Michigan 83, Iowa State 76
It wasn't pretty, but they'll take it.
Michigan improved to 5-0 and moved on to the winner's side of the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket with a hard-fought win over a solid Iowa State team. It felt for much of the game like the Wolverines were on the verge of blowing the game open; then they'd give the ball away to the Cyclones.
Zavier Simpson encapsulated the good and bad of today's game. On the positive side of the ledger, he threatened a triple-double with ten points, seven rebounds, and 13 assists. On the negative side, he also threatened a quadruple-double with eight turnovers. Michigan coughed the ball up 22 times as a team compared to only nine for Iowa State; add in a slight rebounding advantage and the Cyclones attempted 17(!) more shots than the Wolverines, usually a recipe for disaster.
But Michigan made just as many shots; each team hit 30, and the Wolverines hit five more three-pointers. Aside from the remarkable Tyrese Haliburton, who posted 25 points, nine boards, and four assists, the Cyclones were limited to jump-shooters, and that's not their strength save for the midrangers Solomon Young knocked down mostly in the first half. Even with foul trouble limiting Jon Teske to 16 minutes, Michigan dissuaded ISU from attacking the paint; they got solid shifts from Colin Castleton and Austin Davis.
On the other end, Simpson ran the show with precision when he wasn't turning it over, if that makes sense. Teske and Castleton benefited on the interior, scoring 11 and ten points, respectively, while going a combined 9-for-13 from the field. Isaiah Livers (17 points, 3/6 threes) and friends reaped the rewards on the perimeter.
One such friend was Franz Wagner, who made his Michigan debut, one delayed by a broken wrist. While Wagner is still getting accustomed to the speed of the game—he missed both two-pointers he attempted and fouled out in in 23 minutes—his talent was apparent. His form looked gorgeous on his three three-point attempts, two of which fell, and he used his length to be a disruptive defender. His presence limited Adrien Nunez to only seven minutes; Nunez, for his part, sunk 1/2 triples.
David DeJulius's role, on the other hand, did not diminish. He continued to be instant offense off the bench, scoring 14 on 5-of-6 shooting in 22 minutes. Eli Brooks had some hairy moments late but added eight points and two assists. Brandon Johns pulled down five boards off the bench.
Michigan faces the winner of UNC/Alabama, happening right now on ESPN, tomorrow at 1:30 pm Eastern. I'll have a preview posted in the morning.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
November 27th, 2019 at 3:14 PM ^
These officials had zero respect for verticality!
Also I can NOT wait to see fully installed & game ready Franz Wagner
November 27th, 2019 at 9:25 PM ^
I was thinking they had to Big Ten officials. It was pretty bad.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:15 PM ^
We dominated this game.
If not for some bad foul calls on Teske (who was a monster defensively) or the rash of "WTF?!?!" turnovers, we win this game by 15+ maybe 20+ against a quality Iowa State team.
Despite the turnovers, we still beat the spread (Vegas and analytics).
Tthose who thought this team lacked talent are wrong. Beilein left plenty. It needed to develop and take a step forward in their upperclassmen years. People are waaaaaay too quick to judge a player based on their freshman or sophomore years. Most college players don't find themselves until their junior year.
The One & Done era has created unrealistic expectations. Those that remember the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s remember that players had a progression as they climbed the learning curve. We don't get high end talent. We get player who develop and become better season to season. Amen.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:29 PM ^
“People are way too quick to judge”
Basically agree. It bears remembering that a lot of people had given up on Simpson during his freshman year (when, you’ll recall, a lot of people were calling for Beilein to be fired—a lot has happened in the past few years). Last year people were screaming about Brooks getting on the floor, flatly ignoring his defensive contributions, going as far as to call him a guy who didn’t belong at this level at all.
Beilein, in particular, was great at developing players over time. A number of guys have come through this program and taken a year or two to find their stride. We don’t know if Howard will have a similar influence or not, but I know this: Austin Davis scores a nice basket and looked good on defense out there. That’s not something we saw much or any of last year.
Something I’m really looking forward to this year is senior night. In basketball, it is rare that the players who are the backbone of a team that wins conference tourneys and makes deep runs in NCAA tournaments make it to their senior year. Senior nights tend to feature a mix of either “program guys” who spent four years in bench roles, or long-time starters on mediocre teams. Loved by the fans, but not really impactful on the larger stage.
We’ve got some seniors who are great. It’s going to be good.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:16 PM ^
Haliburton literally played the whole game? Damn
November 27th, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^
He made some deep 3s that kept Iowa State from getting run out of the gym.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
I meant more from a minutes perspective. Dude literally never left the court according to this box score
November 27th, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
He made some deep 3s that kept Iowa State from getting run out of the gym.
He made some deep 3s that kept Iowa State from getting run out of the ballroom.
FIFY.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Yeah dick cheney says once you let em in its impossible to take em out
November 27th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
He and that one big man who like didn't miss from midrange were their whole team
November 27th, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^
Odd the official Box score missed the technical on the coach.
