Michigan 71, Detroit 62
Derrick Walton led M's late charge with great transition play. [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
They should've known.
Detroit hung with Michigan for most of a rather ugly game, thanks to the hot hand of Juwan Howard Jr. (24 points) and the cold first-half shooting of Michigan. With just 5:38 to play, the upset watch remained in effect with the game tied at 52.
Then Detroit slapped the floor.
Michigan put the game away with an 11-0 run.
If you're confused about the correlation, ask a State fan.
The Wolverines couldn't buy a bucket in the first half, going 10/29 from the field, including an uncharacteristic 3/12 mark from beyond the arc. Neither team looked very good, nor did the officials, who couldn't decide whether to call the game tight or let everything go. The Titans scored on the half's final possession to take a 28-27 lead into the locker room.
The second half didn't begin so well, either, as Detroit extended their lead to four points during a rough stretch for Michigan freshman Kameron Chatman. John Beilein wasted little time going to what would be his best lineup of the night, lifting Chatman for Spike Albrecht and inserting Max Bielfeldt at center. Both provided the support Michigan's three backcourt stars needed; Albrecht dished out four assists, knocked down two threes, and added a steal, while Bielfeldt hauled in five boards and even dished out a couple assists himself.
That allowed the big three to flourish. After a rough first half, Caris LeVert went on a tear in the second stanza, scoring 17 of his team-high 21 points in the final 20 minutes; he also pulled down nine rebounds to nearly tally a double-double. Zak Irvin became the main beneficiary of Walton's fast break exploits, knocking down a couple second-half transition threes on his way to 18 points. Walton finished with 16 points of his own, grabbed three rebounds, and handed out three assists.
Outside of Howard, who needed 24 shot equivalents to score his 24 points, and an usually efficient Brandon Kearney (14 points on 5/6 FG), nobody on Detroit could get much going offensively; Michigan kept the Titans almost entirely off the offensive glass and forced most of their shots to originate from the perimeter, and eventually the Titans flat-lined, going through long stretches of the second half without being able to score.
Michigan managed to weather a bad shooting night to eventually come away with the win, but concerns are mounting as the three stars have been forced to bear what could be an impossible load to carry long-term. The Irvin/LeVert/Walton troika scored over 77% of the team's points tonight, and the freshmen expected to fill major roles either looked lost on the court (Chatman, DJ Wilson) or were disturbingly absent from the rotation as the game wore on (Mark Donnal, Ricky Doyle).
That's to be expected, in part, on such a young team with such obvious go-to players, but when the competition steps up significantly on Monday—when Michigan faces an Oregon team in Brooklyn that beat these same Titans by 18 earlier this week—the lack of secondary options is going to become a serious problem.
For now, Michigan's survived unscathed, and there are encouraging signs—one of those, somewhat surprisingly, on defense, where they've owned the boards. Sometime soon, though, this team is going to need one or two of their freshmen to grow up in a hurry.
November 20th, 2014 at 10:42 PM ^
LaVert and Irvin to a year ago at this time. Beilein is awesome.
November 20th, 2014 at 11:04 PM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 1:36 AM ^
what some other people have said. It's comedy the way people are freaking out about the way this team is playing. Do people forget last years team was 6-4 at one point? Like last years team early in the year, this years team is still trying to find an identity and figure out who is going to be doing what and finding what mixes work best on the floor.
They lost their go to guy in Stauskas, a solid 3 year contributor in GRIII and the rock of the defense, if not team, in Morgan. You don't lose 3 starters, especially 3 stud starters, replace them with freshmen or guys who have rarely seen the floor and not have growing pains.
If there's one thing we all should have learned now about Coach B's tenure at UM, it's that his teams almost always get better as the season progresses. Relax.
November 21st, 2014 at 6:41 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 3:08 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 4:24 AM ^
Michigan is actually ahead of where I thought they would be at this point in the season. They faced two very inspired performances from players who had emotional axes to grind: Kearney because of Sparty hatred and JHJ because he probably would have "walked from San Diego" if he had gotten a Michigan offer.
Despite JHJ and Kearney playing possibly the best game they will play all season and Michigan probably shooting the worst they will shoot all season, Michigan still won. A lot of teams in Michigan's shoes would have lost this game.
