Minnesota 75, Michigan 65
With 7:50 to go in the contest, FS1 displayed a graphic that showed the following stats:
"second half points:
- Battle/Willis: 23 points
- Michigan's entire team: 14 points"
That sums up most of what you need to know about tonight's game. After a competitive first half that saw Michigan lead by four at the break, Minnesota poured in points on the backs of their two superior shotmakers, Jamison Battle and Payton Willis. Michigan had no answers defensively, and no shotmakers of the same caliber en route to a 17% shooting clip from three point range. The offense was stuck in the mud, the defense couldn't get stops, and in the process, the underdog Golden Gophers decisively beat Michigan in their home gym. After two straight wins that seemed to indicate that Michigan Basketball was steering back on course, tonight was a severe disappointment.
The first half wasn't terrible for Michigan. Some of the issues that manifested in screaming fashion in the second half were present in the opening 20 minutes, including poor three point shooting, sloppy turnovers, and tough buckets made by Minnesota. But still the Wolverines led, in large part due to a dominant effort from Hunter Dickinson. The undersized Gophers had no answers for the Michigan big man, going 7/8 from the field with eight boards and knocking down a couple long twos. Moussa Diabate's return to the lineup was also big, as the Frenchman chipped in five points. Eli Brooks had 7 on 3/8 from the field.
Minnesota hung tight because thanks to some tough shots being made by Stephens, Loewe, and Battle. Those three combined for 26, while the remaining five players to touch the floor totaled just six points. It was not a perfect half, but Michigan did enough to get to the break with the lead, because they had the best player on the floor in Dickinson. That changed in the second half.
Dickinson led Michigan in the first half [Campredon]
Until the final four minutes, Michigan simply could not get stops against the Minnesota offense. Their ball screen defense was poor all game long, and Minnesota was able to switch their guards onto slower Michigan defenders, ending in blow bys and easy makes at the rack. When Michigan did play good defense, Battle and Willis drilled tough shots off the dribble. Juwan Howard tinkered with lineups, tried different things out, and nothing got the defensive momentum they needed.
It's not like the offense did much better though. Dickinson's magic touch dissipated as the double teams came and he seemed out of rhythm on the interior. Michigan shot 20% from three and the floor spacing problems that naturally come with that inability to shoot followed it. The Wolverines didn't score for a solid four minutes between the 10:22 remaining and the 6:09 remaining mark. DeVante' Jones drives were one of the only source of offense during this window, but nearly the entire impact of that was muted when he committed a foul underneath the basket that engendered a six point Minnesota trip down the floor as the Gophers made consecutive three pointers.
When Jamison Battle scored to put Minnesota up 66-50 with 6:22 to go, your author began to write a lede about how Michigan had been run out of the building. That didn't quite come to be accurate thanks to a late Wolverines charge, but it was only lipstick on a pig and further illustrated the problems that already existed. Michigan finally got a couple threes to go down and paired it with a few stops to whittle the lead down to 66-60 with 3:55 left, a quick 10-0 charge. After that point, the defense continued to clamp down, but the offense was impotent again.
Not a lot of these shots went down [Campredon]
Eli Brooks clanked a three pointer off the iron and Hunter Dickinson was called for a marginal push-off foul. Minnesota's Luke Loewe missed the front end of a one-and-one but then Dickinson didn't put up a shot despite a clear lane to the bucket. Over this several minute stretch, Michigan played great full court defense and got multiple 10-second violation turnovers, yet the Wolverines did not score for over two minutes, until there was under a minute left and the score was 70-63. Just not good enough.
In the end, Dickinson led Michigan with 19 points on 9/15 from the field, but his day was really a tale of two halves and the second half was a bad one. Eli Brooks had 12 points and made two of Michigan's three triples, but failed to be a go-to guy when the offense was sputtering. Jones added 14 points, but his inability to shoot from deep and lateral mobility were major negatives. Moussa Diabate and Caleb Houstan scored 7 and 8, respectively, but accounted for half of the Wolverines' turnovers.
This can be contrasted with Minnesota, who had go-to shooters. Payton Willis and Jamison Battle took 31 combined shots and scored 44 combined points. With Dickinson muzzled, Michigan had no similar answer.
After a couple of promising wins, this performance was another anchor on the resume and the splash of cold water to the face called reality. This Wolverines team has a long way to go still and Juwan Howard needs to continue working with this team. Consistent improvements are needed quickly, especially for when Michigan's threes don't go down, as they didn't tonight. Michigan will be back in action next Saturday at 7:00 PM EST against Southern Utah. That game will be on Big Ten Network.
