits, it defines the man on how he responds the next time."
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:33 AM ^
We have been spoiled watching those experienced, smart, disciplined, good shooting teams Michigan has fielded in recent years. They were a joy to watch. It is obviously a much different situation when you are playing a bunch of highly talented, inexperienced freshmen playing their first college games. We've just got to be patient as they learn and mature. This is painful to watch but they have to go through the process. (Anyone care for a tasty sausage?)
November 22nd, 2021 at 6:43 AM ^
Learning is always an ugly process, and this is a young team with a lot to figure out. Probably good that they tasted this bitter medicine early, but man, I’d love to hear what Howard plans to do about it because the lineups look like he’s still figuring things out as well.
November 22nd, 2021 at 7:24 AM ^
That was just hard to watch. You could tell by their body language in the 2nd half the team was just demoralized and frustrated. It's possible many of us expected too much from this team, too early. Patience will be necessary for a while because I think this isn't the last blow out loss we're going to see.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:06 AM ^
This was by far one of the worst games during the Juwan Howard era. We will find out what kind of coach Juwan is after this debacle. They looked uncompetitive at times during this one.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:27 AM ^
While the announcers kept talking about getting Hunter more touches, (which makes sense) I noticed multiple times where he could have taken one dribble and had a wide open shot from the free throw line but instead was only looking to pass. I have no idea if they were attempting to run some plays through him or if he was just tentative for some reason.
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:47 AM ^
I’ve been trying to hammer this drum for a while, anyone who expected elite out of the gate was setting wildly unrealistic expectations and now people are way too down on this team after being way too high.
The one thing to me that is super concerning for the whole season is the 3 point shooting. That was a major potential weakness and isn’t likely to become a strength and as long as that is the case the offense is going to have a hard ceiling
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:36 AM ^
Houstan is really our best hope for it right now. That's undoubtedly why he is getting so much playing time.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:35 PM ^
The one thing to me that is super concerning for the whole season is the 3 point shooting. That was a major potential weakness and isn’t likely to become a strength and as long as that is the case the offense is going to have a hard ceiling
I've brought up Juwan's negligence to recruit shooting several times over his tenure and the issue has started to rear its ugly head. Having one guy who can shoot close to 40% from 3 is just not gonna cut it and completely ruins spacing as well
November 22nd, 2021 at 8:58 AM ^
At this stage nobody on this team is going pro next year. Eli will be off for a ten year European career and the guy we can least afford to lose.
This team is so young and has zero offensive flow. Juwan has some serious coaching to do.
November 22nd, 2021 at 9:02 AM ^
Good thing Eli came back or this team would be scoring in the pre shot clock range.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:25 AM ^
The main problem is a lack of perimeter options. We have a bunch of 4s (I'm including Caleb here for the time being), no real 3, Eli and some maybes at guard. That's one player for three positions. Zeb, Frankie, and Kobe are going to have to get up to speed because we need at least two of them to hit, even if Jones improves.
November 22nd, 2021 at 10:50 AM ^
It’s the complete lack of outside shooting that makes the offense extremely easy to defend by sending help in the post and sagging into the lane. We needed graduate transfer snipers instead of Jones, who is out of control while playing the most important position on the court.
That’s also why Howard is playing Houstan so much— they’re clearly dependent on him to provide shooting (at this point Johns is as likely to become a solid 3 point guy as I am to marry Shakira). Houstan does this irritating thing where if he hasn’t been hitting shots, he shot fakes and dribbles around before throwing it back out to the perimeter. It’s a waste of time. He needs to just keep shooting — he hasn’t shown mid range or slashing skills, so just shoot the fucking thing. Go 0-15 on threes if that’s what happens, because he’s not playing you to meander about and pass to reset on the perimeter.
I’m a little disappointed in Williams. He’s gets shot fake happy too, when he just needs to shoot. He also played some poor defense. Hunter has to rebound better— just boxing out the other big isn’t enough, he needs to get the damn ball.
On defense, almost nobody can stay in front of the ball, even without screens. That’s skill and effort. All the problems with rotations and Hunter getting back after the hedge are secondary to that fundamental issue.
November 22nd, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
Caleb Houston is the single most lost freshman I've ever seen. You can tell long before a shot leaves his hands it's going to be an airball. I actually feel bad for him.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:11 PM ^
He looks as lost and overrated as Kam Chatman did as a freshman.
Obviously, I expect Houstan to work out far better than Chatman did, but the early returns aren’t great Bob.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:01 PM ^
This team has some massive flaws that won’t be fixed anytime soon, if at all this year. Jones, BJJ and T Will cannot be relied on to provide any consistent offense.
Houstan looks way overrated.
Moussa is as advertised, but still pretty raw.
Bufkin and Collins are not ready to contribute much.
it’s basically the Hunter and Eli show and most teams with a pulse can shut that down.
I am very concerned about this team’s prospects for the rest of the season. Without gigantic leaps by multiple freshman they are going nowhere.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:20 PM ^
It's too early to freak out, but last night's game was hard to watch. It wasn't just our flaccid play on the court, it was the over-commercialization of the broadcast and the venue. No one wants to think about boner pills that much.
November 22nd, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
I think there are 3 big problems right now. The first is perimeter shooting. Other than Eli, no one is a true threat right now and so the spacing is not great. We lost Livers, Smith, and Brown, all 40% guys, plus Franz was a lower % guy but teams did not leave him open. Now teams are sagging off.
Second, the dribble penetration is lacking. Very few times are we hitting the lane and then kicking out to open shooters.
Third, the defense is allowing way too many drives into the lane either not contested or requiring help which is opening up dunks and open shooters for the other teams.
All of those things need dramatic improvement. So far for me the biggest letdown is Johns. I understand why the new players are struggling but Johns is a senior and has a great opportunity playing next to Hunter. Johns is hardly providing anything right now but we really need him to step up if the frontcourt is going to be a strength (hoping he can). We have talent and I suspect that the dribble penetration and the defense will improve as the season goes along. But I think the big question is whether we can shoot well enough to open up the spacing. Seems like Houstan, Johns and Bufkin are key to this and so far, not great Bob.
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:15 PM ^
Will they get better....of course, will young guys start to adapt..yes. But right now, hard to see this team as a top 25 team. Pains me to say that, but its just bad ball right now, top down.
Take the lumps, keep learning, keep working....all you can do.
Hail
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:21 PM ^
This team has issues in basically every facet of the game and it's gonna be a long season
November 22nd, 2021 at 1:58 PM ^
Houstan should probably be playing the 4. Right now having Dickinson, Johns, and Houstan on the floor is a train wreck. Also Jones is a below average shooter. There's no spacing and no shooting. Eli is good as a spot up shooter but he can't create his own threes.
This could be a long season if they can't find a shooter.
We were spoiled last year with Wagner and Livers at the 3 and 4.
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