November 21st, 2014 at 8:33 AM ^
Good things are in store for the future but this team probably has a lot of rough nights ahead this year. I said during the season preview that I think making the tourney as an 8 or 9 seed would be a very nice accomplishment for this team, which is in a clear rebuilding year after suffering some absolutely devastating attrition this past offseason. We're just not at the Duke/Kentucky recruiting level where we can lose Horford, McGary, GRIII, Stauskas, and Morgan and not expect there to be a significant dropoff. IMHO expectations for a 4 or 5 seed going into this season were too high. This is not a "win now" year unless we are planning on losing more guys than LeVert after this year.
November 21st, 2014 at 8:45 AM ^
I certainly respect your opinion but I disagree about the ceiling of this team. I still think they are a 3/4/5 seed type team. The trio of Walton, Irvin and LeVert is unmatched in the Big Ten and might be the best backcourt in the country. Several teams, especially young teams, struggle during the early stages of the season. The same Kentucky team that beat Kansas by 30 was losing to SUNY Buffalo by 5 at halftime AT HOME. UConn struggled last night against Charleston, 'Nova probably should have lost to Bucknell, Wisconsin struggled for a while against Green Bay a couple nights ago, and they are one of the more experienced teams in the country. Now, players like Wilson, Chatman and Donnal certainly need to improve but I have absolutely no reason to believe Beilein won't have this team ready for another deep run come tourney time.
November 21st, 2014 at 8:37 AM ^
November 21st, 2014 at 9:29 AM ^
This will get much better. The biggest takeaway from this game was the laziness of the offense. Felt like they just wanted to shoot 3s way too early in the shot clock. Could have worked the offense just a bit more instead of settling. I'm sure Beilein will have them ready to go against Oregon.
November 21st, 2014 at 9:30 AM ^
Our high pick and roll defense has been nonexistant and will hurt us against the better teams coming up. Having said that, I have complete trust in our coaching staff and feel we will be a top 12 team by March.
November 21st, 2014 at 10:27 AM ^
90-95% open looks for our best players. That's all you can ask. Sometimes, they all go in (see first half of Bucknell game). Other times, nothing goes in (see first half of Detroit game).
It's strange how people on this blog of all places still cannot grasp how it's a high variance game. Everything can fall against a very good team and they can lose to a crap team (Charlotte last year) while still having an amazing season.
We will see growth in our players throughout the year and we will soon be hoping Walton and Irvin do not declare early to join Caris in the draft.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:19 AM ^
hmmm-- need an Emerging Nickname for these uhhh, 3-individuals.
AND-- you have SPIKE kind-of Rotating Thru The-3, I spose. a FOUR-some.
The . . . FEARSOME FOURSOME-- YES ! ! ! Thats IT
November 21st, 2014 at 11:48 AM ^
I struggle with The Mix-MINS. The Basic Rule is--
Walton-30 SPIKE-10
but what of IrvinLavert ?? is it possible--
Irvin-35 SPIKE-05 Lavert-35 SPIKE-05
This would give SPIKE 20-MINS per game. Which is good I think. BUT-- can SPIKE really play-D at the Combo Irvin-Lavert positions ??
AND-- can IrvinLavert really PLAY 35-MINS for an ENTIRE year, and at The End remain Very Effective ?? Maybe The BOTH really ARE that Very Good.
November 21st, 2014 at 12:10 PM ^
the Emerging Murky World of the 4 and 5 ID-positions.
I spose-- its
04- Chatman 20-Mins
05- Bfldt 20-Mins
but this leaves FORTY-Mins out there . . .
November 21st, 2014 at 11:37 AM ^
is understandable right now. But, it will be very limiting later because it's very weak on inside defense. Detroit exploited them yesterday and a bigger, more talented team will do a lot worse. I get it though that it's largely because the freshmen are still learning and getting their feet on the ground. But, the front court player development will be a huge key to how well this season goes. I do expect some losses in the next month as the team experiences the growing pains.
November 21st, 2014 at 11:56 AM ^
the Bline Move H-Det were something like--
01- Walton
02- SPIKE
03- Irvin
04- Lavert
05- Bfldt
This is SMALL Ball, in my book. And ironically-- this kind-of ID-structure really is Classic Bline.
For eg-- The Novak Teams. Novak-- as The-4 . . .
November 21st, 2014 at 11:44 AM ^
A little surprised at all the Donnal hate here. He didn't do anything spectacular but I thought he played solid, not to mention those tap-outs that save possessions. Think he will be getting consistent run while the true frosh adapt..
Also was that not the weirdest 21pts ever by LeVert - I was shocked to see he scored that much as it looked like he was struggling most of the game. Kid fills up a stat sheet more quietly than most. His attempts at penetration this year are a little slow/deliberate (giggity)
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