Minnesota knocks off Iowa 102-95 in OT
Marcus Carr had 30 points in regulation. But it was Brandon Johnson who made four straight threes to start off OT who ultimately pulled it out. Not bad for a career 30% 3 pt shooter who transferred from Western Michigan.
The top team in the B1G is our beloved Wolverines. Merry Christmas and go blue!
December 25th, 2020 at 10:33 PM ^
Brandon Johnson!!! Hot damn! Went 8/9 from 3.
December 26th, 2020 at 12:28 AM ^
And 4 for 4 in the overtime. I’m not a fan of that Pitino punk, but found myself rooting for his kids and how hard they worked at the end of regulation.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:33 PM ^
That was a very nice watch to end Christmas Day. First place feels great!
December 25th, 2020 at 10:39 PM ^
Lots of parity and variability in college basketball. Juwan understands this reality very well...this is why he turns his charges loose and lets them play.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:39 PM ^
Lots of parity and variability in college basketball. Juwan understands this reality very well...this is why he turns his charges loose and lets them play.
December 26th, 2020 at 2:45 AM ^
I didn't downvote you, but I don't agree that "turns his charges loose and lets them play" is Coach Howard's philosophy. His sets are tight, and the half-court offense looks excellent -- often even better than Beilein's formidable offense. His play designs are generating clean, high-quality looks. The last thing these players are doing is running around and playing loosey-goosey playground basketball.
December 26th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
My impression is that Howard is different in using a broader rotation. Instead of Beilein's 7-8 players, Howard goes 9-10.
What do others think? Even better, what do those who analyze this stuff know?
To be clear, I don't think one is innately better or worse than the other. Just different.
December 26th, 2020 at 9:49 AM ^
Only 8 players played in this game-the starters all registered over 30 minutes. My view is that Juwan employed a broader rotation early in the season as an audition for the 6th, 7th and 8th players in the rotation. As a player and coach, this tighter rotation was my preference. Clearly there remains a fair amount of unfamiliarity among the first 8 in Michigan's rotation as several TOs were simple misreads in players cutting.
Right now Michigan is playing with 6 players whom Juwan can count on. It is disappointing that Johns is not playing better but I believe he will come along. It is good to see Williams in the mix and hopefully Austin is able to return sooner as opposed to later. I am most pleasantly pleased with Dickinson becoming a force so early in his first year-I didn't expect this until the second half of the season.
December 26th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
My "lets them play" has nothing to do with "playing loosey-goosey playground basketball". What it does have to do with is that Juwan does not micromanage every possession and instead frees/allows/instructs his players to take the open shot no matter when it becomes available in the shot clock. In this game, clock management did not come into play until around two minutes left in the game with an 8ish point lead.
December 26th, 2020 at 10:21 AM ^
He does get guys open looks. It really struck me last year when Teske got the ball isolated 6' from the basket but couldn't do anything with it. Diabate and Hunter, if he's still around, are going to be unstoppable as an inside tandem, especially with deadeye shooters on the wings.
It was very apparent during the bubble what a great coach Erik Spoelstra is and Juwan's apprenticeship with him, combined with his many years in the NBA, is going to bring much success to UM.
December 26th, 2020 at 2:46 AM ^
Edit: double post.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:42 PM ^
Crazy game to watch.
December 26th, 2020 at 12:34 AM ^
Yeah, especially when you have Iowa -4 in a bet. They had the game won down the stretch in regulation but couldn't close. I have watched Iowa a few times this season and I haven't studied the stats but my eyes tell me that they give up an awful lot of offensive rebounds.
December 26th, 2020 at 10:21 AM ^
I had the same bet. I am not doing well with my college hoops picks yet this year. At least Michigan is a cover machine lately.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:42 PM ^
This Iowa team seems to just be a really exaggerated version of the typical Fran one, and my guess is their ceiling is about the same. You can't expect to beat every team to 100, and being this bad defensively inevitably will catch up to you.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:43 PM ^
Is giving up over 100 points to a Richard Pitino team a bad thing? Asking for a Fran...
December 26th, 2020 at 10:52 AM ^
This is really good.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:44 PM ^
Wolverines and Wildcats at the top of the heap!!??
December 25th, 2020 at 10:47 PM ^
And Badgers!
December 25th, 2020 at 10:45 PM ^
Hallelujah!!!!
Merry Christmas ?
December 25th, 2020 at 10:46 PM ^
This was an incredible game. I still can't believe Minnesota came back after being down 8 with about a minute left in regulation against such a good Iowa team.
Nobody's safe, the Big Ten is LEGIT.
Loving the new Christmas Big Ten basketball, definitely beats the NBA for me.
December 26th, 2020 at 8:15 AM ^
iowa seems to be built specifically to give you a chance to come back from down 8 with a minute left.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:52 PM ^
Hey! Top of the Big Ten. Michigan's as good as Northwestern.
December 25th, 2020 at 10:56 PM ^
Hard to see a team that has to score 90-100 every night getting the 6 wins needed to win the NCAA. Which is why I live our chances - enough O and good quality D.
December 25th, 2020 at 11:08 PM ^
Just finished watching it - had to pause it when Minnesota came back to tie at the end to put the kid to bed. What a finish for Minnesota to get back into the game, and then win it in OT! Congrats, UMinn!!
A great day all around - Christmas, MSU loss, UM win, UMinn win! Haha...
December 25th, 2020 at 11:09 PM ^
Every road game in the Big Ten is a freaking nightmare.
December 26th, 2020 at 10:34 AM ^
Just like in football, there is no home field/court advantage this season.
December 26th, 2020 at 12:11 AM ^
Watched B1G all day and yes it was awesome as far as the results went Thing about BBall is it can/will humble you fast. I never talk smack about football EVER! But Basketball yea fuck Sparty!
Go Blue! Lone undefeated team!
December 26th, 2020 at 12:35 AM ^
Wow. Guess I shouldn't have changed the channel when Iowa was up 81-75 with 30 seconds left.
December 26th, 2020 at 9:43 AM ^
December 26th, 2020 at 9:15 AM ^
I don’t know how Garza does it, but he had 5 points at half, but still got over 30 points in the game. Having an OT helps, but gay guy is a scoring machine. He may be the closest thing the big ten has had to a Pittsnoggle.
December 26th, 2020 at 9:48 AM ^
Not that there’s anything wrong with that
December 26th, 2020 at 1:24 PM ^
Yea. I wasn’t thinking about editing that, but I figure why not just keep it.
December 26th, 2020 at 10:25 AM ^
I can't believe Iowa choked away that game at the end of regulation and in OT. These are the types of games where Iowa having the #80 defense and Fran doing nothing to address it really bites them in the ass
December 26th, 2020 at 10:32 AM ^
Will B1G MBB follow FB in a topsy turvy standings race with teams like Indiana and NW in FB. Will need to keep and eye on Minny in MBB and maybe the Maize and Blue. That would be good.
December 26th, 2020 at 2:06 PM ^
The big ten is gonna be insane. Too many good teams. We have to start at least 9-2 in the big ten to have chance at the big ten championship. We play 8 ranked teams in our final 9 games. The good news is that the big ten champ might be 14-6 at best. WIN THE GAME!