Michigan 79, Marquette 61
Marquette had no answer for Michigan's size. Seriously. [Joseph Dressler]
"They're just too big," said Karl Ravech, the ESPN play-by-play man. He was talking about a Michigan basketball team. It was a true statement.
"The defense by Michigan has really been outstanding," Fran Fraschilla added a short time later.
By the second half, the two were discussing how future opponents would handle Michigan's size as Moe Wagner demonstrated precisely why they were on that topic:
MOE WAGNER IS GOOD. pic.twitter.com/W44ug1ypvS
— Evan Petzold (@EvanPetzold) November 18, 2016
The key to it all was the insertion of DJ Wilson into the starting lineup in Duncan Robinson's stead. Both players flourished in their new roles. Wilson looked every bit as good as he did in the season's first two games, if not better, tallying his first career double-double with ten points and 13 boards and filling out the box score with a pair of assists and blocks. Robinson came off the bench to match his season point total, hitting 3-of-4 three-point attempts to finish with ten himself. The switch allowed John Beilein to unleash Wilson and pick ideal matchups for Robinson; it paid off immediately.
Michigan jumped out to an early lead due to hot outside shooting and a torrent of Marquette turnovers. Even the big men got into the act, with Wagner, Wilson, and Mark Donnal all connecting on first-half triples. Robinson's pair of first-half bombs got the lead up to double digits, and a strong stretch by Donnal—his tip-in of a Xavier Simpson miss elicited Ravech's comment—helped push the margin up to 24 points at the break.
DJ Wilson dominated the boards. [Dressler]
The Wolverines were able to set it on cruise control for the second half. They eased up a little too much at times, committing some sloppy turnovers to allow Marquette to get as close as 12 points down, but every run was swiftly rebuffed.
The frontcourt was the story of the night, as it should've been: Mark Donnal went 6-for-9 for 15 points, Wilson was everywhere, and Wagner tallied nine points and the SportsCenter posterization. That overshadowed a quietly solid performance from the others. Zak Irvin had his midrange game going early and started knocking down threes, too, on his way to a 16-6-6 stat line marred only by four turnovers.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman finished with 15 via frequent trips to the line and some tough twos. Derrick Walton and Xavier Simpson didn't need to score to make an impact. Both played excellent perimeter defense and the offense didn't skip a beat when Walton sat with two fouls early on. Notably, Beilein let Walton re-enter the game with two fouls midway through the half, and he rewarded his coach's confidence by not picking up another the rest of the way.
The resounding victory puts Michigan in tomorrow night's 2K Classic title game against SMU, another team that looks like it will surpass preseason expectations after a comfortable 76-67 win over Pitt in the other semifinal. That game tips at 7 pm on ESPN2. A bigger, burlier Mustangs squad should provide a tougher matchup; if Michigan is able to get through that close to as well as they did tonight's game, it'll be time to get really excited about where this season can go.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:09 AM ^
dan dakich...
November 18th, 2016 at 12:14 AM ^
I could watch that Moe dunk over and over again and not get tired of it, we haven't had a dunk like that since GR3 and Tim Jr. were here.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:16 AM ^
This is the Michigan Wolverines basketball team we're talking about, right??? Wow!
November 18th, 2016 at 11:37 AM ^
He, he knows how to coach Defense (clap clap)?
November 18th, 2016 at 12:16 AM ^
We gonna be ranked soon?
November 18th, 2016 at 12:17 AM ^
Probably will be if we get past SMU
November 18th, 2016 at 9:03 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 10:05 AM ^
KenPom has us at 26, so we win tonight, we should be in there.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:18 AM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 12:34 AM ^
I think for pretty long stretches we were going 6'11", 6'10", 6'8", 6'6", and 6'1". Long way from 6'4" power forwards.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:36 AM ^
of having those two guys playing well is that they make us tall and long inside (did someone say rebounding and shot blocking, whaaaaaaa?) but they can both handle the ball and shoot well enough to not bog down the offense - they keep it spread out as it should be. Could be very fun indeed.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:19 AM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 1:17 AM ^
...I want us to get it back with an "injury" so that we can have him for 2 more season after the 2016-2017 season.
Assuming we get the redshirt back, we might have Wilson and Wagner for 3 seasons. This could be a glorious tandem.
November 18th, 2016 at 1:28 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 10:08 AM ^
I was already expecting a better than projected season, but you're right: Wilson playing like this radically improves every aspect of this team. His play is the definitieion of a game-changer.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:32 AM ^
and this isn't an "I told you so" (maybe it is) but for Michigan to make a leap, it had to come from Wilson (and to a lesser extent, Wagner). Having Robinson on the floor for 30 minutes was such a huge negative for the defense that he had to shoot lights out just to make having him on the floor neutral.
