Texas Tech 63, Michigan 44
Michigan’s season ended with a whimper, as Texas Tech completely suffocated the Wolverines en route to a 63-44 win. Michigan’s defense broke the will of plenty of teams this season, but it was their turn to get shut down by an elite defense tonight: they scored just 0.71 points per possession and shot 1-19 from three-point range (CJ Baird made the last shot of the game, Michigan’s only three). Even though it took a while for Tech’s star, Jarrett Culver, to arrive, he finished with 22 points; Davide Moretti was the only bright spot in the first half, and the sharpshooter had 15. After a hideous struggle for much of the first half, Tech opened up a modest lead before halftime and then ran Michigan out of the building.
For a while, each basket felt like a tremendous accomplishment. At the first TV timeout, the under-16, Michigan led 4-2. At the under-12, the game was tied 6-6. At the under-8, which came with about five minutes left in the half, Texas Tech led 13-10. Under-4: 15-12. Michigan kept turning it over, but Tech couldn’t take advantage with transition opportunities. The starting lineup featuring Tariq Owens and Norense Odiase cramped spacing for the Tech defense. Both defenses flew around and contested shots at a high level. The breakdowns were few and far between — and rarely taken advantage of. Both teams missed their fair share of relatively decent looks. It was an evenly matched slog for most of the first half.
Jon Teske missed both free throws with three and a half minutes left in the first half, and then the game inexorably started to turn. It started with a banked-in Matt Mooney turnaround three to beat the shot clock — a truly ridiculous shot — after yet another fantastic defensive sequence by Michigan. Charles Matthews drove and found Teske for a dunk on the next possession, but Culver answered with a beautiful move to lose Matthews and knock down a long two to push the lead back to six. After the teams traded bricks, Teske knocked down both ends of a 1-and-1. Tech scored the last two baskets of the half, though — a Moretti layup after he got Zavier Simpson on his hip, and a Culver layup through Teske. An eight-point halftime lead felt massive, given how the first half had gone.
[Campredon]
After halftime, it didn’t take long for Tech to turn it into a rout. Michigan opened the half with a great play for Teske, he was fouled, and he missed both free throws. On the other end, Mooney hit a jumper in the paint over Simpson. Michigan got a few stops, but kept turning it over — and Matthews airballed an open three. Moretti split a ball screen and lost the ball, but got it back and eventually hit a wide open three to extend the lead to 13. After a Simpson turnover — and after a Culver-to-Owens alley-oop had failed on the previous possession — Moretti found Owens for a thunderous dunk on a simple pick and roll. On Tech’s next trip, Moretti knocked down another open three, and John Beilein called timeout in an effort to stop the bleeding. In three minutes, the Red Raiders had doubled their lead and were up 34-18. Another easy Owens dunk from a pick and roll shortly after prompted another timeout.
There was nothing Michigan could do to mount a comeback, especially with how poorly they were shooting from behind the arc. Tech’s switching defense bogged down the Michigan offense much like other switching defenses have over the past few years, but their ability to coerce Michigan into baseline drives, shrink the floor, and cut off passing lanes was unlike anything the Wolverines had seen in recent years. When Michigan did get to the rim, there was often a rim protector — often Owens — there to contest the shots. When Michigan managed to generate good looks from three, the shooters missed, sometimes badly. Simpson’s stat line tells the story of the game as well as anything: 0 points on 0-5 shooting, 1 assist, 4 turnovers.
In the end, Michigan finished with a 30-7 record, earned a two-seed in the NCAA Tournament, and reached the Sweet 16. They started the season with a bang, notching impressive blowout wins over Villanova, North Carolina, and Purdue — the latter two are still alive in the tournament — in the first month of the season. Big Ten play presented some adversity, but Michigan was in position to win a share of the Big Ten title and a Big Ten Tournament title — only to be rebuffed by Michigan State both times. A meek exit in the West Regional is a sad finish to what was otherwise a successful and enjoyable season.
[Campredon]
[Box score after the JUMP]
Lmao an ORTG of 5. And a poorous defensive effort from Z will not lead to many wins.
