North Carolina 86, Michigan 71
UNDER-16 TIME-OUT SUMMARY: pic.twitter.com/7iM2hDkC2M
— Bryan Mac (@Bry_Mac) November 30, 2017
[game begins]
Oh man, this is awesome. Like that one half of the UCLA game.
Oh, now I remember the other half of that UCLA game.
Dick Vitale is going to talk about the Fab Five?
[hits mute button]
[awaits final score]
[Hit THE JUMP for actual notes and the box score.]
Okay fine some actual notes:
This was close until a brutal exchange. With UNC holding onto a 34-32 lead after a scorching start by both teams, Duncan Robinson blew a fast break layup off an unlikely Zavier Simpson save. UNC made a remarkable save of their own, Theo Pinson converted a layup on the other end, and the Tar Heels closed the half on a 22-8 run.
Then it was not close. Once the shooting gallery period ended, Michigan couldn't hang with Carolina. The defense was brutal; UNC scored 1.5 points per possession in the first half, then opened the second-half on a tear fueled by offensive rebounds. The final score would've been way worse if Carolina hadn't called off the starters midway through the second half while Beilein sent out a combination of starters and players fighting for rotation spots (Brent Hibbitts excepted, but hey, he was 1/1!).
Moe Wagner dominated. Wagner posted an efficient 20-9-3 performance and dominated when he had the ball in the post, showing deft footwork and patience on several of his finishes. His passing was also a bright spot. Nobody exactly stood out on defense tonight, but Wagner at least contributed a couple steals and a block while only committing one foul, staying on the floor for 34 minutes.
Charles Matthews came down to earth. While he finished with a half-decent scoring line of 12 points on 5/10 shooting, he took a couple bad shots that rightfully earned him a trip to the bench and turned the ball over four times. In a game Michigan really needed it, he had almost no impact on the glass. While he wasn't awful, M needed more.
Duncan Robinson... oof. In addition to making the #narrative-turning play, Robinson was clearly the worst defender in a terrible all-around defensive performance. He didn't make up for it on the other end, making 1-of-6 shots. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had a similarly brutal two-way performance, also going 1-for-6 with more than his fair share of defensive lapses.
Beilein gave Isaiah Livers an extended audition in the second half and the freshman did well with it, playing with energy and finishing off second-chance opportunities. Robinson is going to be a big part of this team, but Michigan needs a viable alternative for games in which the gap between his offense and defense renders him unplayable. Livers took a step in the right direction tonight.
Still no answer at point guard. Eli Brooks had clearly the best shift of the first half, hitting an early three and moving the ball well. By the time he got back in, the game was out of hand, and he couldn't find his shot. Zavier Simpson made an open three off a beautiful Wagner kickout and was otherwise his usual quiet self on offense. Jaaron Simmons had three points and two assists, failing to really assert himself even though Beilein clearly wants to get him going.
November 30th, 2017 at 6:45 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 7:20 AM ^
Let's pick a point guard, playing three is not working. I still beleive this team will get it together.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:07 AM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 10:30 AM ^
Maybe 1 (or 2) people. The vast majority are providing some good critiques and observations. This is a much better thread than many last year.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:26 AM ^
Wait, so failure to rebound and we lose unless we shoot lights-out from behind the arc? Might be time to mix in some new game strategy, coach.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:29 AM ^
Its an absolute, certifiable fact that Beilein teams are much better in March than they are in November/December. That's a sign of a great coach. But man would it be nice to be able to run with elite programs in these big OOC games.
This is where I think Beilein's, let's say soft, recruiting hurts the team. It only looked like Matthews and Wagner could play at a high level against other talented programs. I was hoping MAAR would have a big breakout year and it would happen last night but he still has a tendency to disappear. And Robinson is just a hole in the lineup. He hasn't gotten that much better since he arrived and for a program like Michigan to be wasting a starting spot on a dude who puts up 3 points in big games is incredibly frustrating. Someone mentioned he would be better off the bench and I agree. If Michigan had landed some stronger recruits the last few years, that position isn't such a huge liability.
No one in the country can make a great team out of spare parts better than Beilein. But I wish we had some better talent to put on the floor against teams like UNC and UCLA. And I wish it wouldn't take half a season for the team to play to its potential. They definitely need to get some of these OOC games if they want to make it to March though.
