Xavier 86, Michigan 70
Michigan's defense provided little resistance. [Bryan Fuller/MGoBlog]
Michigan has a long way to go.
The good news is the season is far from over. In fact, Michigan probably hasn't yet played a game with what will become their standard starting lineup. But there's no glossing over the holes Xavier exposed in Michigan's defense tonight.
None is bigger than the hole in the middle. Mark Donnal gave up a bucket and a foul to Xavier's Jalen Reynolds on the game's opening possession and his night didn't improve from there; despite starting the game, he finished with four fouls, one rebound, and a turnover in six minutes. Ricky Doyle at least provided a little resistance in the post, but his poor hands cost M on both ends of the court, and time and again he found himself too far from the hoop on pick-and-rolls that resulted in open looks. Mo Wagner and DJ Wilson flashes some promise, especially the former, but they're both still getting used to the position; neither was ready for extended time against Reynolds.
Add in Michigan's porous perimeter defense and Xavier simply overwhelmed the Wolverines. Reynolds finished with 15 after getting to the line at will in the first half. The Musketeers hit nine of their 21 three-point attempts, usually wide open looks off the high screen. They missed 39 shots and rebounded 18 of them. Michigan's desperate late attempts to run a 1-3-1 zone only hurt in that regard.
It not for Caris LeVert posting 29 points on 21 shot equivalents, this would've been even worse; LeVert was the only Wolverine who could consistently produce his own shot, and while he sometimes forced it a little too much, someone had to carry the load.
For a brief period in the second half, Michigan looked like it would mount a comeback, getting as close as two points down on two separate occasions after triples by Duncan Robinson and LeVert. Each time, though, Xavier immediately responded with a three of their own and a dunk on the following possession, which aptly sums up the defensive effort from the Wolverines.
While the offense went in fits in spurts, it was at least decently effective, and Michigan easily could've surpassed the 1.05 PPP they posted if a couple open three-point looks didn't rim out. Their effort for most of the game, especially midway through the second half, was good enough to win a lot of games, but not this one given what was happening on the other end. Rough shooting nights from Derrick Walton (1/5 FG) and Aubrey Dawkins (1/6) didn't help matters. Robinson (nine points) and Zak Irvin (seven) were the top scorers behind LeVert, and that simply wasn't enough.
Michigan will have to learn from this game in a hurry. They head to the Bahamas for the Battle of Atlantis next week and will face UConn—featuring seven-footer Amida Brimah and plenty of size across the board—in the opener on Wednesday.
Tonight will hopefully prove to be one of the team's worst performances of this very young season. There are plenty of reasons to expect it to be so; this was a bad matchup given M's still-developing centers—who will have to grow up in a hurry—and uncertain rotation. If the effort on defense doesn't improve by next week, though, this team will take some serious lumps even before conference play begins.
November 21st, 2015 at 6:19 AM ^
I said we were an #7-#10 seed type team. This game basically proved just that.
Pay attention, you just might learn something.
/TurnsMichiganArroganceOff
In all seriousness, this is exactly the team I expected. It's also why I said that we were a "good" but not great team that would find its way late in the year, gel, and be dangerous come tournament time.
I got DESTROYED, everyone said "no way we're lower than a 4-seed!" Everyone went crazy when I said we're not a top 25 team and justified it with losses to EMU and NJIT WITH a healthy backcourt.
This team is what it is. It's missing Morgan and McGary if it wants to be great going on elite late in the year. Instead it'll be good going on great late in the year. It's that simple.
/TurnsOnMGoRant
You can't play a PG, 4 NBA SGs, and a stretch 4 and expect to beat more physical teams in this college game that still allows contact dispite all the whistles. It's like playing one of those MSU defenses...they're not going to call everything.
I do blame this on Beilein's either unwillingness or inability to recruit true big men until next year when we bring in two guys (finally). As far as I'm concerned, in recent history he's had Morgan, Horford, McGary and Doyle. McGary is the only one that comes in with talent relative to the wing players he recruits.
Morgan and McGary would've ate this teams LUNCH and if we go against a team like the UK, Texas or Tennessee teams we've recently played in the tournament - we're fucked. Even Kansas, they had that Withey kid. Teams that can play bully ball are just going to push us out of the lane and dominate the glass and win.
However, there will be 4-5 games this year where we just can't miss. And in those games...we'll beat solid teams and look beautiful doing it. You just can't count on that for a full season.
We're still a 21-11 type team. A team that should win it's first game of the tournament against an underachieving major conference team and then be a team that NO #1 or #2 seed wants to see in the second round because of how we can shoot the ball when WE ON.
November 21st, 2015 at 7:19 AM ^
November 21st, 2015 at 7:32 AM ^
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November 21st, 2015 at 9:20 AM ^
LOL. All day yesterday I was looking forward to some great Michigan basketball last night followed 13 hours later by some great Michigan football.
I know one has nothing to do with the other, but now I'm even more worried about the football game.
Go Blue!!!!
November 21st, 2015 at 7:34 AM ^
Same issues we've always had, post foul rate, post rebounding, post finishing at the rim. Improve these just some and this game is close.
Oh, and Xavier was very good. If you look at the stat lines, the game was lost on the boards and free throw line.
November 21st, 2015 at 7:35 AM ^
November 21st, 2015 at 9:36 AM ^
November 21st, 2015 at 8:23 AM ^
It sure feels like we've regressed back to the early Beilein days where if we didn't hit 70% of our 3-pointers, it was an automatic loss. Our defense was really bad back then and it is really bad right now. The difference is back then we had a couple of 6'4" players (Stu Douglass and Zack Novak) who took it upon themselves to grab a freakin' rebound if we got lucky enough for the opponent to actually, I don't know, miss a shot?
We struggled on the boards against LeMoyne, Northern Michigan, and Elon so I thought we would struggle against Xavier, but not to this extent. They made us look bad. Wow.
I was surprised to see Zak Irvin start since he didn't make a shot in the last game, but I said to myself, "O.K. maybe Beilein knows something I don't know." But when I saw Mark Donnal in the starting lineup, that actually upset me. I guess he played O.K. against LeMoyne, but he got pushed around by Northern Michigan and Elon. And didn't make a dent last night.
I love and trust my coach, but come on coach. Donnal? Really? It's going to be a long season.
Go Blue!!!
November 21st, 2015 at 8:41 AM ^
November 21st, 2015 at 9:48 AM ^
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November 21st, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^
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November 21st, 2015 at 9:47 AM ^
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November 21st, 2015 at 12:23 PM ^
Don't want to be harsh on a collegiate player. They bust their ass to perform, are not civilians in carrying that heavy load plus classes, but man, I wish Mr. Donnal could generate some confidence. Maybe if he just says F it, I'm going to be aggressive, and make mistakes (who doesn't) but make aggressive mistakes. Have some fun man!
Best to you Mr. Donnal.
November 21st, 2015 at 8:00 PM ^
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November 21st, 2015 at 12:50 PM ^
Start working at home with Google! It's by-far the best job I've had. Last Wednesday I got a brand new BMW since getting a check for $6474 this - 4 weeks past. I began this 8-months ago and immediately was bringing home at least $77 per hour. I work through this link, go to tech tab for work detail
November 22nd, 2015 at 7:49 AM ^
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