[Click The Jump for the box score]
December 11th, 2021 at 9:43 PM ^
I appreciate Juwan's commitment to never playing Kobe Bufkin. Why play a guy who can possibly space the floor with shooting when we can trot out dudes who can't shoot a lick and don't have lateral quickness.
December 11th, 2021 at 9:46 PM ^
Imagine how bad Kobe and Zeb must look in practice that they can’t see the floor.
December 11th, 2021 at 11:00 PM ^
This season is going to go down in a blazing inferno because of his over reliance on these upper classmen. And then next year, neither Zeb or Kobe will be ready because they don’t freaking play this year over subpar talent. Love Juwan but he’s not above criticism and his roster management this year stinks.
December 12th, 2021 at 1:22 AM ^
While I agree with the sentiment (what happened to Bufkin and Zeb?), it's not like anyone you described (non-shooter, no lateral quickness) played instead of Bufkin. Brooks played all the minutes instead of giving way for a few. That's it.
If there was anything encouraging about this game, it was that Jones actually played quite well. He kept Michigan in it in the second half, scoring their first eight of the stanza. 3 assists, no turnovers. Would be nice if he could hit a three, but he was still efficient. He was +2 in 29 minutes. Team fell apart when he went out after getting elbowed. Pretty impressive in a ten point loss. Collins was minus 12 (!!!) in 12 minutes. He's not ready for minutes that matter. Disappointing that Zeb apparently isn't either.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:09 AM ^
Jones hit some tough shots and had no turnovers. He also committed ridiculous fouls on defense and allows the defense to play an extra player in the paint because they don’t have to guard him at all outside of the lane. They were playing a guy with one foot in the lane while he was at the three point line. We can’t run any offense with teams doing that.
The fact that he hit some low percentage runners while the offense was still complete shit doesn’t make me feel better going forward with him. Collins was bad too, but at least we say the experience will pay off with him. I have no clue what the deal with Jackson is.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:33 AM ^
While it would be better if he hit those open threes, we can and did run offense with the defense doing that. He drove very effectively and went 6-8 on twos. Most of those were layups not runners and he came in as a very efficient runner / floater guy. Again, they won the minutes while he was in, and it hurt us to not have him in at the end. Had three assists with no turnovers.
Tonight was a very Zavier Simpson game from him. Cringy from three but quite good otherwise.
The foul was dumb, but also no one would really be talking about it if Minnesota didn't hit the second three. Kind of a victim of the circumstance there.
Frankie will get better in practice. We don't need to give up all hope of making the tournament just to get him some more game experience. Frankie for 8-10 min a game is fine, but Jones gives us a better chance to win in most circumstances.
December 12th, 2021 at 10:33 AM ^
Please don’t compare Jones to Simpson. X was a lock down defender and averaged around 7ast/gm, while Jones is a horrific defender and struggles to create anything for his teammates. The only similarity between the two is that they both struggle from 3, but X improved to the point where if teams went under screens or left him open, he would take and make around 1/3 of them. Jones is scared to death of even taking them (rightfully so).
December 12th, 2021 at 11:16 AM ^
Completely agree. Simpson was a a point guard who could ... run the point. After 10 games, it seems clear that Jones cannot. If we're going to take our lumps, I'd rather do it with younger point guard who has a real chance of improving.
December 12th, 2021 at 5:57 PM ^
Jones game last night was a very Simpson-like game. I'm not saying he is Simpson-like, per se. But it's undeniable that he was, for a night, Simpson-like. Jones made tough twos in traffic like X (Z), he didn't turn it over. He had a pretty good game last night. I don't know why this fanbase is so against him that you can't accept that he had one pretty good game.
December 12th, 2021 at 11:59 AM ^
But people were just cherry picking the plus minus for Collins vs. Jones in the past couple games. Plus minus isn't the be all and end all in basketball. Jones was certainly the better player today.
As for lateral quickness, I've been clear in other posts. Houstan is a 4. That gives you shooting from that spot. And you have to play Zeb or Bufkin at the 3. You can't play the all PF line up and hope to beat teams unless you shoot out of your mind, and I don't think those guys have it in them. You are what your record says you are, and it's not pretty.
December 12th, 2021 at 5:58 PM ^
Sure, it's not the end all be all, it was one data point that supported everything else (eye test, all other stats, etc): that Jones was a lot better last night.
December 12th, 2021 at 5:46 PM ^
Probably because people who get paid to coach have watched one Mr. Bufkin in practice, and understand what those observations translate into in D1 basketball games.
Not much need to read much into this thread, as it will be doom and gloom, ala Coach Bs early season struggles.