November 30th, 2017 at 10:38 AM ^
"Its an absolute, certifiable fact that Beilein teams are much better in March than they are in November/December"
Somewhere long the way, fans started to believe this statement. I don't know when it started or by whom, but I don't think this is really true. One of the posters above analyzed kenpom stats to prove that your statement above was not true (at least for last year).
In additional, the vast majority of teams get better as season goes on. Thats a function of more coaching, more reps, etc. And because of that, that is a baseline expectation of any coach, not a determining factor of a great coach.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:10 AM ^
Do you think Michigan could've beaten Louisville or Oklahoma State in November last year? Or played that well with Oregon? From Feb.7 onward they only lost to tournament teams and were in striking distance of an Elite 8 berth. This stretch included wins against State, Minnesota , Wisconsin (x2) and Purdue (x2). In November they lost a pathetic and horrible game against Virginia Tech. Even the year they didn't make the tournament they were playing well at the end of the year and Spike was driving the lane and throwing behind the back passes in the B1G tournament. Yes, they absolutely get better.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:30 AM ^
I can certainly agree with you that I don't think Michigan would beat Louisville or OSU earlier in the year. However, the point still stands that the whole "JB teams play bad now, but better later" is not really true. It may have happened last year (and 2010 is another year perhaps), but its certainly not a trademark of JB teams. You never really know what you are going to get with a JB team. And because of that, I wouldn't assume that this team is magically going to get better by the end of the year (like it did last year).
November 30th, 2017 at 11:46 AM ^
2013 and 2014 seasons both finished pretty strong. 2016 was fairly ugly all-around but they eeked into the tournament and probably could've upset ND. They definitely seemed to be playing better at the end of the year. 2013 was Beilien's strongest team all around and actually underperformed during Big Ten play but you can't deny that they were playing at their highest level during that tournament run.
I would venture a guess that this team is better than it has shown thus far and will get better as the season progresses. This is a brutal stretch, though - they better get their shit together pretty quick.
November 30th, 2017 at 11:05 AM ^
Robinson is brutal - he shouldn't be starting. The only time he should see the floor is if we need a shooting spark.
MAAR has regressed. Decent role player and nothing more. Will be up and down.
The point guard thing is frustrating because I think we all expected Zavier to be at least half as good as Burke.
I would start:
5 - Moe
4 - Livers
3 - Matthews
2 - MAAR/Poole - Hopefully Poole can get better in a hurry and take this spot.
1 - Z - lesser of all evils
Call me crazy, but I wouldn't mind seeing more of Davis.
November 30th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^
My wife and I were lucky enough to be at the game last night. Here are some of my thoughts...Robinson needs to come off the bench. He had a hard time guarding Luke and they immediately went to that mismatch. I think if Robinson makes that layup or dunks the damn ball, Carolina doesn't go on the 30 to something run. That one play changed the momentum in that arena. The crowd went wild after he missed and the following reverse layup. I don't know why UM went away from hitting Moe down low or letting him work UNC's bigs. He was doing a decent job and getting to the basket. Beilien definitely needs to trim the PG rotation. They were having a hard time getting into their sets. My wife, who is no sports fan, even commented that UM "wasn't as smooth" as UNC when it came to moving the ball around. I wouldn't mind seeing Moe, Teske, Livers, Matthews and MAAR lineup. Livers was definitely bigger than i expected. Davis did a good job out there in his limited minutes on D.
November 30th, 2017 at 12:01 PM ^
November 30th, 2017 at 1:34 PM ^
Brooks and Livers need to start the rest of the year. Simpson should transfer, Duncan should play around 15-20 minutes tops. Poole and MAAR should split minutes based on the hot hand.
November 30th, 2017 at 2:42 PM ^
I never thought the comments after a basketball loss could be dumber than the ones after a football loss yet...here we are.
November 30th, 2017 at 2:53 PM ^
After seeing Beilein work for about a decade, I've learned to trust him and expect that this team will round into form in the second half of the season. There are a lot of parts and a lot of talent here and there's not many better at molding that into a team than Coach B.
November 30th, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
He looked like a D3 player last night
November 30th, 2017 at 6:26 PM ^
Another one
November 30th, 2017 at 11:17 PM ^
5 minutes, reminded of ucla last year.
then commercials took over.
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