That has to be a record for a starter.
FYRE BEE-LINE!!!!!
I can't be the first.
#DrunkIdiots
Ok - who forgot to include the offense while they were loading up the plane for California?
The lead photo of B10 referee Larry Scirotto making some bad call that forces Beilein to keel over, while his team in pink shoes looks on, is the story of only the second half of the season. I choose to remember the first half. See you next year fellas! GO BLUE!
(FWIW, I think that was after the Zavier Simpson clean pickpocket, they called a reach-in, when it was 20-14 with 1:26 left in the first half)
We got destroyed. Shut up about the fucking refs
The refs had no bearing on this particular game. I was making a statement about the back half of the season in general.
But "footballguy," I just want you to know that I find you loathsome. Obviously I don't know you, but I am quite certain you are a fan of another team, posing as a Michigan fan. Like when you posted during the game how you admired when TTech was "so smart" for fouling Simpson and preventing a breakaway. No fan of Michigan thinks that way, much less bothers to type it out. The rest of your posting history speaks for itself.
I know you say you are an All-State athlete and scholarship collegiate athlete (although which sports and schools we could never verify of course), but I'm stuck with this image of you as a giant weeping herpes blister that couldn't scab up and go away if you tried. If you'd like, drop me a note sometime: [email protected]. We can get together and hash it out. I was an All-State athlete too and went to Michigan. Maybe you could help me better understand the nuances of both football and basketball as you so often try to do on this board? I would really enjoy it. Take care guy and hope to hear from you.
I didn't "admire it". It was more facetious about the fact they had a reach in foul on a breakaway, which would have led to a desperate bucket in that first half. For a brief moment it appeared we could get something, and of course they reached in to foul to stop it.
And I don't really want to meet up with you or know anything more about you. All of your posts are negative, and all of them are right after a loss about refs. It's just annoying.
I grew up in Ann Arbor, was all state, all American, a state champion, and a couple other things regarding swimming. This isn't all that crazy if you know the history of swimming in the Ann Arbor area.
Take care Lukas. I will not be meeting up with you, and I hope you stick to your word about seeing us next year. I'm sure it will be right after a Michigan football loss
But are you All-deutcsh-Bag?
I mean, I'm All-Ready Better-Than-You. But do I mention it?
This is referencing a conversation from a month ago where he brought up athletics, not me.
I wouldn't have brought this up if not for this guy
"...if you know the history of swimming in the Ann Arbor area." Quote of the year.
I hear Michael Phelps went to Michigan. This is literally all I will ever know about the history of swimming in the Ann Arbor area.
That's fine. That's why I said "if". If you're from Ann Arbor, you know, or if you swam, you know. You could also just look it up. Also I was talking down those accomplishments because the Ann Arbor area has some of the best youth swimming coaches in America. Developing kids into all state and all American swimmers is pretty common
And the only reason this was said was because in a post from a while ago he was talking about how I was some washed up intramural athlete or something. So I responded by saying I was not.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
Y'all gonna hug, or y'all gonna hug? Sheesh...
March 29th, 2019 at 12:45 PM ^
+1 for remaining civil. I recant my prior statement from above; its rare to see civility on internet, especially after a loss.
Seriously WTF was with those damn pink shoes? My wife even called them out as being ugly multiple times.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
Right? Hot pink is a great color, but it’s not a Michigan color. I’d prefer a uniform shoe color, but if not they should at least be limited to maize, blue, white, or black.
March 29th, 2019 at 11:59 AM ^
interesting that nobody bitched about pink shoes last year, when MAAR was wearing them and we made the title game. i wonder what changed.
It's the tough losses that make you stronger. This was the toughest. Nobody should go to the NBA. Matthews should get a M.S. in something and stay another year. We overachieved this year. With more maturity and a few shooters we will be a force next year. I love Michigan. Go Blue!
Who are we booting off the team to keep Matthews?
Austin Davis?
I love Davis - Great guy. Everybody love him in the locker as far as I can tell.
I believe, however, He would not have to red shirt if he leave this summer...