JH and Phil forgot how to coach, evaluate and game manage. Several of our board posters would have this squad clicking given the helm.
Imagined minutes by unproven players is not the solution.
December 12th, 2021 at 6:55 PM ^
It’s okay to question the coaches. Izzo is gong to the hall of fame but didn’t play jaren Jackson starter minutes. This is a message board. The all PF line up has been questioned by more than me, look at former players like Tim McCcormick and having a 40 percent three point shooter not getting any run is questionable.
There is a difference between saying forgot how to coach and questioning the rotation of a very average 6-4 team that starter the year #4.
December 11th, 2021 at 9:44 PM ^
Southern Utah and Purdue-Ft. Wayne are in for some angry Wolverines. Look for a couple of W’s. /s
December 11th, 2021 at 9:49 PM ^
I have a feeling we're going to be talking about how good Southern Utah is in a week
December 11th, 2021 at 9:55 PM ^
You aren't going to win with BJJ or TWIII as your three. I still think Houstan's best spot is a college 4, but Michigan can live with him as a 3 and the backup 4. Look, it sucks for JH to have thought about this team in a particular way, but you absolutely need shooting and athleticism on this team.
I think something that people are missing is this shot quality idea. After years of watching Steph Curry and Harden, I think a lot of guys have really developed their iso game and shooting in a way we hadn't seen before. Thus, saying that these guys only shoot step back twos is missing something the Ringer just had an article on. If the dudes can play, they will hit those shots. Michigan is totally reliant on screens, posts and actions, which I mostly like, but you can be beaten off the dribble these days. Michigan is sure as shit proving it.
Anyway, banging the drum for Bufkin and then Zeb to get some shooting and athleticism on the court. This ain't it.
December 12th, 2021 at 1:34 AM ^
We don't have Steph Curry though. Who do you want shooting step back twos? No one on this current Michigan team. We don't have a perimeter creator. I agree that Bufkin could eventually be one, but clearly he's not getting something in practice or it seems like he must be a bit in the doghouse or something is going on. It's odd to be getting time and then have it abruptly end in a blowout win over Nebraska. Gotta trust Juwan on that one. My guess is that it's a bigger picture thing.
He's not going to be the answer this year though, regardless.
December 12th, 2021 at 9:37 AM ^
Sorry. I meant that Michigan fans tend to watch other teams and assume they are all hitting tough shots when they go 1 on 1 and score. Michigan doesn't need an iso guy. I think Juwan is more interested in getting guys on the move and getting open looks, which works better than the iso game if you have shooters...he didn't recruit enough shooters and isn't playing one of them.
I just meant that Minnesota has some bucket getters. They don't mind going iso and hitting a three. Their offense allows them to get good enough shots and to basically never turn the ball over. The conventional wisdom lately has been that all 2's or step backs are bad shots, but I think Minnesota is showing that it isn't so bad if you have guys who are good one on one players.
December 11th, 2021 at 9:55 PM ^
16.7% from 3 spells doom when one third of your shots come from there. That and the cold hard reality that our the D can't stop the screen dribble drive. Both are recurring issues against everyone but Nebraska.
December 11th, 2021 at 9:56 PM ^
This was a bad game but had UM hit 3 more 3s (so 28%) it's a totally different ballgame. They just don't have any way to generate points if Dickinson is struggling and they can't loosen up the defense. Last year Wagner, Livers, Chaundee, even Smith could generate offense going toward the basket, and they don't have any of that now. Jones getting 14 points on 15 shot equivalents can't be your 2nd-best offensive option.
Anyway, this team feels like a bubble team and I'm going to treat them as such. And honestly, probably shouldn't be a surprise to replace 4 starter-ish players (including 2 draft selections and another who has bounced around an NBA roster) and struggle with a bunch of young guys and a PG transfer who clearly isn't up to snuff to compete against better competition.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:18 PM ^
“Anyway, this team feels like a bubble team”
That’s a bit pessimistic—they’ll make the NIT easily.
December 12th, 2021 at 1:47 AM ^
Three more threes is still a loss at home to a team you were favored to beat by 13.5.
The defense is atrocious. They gave up nearly 1.2 points per possession which is verrrry bad.
The offense was almost as efficient as it was in a 14 point win against SDSU, but the defense was abysmal.
I think part of it is the defensive philosophy. Michigan is very help averse. That's how they allow the 3rd fewest assists in the country.
But the problem is that means we don't get turnovers and we put guys on too many islands.