Very early but this rotation at the four, with Robinson coming in for instant offense and playing the right matchups is perfect. So far so good. Greenberg said it at halftime: they appear to be a very complete, experienced team. They should compete for the conference title and have a good shot to get to the second weekend of the tourney.
November 18th, 2016 at 12:35 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 12:37 AM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 1:26 AM ^
He admitted to himself (and everyone else) he couldn't coach good d and hired a guy who could: Billy Donlon.
November 18th, 2016 at 7:00 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 8:38 AM ^
M's best player, who likely would have been a late lottery pick, also missed almost the entirety of the past two seasons
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November 18th, 2016 at 2:46 PM ^
Outstanding post. Good defense spurs good offense in many sports, particularly basketball.
November 18th, 2016 at 3:04 PM ^
What makes you think he ever lost sight of that? That he was playing a guy last year for 30 minutes who is really good at offense and equally bad at defense? I buy that. Regardless he did some major re-evaluation, and decided he needed help on the defensive side, which takes incredible awareness and humility and hired a former head coach and he gave up a tremendous amount of control over that side of ball, which isn't uncommon.
So to the poster making fun of people saying Beilein couldn't coach good D, them playing better this year (witht the same players!) doesn't prove that's not the case. Quite the contrary. It proves that probably was the case, and he made a smart move to bring in a guy that could coach a good defense. Brilliant move by Beilien. It's only three games so we'll see if this keeps up.
November 18th, 2016 at 9:24 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 12:50 AM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 12:59 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 1:42 AM ^
but bring on the 2016-17 season! In Beilein I trust.
November 18th, 2016 at 10:12 AM ^
But then again, they projected last night to be a 1-point game. Here's to hoping that we keep exceeding expectations.
November 18th, 2016 at 6:10 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 8:22 AM ^
This team looks athletic like it hasn't in a couple years. I still can't believe the title game didn't pan out on the recruiting trail more, but the title run team wasn't full of 5 stars either.
November 18th, 2016 at 8:54 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 4:58 PM ^
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November 21st, 2016 at 9:06 AM ^
I mean in sense of star gazing. I know it's not the end all, especially under Beilien. Still, I would have expected a couple recruiting wins.
November 18th, 2016 at 8:35 AM ^
this was my first watch this season, and...hm. we can still shoot, plus we're bigger, and we played some good defense. this could be fun.
November 18th, 2016 at 8:37 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 8:42 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 9:00 AM ^
November 18th, 2016 at 9:01 AM ^
Too late! I'm excited about this team! BIG10 Championship and Final 4, here we come!
November 18th, 2016 at 9:09 AM ^
Whoa, Wilson, Donnal, & Wagner really bulked up over the summer. Good to have some beef!
November 18th, 2016 at 4:59 PM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 9:48 AM ^
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November 18th, 2016 at 9:55 AM ^
New Yorkers, it's super cheap to get into tonight's game. I just picked up a set of 4 tix, 8 rows behind the basket for $12/per ticket.
November 18th, 2016 at 10:14 AM ^
I would be there if I could.
November 18th, 2016 at 10:16 AM ^
If you're a Michigan grad or even just a fan in the NY area - definitiely go check it out. Especially if its that cheap. The Garden is an amazing place to see a game. I grew up on Long Island and LOVED going to Knicks and college games there. I highly recommend it- one of the best venues in sports!
November 18th, 2016 at 10:14 AM ^
Gotta say - this is the best a Beilien team has looked this early in the season in a long time - maybe ever. If they get through OOC play relatively unscathed there can be some serious upside to this team.
Also - at the end of the game when Wilson got a sweet alley-oop and-one I was shocked that he only had 10 or so points. I had been watching the game on and off but I thought he was the best player on the court. It's nice to see he can have a major impact without packing a statline (still - 13 rebounds - pretty good and he had some nice blocks too). But his development and early play is huge.
What's up with those shorts though? Dude is a Michigan Wolverine, wears #5 and his middle name is an homage to Jalen Rose and he wears his shorts high! What the hell, man?
November 18th, 2016 at 2:43 PM ^
If he keeps playing like he has, he can wear his shorts however the hell he wants to wear 'em.
November 18th, 2016 at 11:03 AM ^
Props to Beilien for making some adjustments. DJ at the 4 mitigates a lot of problems they've had the last few years. He provides some cover to the weaknesses they have at center and allows Irvin to play his actual position and focus more on his strengths.
November 18th, 2016 at 11:19 AM ^
Given that this is his 10th (!) year as our coach, we should probably learn how to spell his name: it's Beilein.
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