And I think Franz was 2-3 from the 3 point line. Although not trusting this box score either.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:46 PM ^
As someone who does college stats for basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball and football it doesn’t surprise me they missed it. Basketball has a new stat program and holiday tournaments get some odd people to do the stats. Just an FYI.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^
I was skeptical of Juwan's head coaching acumen after hiring, but he can really, really coach. Our offense looks really good, and at times so easy. The rest we can have some patience with.
November 27th, 2019 at 5:05 PM ^
One of the best signs of his coaching ability was when he sought out Phil Martelli for end-of-game advice. That's a life skill -- know when you need to ask for some help, and be secure enough to ask for it.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:19 PM ^
How can we win by 7 and got from #24 to #25 in Kenpom rankings? Do they update at the end of the day or what?
November 27th, 2019 at 3:29 PM ^
I have no clue, I noticed that too. They updated our win total and we moved down. Very confused
November 27th, 2019 at 3:55 PM ^
It gets updated approx 30 min after each game. Florida is just barely ahead of Michigan. My guess is that some early results from today boosted Florida's profile ever so slightly ahead of Michigan.
Remember that it's all opponent adjusted which means how a teams opponents and their opponents, etc. all perform has some affect on the rankings.
It's all negligible at this point, but yeah, I was annoyed they didn't win by the 15 or so points that they often led by in the second half, especially now that efficiencies and MOV are part of the seeding formula.
One other thing to keep in mind about kenpom is that the rankings are based on the relative offensive and defensive efficiencies, NOT margin of victory (at least not directly). So when the possession count it high as was the case in this game, a larger MOV isn't the same as an equivalent MOV with fewer possessions because you weren't as efficient with each possession.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
Only thing I can think of is the offense took a hit after a turnover laden game and dropped us overall as well.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:19 PM ^
The turnovers continue to be an interesting story. I’m finally getting time to watch closely, and some of this does indeed seem to be a “transition cost” issue with guys still learning Howard’s offense. But at least some of this appears to be Howard’s instructions to make passes on post entries and reverses that Beilein didn’t ask for.
One can only assume that Wagner will pick things up as the year goes along, and with that assumption comes a growing confidence in Michigan’s roster. When you’re going 10-deep and every guy that sees the floor makes some kind of useful contribution, that feels good. Even Davis looked pretty good out there.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
I would take the turnovers with a grain of salt. Like ~5 of those were stupid moving screens that no other refs are gonna call, 1 was a "travel" on Castleton, which was not a travel after seeing the replay, and then a few other bs plays like Johns 3 terribles passes that were turnovers and a few other that I can't remember. X definitely has to chill with some of his wild passes though
November 27th, 2019 at 4:19 PM ^
Those moving screens will continue to get called. The emphasis on those was started last year/2 years ago
November 27th, 2019 at 9:51 PM ^
Some of it looks to me like passes that aren't crisp enough and others that are ill-advised. Maybe tentativeness causes this and it will get better the more comfortable they get with the change in style of play. Like they're trying to do things that don't come natural yet.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:00 PM ^
I felt like (at least in this game) it was also due to their higher-tempo offense, or the push from JH (NTJH) to play faster. There were a number of absolutely insane TOs either on the "break" or from trying to hit quick passes that wouldn't have been relevant in the JB offense.
It's possible this tempo will slow down (figuratively) for the players as they get used to things, but I think some of those TOs will be the cost of doing business for this team.
Fortunately the shooting so far seems to be making up for it.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
Good points.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
What I would like to know: How many of X’s assists came from passes that seem to make up the majority of his TOs (quick passes through traffic either to a player cutting to the basket or setting up on the perimeter). B/c possibly the style of play Juwan wants from X are high-risk/high-reward passes that will sometimes lead to the ball getting ricocheted around, but most times will lead to points. It also seems like most of his TOs are either in transition or when the shot clock is running down and he tries to force something late.
November 27th, 2019 at 5:14 PM ^
I think you're on to something. A lot X's turnovers have come from either trying to thread the needle inside on quick bounce passes or from long ball reversals (where he's dribbled into traffic around the elbow and tries to swing it back to the top). Defenders who study his game films enough have been jumping his usual lanes, but they also risk getting caught on pass fakes and getting back door cuts when they can't recover from their steal attempts.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:22 PM ^
Can we make Big Mood his official nickname?
November 27th, 2019 at 3:25 PM ^
Nice to see contributions from so many different players. I'm thinking if Johns could get his shooting stroke going and Nunez could play some average defense the depth on this team could carry them far.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
Johns still looks lost and like he doesn't know what his role is
November 27th, 2019 at 5:08 PM ^
Johns is looking bigger to me and I think his role will be thumper inside. He's playing with nice aggression
November 27th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
Wagner had two three-pointers, not one. And yes, they both looked gorgeous.
Loved DDJ's game, too.
This was a good win. Overcame a ton of stuff and still found a way to beat a decent P5 team by 7. I'll take that every day.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
Not only that, once he made the first one, Simpson fed him immediately in transition, made me think he's seen him make a few and get on a streak in practice.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:05 PM ^
When we needed some run-stopping buckets in the second half, who stepped up? Castleton and DDJ (among others). Our depth is looking pretty good right now.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:32 PM ^
UNDEFEATED
UNSTOPPABLE
November 27th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
This will get some use.