When you have lock down perimeter defenders like last year, you can do that. But this year, we don't have lock down perimeter defenders and Dickinson is not a rim protector (he provides little help, really). I'd like to see us use our length by helping more aggressively, forcing things more.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:12 AM ^
I think they can’t help aggressively because the younger guys get completely lost helping the helper. Early in the seasons they were more aggressive and dudes were wide open.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:20 AM ^
I agree that they've looked lost sometimes. Kind of embarrassing how these five stars come in and don't know how to play basic help defense. I'd have to look more closely at more plays. There was one Matt EM clipped and he thought Houstan helped too aggressively but I don't think he did. The guy just made an acrobatic play to pass around the help and you have to accept that risk to some extent.
December 12th, 2021 at 9:38 AM ^
We medium hedged against SDS on the 1-5 and it worked fine. Here, we went to drop coverage (I concede I hate drop coverage) and it was a debacle. Two assists on 29 baskets!!!! Who ever heard of such a thing, UM also creates no TOs----we are near the bottom of the country in that. Where this team struggles on perimeter coverage in the first place, I would give up drop coverage. Well, I would give it up anyway. HD is fine as a hedger. He is awful in drop coverage. [Minny did put up some abject garbage that went in. Got the first 6 point play I can recall seeing. They had some good fortune.]
Jones really struggles on defense and he can't hit the three. He doesn't own a jump shot. He does show some ability to take it to the hole and he is reasonably careful with the ball but his weaknesses really mitigate UM's strengths in the paint. But Frankie, much as I love his flair, is behind Jones right now. He can't defend at all, can't shoot at all, even at the line.
There is no obvious solution right now, unless Kobe or Zeb is an answer. And that seems fanciful thinking at this point. My guess is Juwan wants to win games and he has seen practice. But these are very young players and maybe they will evolve. Right now, UM looks like a bottom half of the BT team. I really think they are in trouble unless they go to a more pedestrian style of playing ball screens.
December 13th, 2021 at 11:47 AM ^
Most of these younger guys will improve. A few years back, nobody expected Livers, Brooks, Johns to be the contributors that they turned out to be.
Problem is that improvement isn't a linear process and it's frustrating when guys aren't consistent. But there are flashes of raw talent, enough to give me hope that they can pull it together by the end of the season.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:01 PM ^
Jones is a liability.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:29 PM ^
If johns isn’t playing well the team loses
December 12th, 2021 at 2:03 AM ^
Not disputing that in general, but he was arguably Michigan's best player tonight and his +- supports that. Everyone is a liability right now.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:05 PM ^
They got stops, I think 4 or 5 in a row down the stretch when they were within 6. Zero points after those stops.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:05 AM ^
Yeah, they got it to 68-62 with plenty of time and proceeded to get stops on the next 4-5 Minnesota possessions, but Hunter imploded a bit, and the Jones injury hurt because Collins came in and turned it over and generally didn't run the offense well.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:17 PM ^
"Severe disappointment" is right. I thought they really turned the corner after the SDSU game and the blowout at Nebraska, but they were back to the funk that plagued them in the Arizona and UNC games. I missed the first half but caught the second and thought they were really flat. And then Minnesota went on that run and basically outplayed them for the key stretch of game. The lineup that started the half was getting torched on defense and playing confused on offense with no sense of urgency and I thought they should've put in Zeb, Collins and/or Bufkin. Then it got late real fast. But still - they had three consecutive possessions to get it below 6 but they couldn't do it. They were all ugly possessions and it seemed like they were too keyed in on forcing it into Dickinson.
It's disappointing because it looks like the effort isn't there? (at least it wasn't in that few crucial minutes in the second half). And I think that's a problem with a team largely made up of freshmen and a key transfer. I really hope that will change and I think it will. I believe there will be a point when this all just clicks for them. But, man, it's getting scary.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:17 PM ^
You can't play 4 on 5 when you have the ball, but that's what it is with Jones out there, defense giving him a 10-foot cushion, daring him to shoot. It's not like Zavier who could at least make up for it with his defense, great passing, and drives.
If Brandon is pump-faking and TW5 is not on a rare hot streak, it becomes 3 on 5.
Play Bufkin, Zeb, even Tschetter--anyone who can hit a three.
What is Juwan thinking playing Jones all those minutes?? I know Frankie can't shoot either, but at least he has some quickness and leaping and can give you some on the ball pressure.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:20 PM ^
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed DJ
December 11th, 2021 at 10:25 PM ^
If Brian and Seth start laughing about an opponent and how bad they are (2020 MSU football 2021 Minnesota basketball) just mentally prepare for a loss. We need shot creators and shot makers. I think our answer may be on the bench in Collins and Bufkin.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:08 AM ^
I don't know how a sane person can watch that game (or look at the box score or anything) and think Collins is the answer. He might be good. Next year or the year after. But he's not it right now. Total disaster. He played 12 minutes and was minus 12. More than the final margin he gave up in 12 minutes.