And with Cas' getting more minutes, I would understand and really wish him the best.
oh i can think of a few
It's probably time for Matthews to go. His game has pretty much platuead since the middle of last season. Whatever improvement is left to be had in his game probably isn't getting unlocked at the college level.
A bad end to a good year.
Texas Tech's defense was terrific, and it exposed Michigan's weaknesses. They force teams to make great passes, and aside from Simpson Michigan's players aren't good at that at all. They switched everything, giving Michigan mismatches that it has not been able to take advantage of all year long without a single player that can win one-on-one consistently. And the shots that were there, from 3, Michigan couldn't make at all, a surprising but not shocking event that happens to this team occasionally with a couple of good but no elite shooters.
These were concerns all year long, and we ran into a matchup that exploited them. Tennessee? Purdue? Those were teams that Michigan could have eviscerated (and has in one case this year). Texas Tech is the proton torpedo to Michigan's thermal exhaust port.
I hope Iggy returns; I think he should, and I think that if he can make a concerted effort to move from below to above average in passing, he can be a dominant player on ball screens and practically anything else. But regardless, we're going to have a team that is still elite defensively, is loaded with upperclass experience, and has some young guys that should produce at least one or two terrific contributors.
I really wanted this year to be the year, because the Final Four is close to me. But next year really could be the year.
Yeah, the two things this year that were disappointing were the team passing and Jordan Poole overall being merely OK. The shooting woes were expected to some extent, although painful to watch at times.
Matthews looks like a guy who will make more money from a college degree than from basketball.
So tired of people ragging on Poole. Yes he could be better. So could the rest of this team. They all have things to work on. I can I understand why Poole sometimes doesn't let the game come to him playing on a team with this offense.
March 29th, 2019 at 12:13 PM ^
the board is so toxic right now...i preface this by saying that i'm not trying to be argumentative here. just a conversation...
i like jordan poole a lot, i really do, but i didn't quite get the preseason hype. he made The Shot, obviously, but he wasn't anything like a critical contributor last season (he only played 11 total minutes in the second weekend of the tournament , for example). he entered the year as a still-raw sophomore that had never taken over a game as freshman, unlike burke or stauskas, so i think "merely okay" was probably a totally appropriate expectation.
matthews has limitations, obviously, but i can see him carving out a career. the guy really is as good a defender as we've seen and he's really athletic...there's a market for that.
Excellent analysis. Thanks for keeping it classy, as usual.
As usual, I real love your analyze.
At the Pre season conference Beillein said something about how not experience that team was, especially compared to the MAAR, Wagner, Robinson.
At the presser tonight, he mentioned how the team was young.
I think the start of the season and how closed we have been of two B1G banner: Simply raised the expectation.
They over delivered - in an amazing fashion - proving that they have a lot's of talent.
It was a good year.
Also, 3 years in a row:
Sweet 16
Final of B1G (two won).
Yeah - We are spoiled guys.
Actually a very interesting "hint" from Beillein at that same Pre season:
He said that he believed Teske and Matthews could be amazing 3 points shooter and if they really develop to. The season would be special.
Both had games where they did had some good 3s. But just a few games.
They felt short right there to make that season "special".
March 29th, 2019 at 12:31 PM ^
Good take, Mr King. It baffles me that people will rag on the quality of the play, indicating that the team had no star talent, and then conclude with suggestions like FirE CoaCh BeilEin, HE PeaKeD. Attrition from last year and still a 30-win team whose most heart-breaking losses were to The Most Elite Defense in the nation and a Sparty team that might be having Their Year? I don't know about YOU but my expectations were that they'd not embarrass themselves this season & make the tourney. Full stop.
No, they couldn't hit a shot & went frigidly cold through runs that were entirely too long sometimes, but ... did we mention 30 wins? Moments of greatness. Elite defense. They were in it for both regular season and tourney championships right until the very end. Two bad halves of hoops against better talent was the difference between what many are calling a "meh" season and regular-season & conference tourney banners. Yes it is those small things (6 minutes here, 8 minutes there) that differentiate Greatness from Really Goodness but this team, when expected to be Maybe Good Enough turned out to be Really Good. Nice work, Coach.