November 27th, 2019 at 3:41 PM ^
My reaction when they forgot the mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving dinner:
November 28th, 2019 at 9:49 AM ^
My reaction when my unAmerican satanic mother in law placed a chicken on the table one Thanksgiving. As if my being there wasn’t bad enough, this sealed the deal... I have never returned!
November 27th, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
Highlights from the game via the Michigan basketball twitter account:
November 27th, 2019 at 4:03 PM ^
I wonder when's the last time we had 20+ turnovers and still scored over 80. It's definitely a new era.
If we can get the sloppiness under control, this team can go places. A lot of players are stepping up. I don't know what our ceiling is, but it's higher than I was expecting coming into the year, for sure.
November 27th, 2019 at 5:01 PM ^
likely any game we scored 80+ under tommy amaker.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:11 PM ^
I hate to be the guy to bring it up, but 7 is not a double. Great write-up otherwise!
November 27th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
He said "threatened" a triple double.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:22 PM ^
Weird game. There was that lengthy stoppage because of the wet floor which Juwan helped clean up and then the clock malfunction. Michigan was the better team, though.
Important to end up on the winner’s side. Resume-wise even if you drop the next 2 it’s probably to UNC and Gonzaga/Oregon which don’t look like they’ll have a negative impact. Meanwhile, you get two shots at good wins.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
My first chance to see the team play this season, and still only caught about the final 2/3 of the game.
Wow, what a different style we're playing. It's amazing how quickly the team went from Beilein ball to...not at all Beilein ball.
1. Man, this team shot the lights out. And they're now 2nd in the country in eFG%!!! Weren't we concerned about where shooting and shot creation was going to come from? As Ace said, when not turning it over it was a thing of beauty. 20-31 on twos!? Nearly 50% on threes!? If playing tempo is improving the quality of shots by this much by getting down the floor and taking more risks, then it appears the turnover downside is largely evening out...so far. And the half court sets look good too. I like the scheme. They're not parking bigs in the paint but they're effectively using post ups. No way those shooting percentages stay that good so hopefully the turnovers get cleaned up a bit too.
2. Yikes, the turnovers were...startling compared to what we're used to. We force a lot of passes into tight windows which pushes the pace and pays off sometimes but leads to significantly more turnovers. Our style is a lot like Michigan State now. We push it, play relatively up tempo but are prone to TOs. Will be harder to make fun of them when they lose a 25 TO game to Illinois because we're probably going to do that a time or two each year.
3. I was skeptical when the reports were that Franz is a good defender. Indeed he looked...not good at all. Could not stay in front of guys. He has the lateral quickness of his brother...sigh. But silky smooth stroke. Right now, his game is strikingly similar to Adrian Nunez only with more height. I imagine we'll start to see him create more as he gets more confidence though.
4. This is a really talented and (relatively) experienced team. I've been saying this all offseason. They have three all-conference caliber upperclassmen. Brooks is showing why Villanova wanted him so badly, as expected. Castleton and DeJulius appear to have made the sophomore leaps we hoped. Big credit to the coaching staff for bringing those guys along as well as could have been hoped for.
5. There's always a tradeoff and balance between sharp discipline and allowing guys to play more freely. It appears this staff has swung pretty far to the latter end of the spectrum and while it makes for some facepalm plays, it seems to have the team playing loose and having fun. It is certainly a more entertaining style so hopefully that translates to butts in seats and recruiting wins.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
wagner has already showed that he is much better than nunez. wagner had 3 rebounds and an assist today. nunez has no rebounds and one assist...the entire year; in nearly 70 minutes of play. he just doesn't get after it at all.
November 27th, 2019 at 6:08 PM ^
give franz time, he got beat by an nba caliber guard in his first minutes all year vs a top 40 team, he'll improve
November 27th, 2019 at 6:20 PM ^
No doubt that he's better, just a similar style of play is what I'm saying (but taller like I said which makes it easier to get rebounds and makes him more of a stretch four in position to get rebounds). Both really nice looking shooters (Franz probably better though) but super skinny guys that get pushed around and lack the athleticism to defend the perimeter.
Just what I saw in 27ish minutes that I watched today. I do expect Wagner to become more of a creator and distributor as time goes on and thats not part of Nunez game.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:30 PM ^
+/- isn’t end-all-be-all, but X’s +15 is the reason Juwan simply cannot bench him even when he has a couple turnovers in quick succession. He’s too important on both sides of the floor. He was the difference maker today.
November 27th, 2019 at 4:43 PM ^
College basketball turnover officiating has turned into NFL 'what is a catch' officiating. They're completely going against the "spirit of the game" by looking at everything in super slo mo and doing the exact OPPOSITE of what is common sense. We nearly got screwed by the same thing that screwed Texas Tech. Just because the offensive player is literally touching the ball one millisecond later after the defender pokes it DOES NOT MEAN IT SHOULD BE A TURNOVER. It's insane
November 27th, 2019 at 4:51 PM ^
i preached for a rule change last year. it should be a momentum rule. if a defender knocks the ball out, the offense keeps the ball; unless the ball touches a body part other than the hands holding the ball.
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