December 12th, 2021 at 2:21 AM ^
He looked plenty bad, but he’s much more likely to improve quickly than a super senior. But playing Eli at the point with a two that is willing to shoot (Bufkin, Jackson) would probably have been better than Collins run tonight.
December 12th, 2021 at 4:31 PM ^
that is the point. collins was bad tonite but one has to be blind to see that his potential is much higher than jones who is just plain bad a running an offense and playing D. collins breaks down the opponents D a lot. he's just been TO prone. and he has made some bad plays/fouls on D. he needs more run to get better...a lot better. jones is what he is at this point, and it is not good.
December 12th, 2021 at 6:04 PM ^
Yes, I agree Collins improvement curve should be a lot steeper, and if Collins shows that improvement in practice, he should keep playing more and more.
Good point, I think it would be great if we could run a lineup with Brooks at PG and Bufkin at two, but clearly the coaches don't have any trust in Bufkin or he's in the doghouse or something because his minutes went to zilch despite generally bad guard play all around (even Brooks has struggled lately so it's not like he's been so hot that we want to be playing him 40 min, clearly they don't want to play anyone else).
December 11th, 2021 at 10:26 PM ^
I do appreciate the picture of HD trying to shoot while someone boxes him out…without a foul being called. I never understand why referees miss that call so often. That scoreless stretch from 3 to 1 minutes remaining wasn’t just on UM. Also included the foul on HD that the announcers correctly ripped on. That’s 2 of the 4 possessions in that stretch.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:26 PM ^
The guard play has been just awful. If opposing teams aren't afraid of any combination of guards on the floor than you have a problem. Short, cannot shoot, can't dribble drive/finish, can't defend the same, and definitely not superior athletes. Its gonna be a slog my friends. Stop signing guards who can't shoot from outside.
December 11th, 2021 at 10:35 PM ^
1. Caleb Houstan, Brandon Johns, and Terrance Williams need to be better. Coaches should encourage Johns and Williams to fire from 3. Force defenses to come out after them.
2. We need to play 9-10 people when the first 8 aren't getting it done. Find a hot hand or a defensive stopper.
3. Dickinson, Diabate, and Brooks are all solid. Jones is decent but probably should shoot more from 3. Houstan is decent, but not yet good enough for the minutes he's getting.
4. Team is a work in progress and coaches should be trusted given their track record.
December 12th, 2021 at 4:34 PM ^
jones is not decent. he is the worst PG since dan pelakoudas. i would take cj lee and david merritt over jones and they were walk ons.
December 12th, 2021 at 12:21 AM ^
What I don't understand is how after watching Battle and Willis torching our guards and wings we didn't even attempt to sub in Zeb, with the size and athleticism to math them. Or even TWill getting more than 5 minutes. Also, even if he wasn't hitting the free throws, Moussa was wrecking the paint the whole first half. Where did that go?
December 12th, 2021 at 2:13 AM ^
Wait, did you want Twill for more time? At one point, he gave up a drive and got shot over by Luke Loewe (huh?) and then had an all-time terrible close out on Battle to give up an and1. Then got the hook, very deservedly so. He was unplayable.
His defense has been really disappointing after the Buffalo game considering that needs to be his calling card.
December 12th, 2021 at 12:44 AM ^
I really think Zeb might be our best guard, but somehow didn’t even see the court in this game. He may not be up to speed yet, but he’s ready for at least some PT. At this rate he will be hitting the portal in the off-season
December 12th, 2021 at 1:00 AM ^
Him and a few others. Four stars don’t come to sit on the bench behind players that are underperforming. No reason why Barnes, Cheddar, Zeb and Kobe aren’t getting run. They can’t play worse defense and might actually hustle, rebound and hit some shots
December 12th, 2021 at 5:52 AM ^
This team is a DUMPSTEFR FIRE! They will NOT make the touranment playing like this,,They are SLOW ...NO intensity or enthusiasm..Guard play is terrible..What has happened to Dickinson? Im sorry he looks slow clumsy and awkward ...the ONLY player living up to Michigan standards is Brooks...I cant tell you how disappointing this team is...Maybe Howard isnt quite the coach we thought..These are HIS players for the most part and This team is AWFUL
December 12th, 2021 at 9:05 AM ^
Well, we’re a football school again, so the anguish at being mediocre at basketball is greatly ameliorated.
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