Applaud these players & their coaches. They should be proud of their resilience & success above initial expectations. Speculate all day about the What-Ifs of 2020 if you want to burn the day trying to predict who will be the Step Up His Game Guy but the future remains bright in Ann Arbor. Anyone saying otherwise might be selectively forgetting M's b2b first round exits in 95 & 96 (to W. Kentucky & 10-seed Texas, yay), or losing in the first round of the NIT in 2000 (to ND of all programs), or the seemingly never-ending tourney drought following the 98 season... or the general state of the program c.1997-2007 for that matter.
We, as fans, can do better.
The only concern I have from this season is how the team honestly never improved from the beginning of the year. You could always count on Beilein teams to peak in February and March, but man, I think someone said we finished 13-7 after starting 17-0. And I know we didn't even string together three wins at any point after our undefeated start. Can build on this season, but the offense has got to get it going. Idc how good your defense is, 44 points is pretty embarrassing
It's easier to mold and develop players when you have 2-3 go-to players. We had 0 this year. Going to need some major improvement from the freshmen and one of Livers/Poole/Iggy. Z is what he is.
I'm not a huge fan of hero ball, but you do need go-to players. Michigan played good team ball this year, but no one was money when it mattered. Every game I watched we seemed to go through a 5-7 minute period where we just couldn't score if our lives depended on it. Texas Tech's defense exposed that weakness big time. There was no Vinnie "Microwave" Johnson spark off the bench either. The question is:
Who is going to be the go-to guy(s) next year?
And that is exactly why MSU beat us the last couple games. Winston stepped up and took over when they needed someone to do that. We never had anyone who could go one on one and get a bucket when we needed it. Hopefully, we find that guy next year.
I think it's because the problem isn't really tactics or strategy. It's that Michigan doesn't have much shooting. And you either need new players or an off season of changing and/or refining your shot.
Agreed.... I made that observation after the Big 10 Tourny and got shouted down because we blew out Iowa and Minnesota. This team did not get substantially better all year, as Coach B's team typically do. Hopefully Castleton bulks up and improves over the off season because Big Jon gets gassed and we need 2 deep on the post.
Quite frankly, this team significantly overachieved given the personnel.
Of the 10 "roles" on a basketball team - 5 on offense and 5 on defense - Michigan got to 30 wins and the Sweet Sixteen with only 3 of those 10 roles playing at an elite level.
On defense, Simpson and Matthews are elite defenders. Teske is a disruptor under the basket, and OK-ish away from it defensively for a guy his size.
That's about it.
Iggy is not great on defense, and Poole's lapses are legendary.
On offense, there is nothing to really hang your hat on.
Simpson assists well but can't shoot. Teske does not post up and can't hit outside shots like Wagner did. Matthews can slash to the rim but does not finish, often opting instead for fall-away jumpers. Iggy's game is one-dimensional right now, and Poole is a streaky shooter at best.
Off the bench, Livers can shoot it, but the rest of the bench is a non-event at this point.
So Michigan essentially made 30 wins, a 2-seed, and the Sweet Sixteen with only 3 pistons in a 10 cylinder engine firing at full force. They got there pretty much on Simpson's and Matthew's and Teske's defense.
It's a credit that the defense from those three was good enough to paper over a lot of holes everywhere else.
We move on from here.
Right there with what I realized last night. We don't have a single guy that could sniff an NBA bench right now and we got 30 wins, a sweet 16 and a 2 seed. Pretty damn good.
There are four players who "could sniff an NBA bench". Regarding this excellent season: Michigan overachieved and their opponents under-achieved...against them. Here, MSU showed the way and TT put an exclamation point on it.
The limitations of this team will likely remain in place next year. Here, we will see who steps up. The NBA bench-sniffers, per their best individual interests, would do well to move on.
This enigma of a basketball season ends...hooray for the hope of football!
Iggy's one dimensional? 40% from 3FG and 46% FG. He isn't that consistent, but the kid is a true freshman. 40% from 3 and was able to get to the rim pretty effectively, I thought. I expect his ability to finish at the rim will improve as well.
I didn't get to watch the game...but that is obviously a tough ending to a pretty good season.
Next season can be a great season with some improvement on offense from the players that return and if next year's sophomores; DDJ, Castleton, etc., can contribute in a meaningful way.
Great season considering:
Michigan has played three 6 seeds or less in the tournament in the last two years and is 1-2 against them, with the one a miracle buzzer beater and the other two blowouts.
This year’s team was, eventually, who we thought they would be: a light shooting defensive outfit. Beilein’s best teams need shooters and this one didn’t have enough of them.
Next year has the potential to be special if Matthews comes back, and even if he doesn’t Livers slides into the starting lineup and puts a real shooter at the four. Look out Big 10.
The most bumming aspect of all this is that I don't really see how realistically next year's team is going to have a higher ceiling than this years. Beilein's offensive scheme is dependent on high-quality shooters. Zavier and Teske are pretty much who they are at this point. Hopefully Iggy and Livers can become more consistent and Poole can play like he did at the beginning of the season, but as long as teams can hone in on shooters (like they did to Poole in the second half of the season) because they have 0 reason to fear either X or Teske shooting from deep, they won't get many open looks any way to take advantage of any improvement. And as long as they can't take advantage of mismatches and Teske remains a non-entity down low, they'll continue to struggle against switching defenses.
And I really don't see DeJulius, who went 6-30 from the field, 1-15 from 3 (his only three came against Villanova, he shot 0-12 the rest of the season), and 1-6 from the free-throw line, becoming an efficient-scoring point guard who can make the offense click when he comes in, at least not by next year.
Maybe the program as it is right now can be a Virginia-esque team whose defense is enough to carry them to an enjoyable regular season that allows them to compete for conference regular season/tournament titles before flaming out in the NCAA tournament because of offensive deficiencies, but unless the team completely turns the corner shooting-wise, I don't see how anything is going to change with essentially the same roster.
I expect to see the players develop like they have in the past under Beilein.. Iggy had a great first year.. can shoot it well from 3 (not tonight) and drive to the hoop and finish with either hand. With another summer with Sanderson I expect him to make another leap forward.
Also I think Livers and Teske will be more of a force on the offensive end.. will be fun to see who steps up next season.
March 29th, 2019 at 10:31 AM ^
Livers is a pretty decent shooter, but he makes most off of catch and shoot attempts. I was surprised he didn't get more run yesterday early when the offense was terrible.
No one is Stauskas level pull up assassin and at this point I don't know if anyone will develop into that. Poole looked headed in that direction early season but turned into a pumpkin in the last 1/4 of the season.
As you said, with 0 shooting threat from Simpson (Teske has his streaks, not Moe, but not horrible) submarines the P&R which is why you can't rely on the P&R as much as they do against good defenses. Getting Livers/Poole running around some screens for catch and shoot 3s is a necessity next year if no one develops that pull up.
March 29th, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
Franz Wagner
This team overachieved...there is the good and the bad of this. They were/are significantly over-rated...TT put on a clinic of playing 5 against 4. This team is what it is...great effort. The partisans would do well to significantly lower expectations for next year...the players are who they are-much of what happened last night is on the coaches.
Coaches actually did a pretty good job with this team, being what it is.
Yeah, no banners but an excellent season. Based on the final 10 or 15 games of the reg season, including BIG tourney, I was emotionally prepared for a loss in the round of 32, and figured sweet 16 was the bogey. Put them at the midpoint of the 8 losers in sweet 16, and you're the 12th best team in the tourney......not too shabby. That said, it was a painful game to watch, so painful I can't even claim to have watched the whole thing ! And while I usually don't take too much satisfaction from other BIG teams wins, the Purdue win over Tennessee put enough of a smile on my face that the Michigan loss didn't send me to Tennessee based distillates. Go Blue.
It doesn’t matter who you’re playing—going 1 for 19 in three-pointers is a recipe for defeat. That’s horrible.
More DeJulius next year, please. Zavier is a great leader and an interesting player, but his limitations on offense are just too much. We need scoring from that position with the makeup of the rest of the team or doom will again be the order of the day.
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