UCLA Snowflakes
I’m probably too old to be on here, but I watched the Pistons inthe late 80’s and and early 90’s but the coach went with the hot hand shooting down the stretch, and the team knew it if Isiah Thomas was cold he knew that the hot hand Vinnie Johnson or whomever shot the ball not the guys shooting 1-10 I love Juwan Howard but the odds tell you guys combined 2-17 not getting it done tonight go with the hot hands.
Unfortunately, we didn't have any hot hands tonight. All our best players were way off. Chaundee hit a clutch 3, but hardly touched the ball tonight. Seems like attacking the basket would have been the best choice. Franz's 3 clearly was not.
My gosh - we had 4 chances at the end, and missed them all. Tough, tough loss.
March 31st, 2021 at 10:23 AM ^
Johns Jr. 4-5 and Brown 3-5 in LIMITED touches, that equates to 70 percent compared to 2-17 on the last 2 shooters which equates to 11.7 percent, we did have a couple hot hands just didn’t use them enough.
A look at the box score. Besides Juzang, only one other player scored more than 4 points. Only 5 UCLA players scored points. So basically Juzang, with 11 from Tyger Campbell, beat us. Bernard and Jacquez 3/18, Riley 2/6 and fouled out. That's it. Our D shut them down.
OTOH... we had 32 points in the paint and 3 treys. So 8 other points (edit: 6 points from free throws, so... 2 other points??). Couldn't shoot, didn't shoot, whole team looked tight and tentative.
As to the 32 points in the paint, Hunter, Johns and Davis had 26 of our 49 points but also 8 of the 14 turnovers.
Our leading rebounders were Franz w 8 and Chaundee w 9
Score was close = stats are close. Both teams shot 39% FGs, in the 20s% for 3s, we missed a few more FTs, we had a few more rebounds; assists, steals and blocks all pretty much the same. We couldn't score from the outside, they couldn't score in the paint. 2 total fast break points by either team (UM).
Turnovers were 14 to 6 however, and their +8 points off turnovers and having a Jonny Juzang were the difference.
We shot poorly, but really, turnovers and missed FTs cost us a grind-it-out win.
Simple as that. Turnovers and FTs. Damn.
Sports are random number generators. You can question coaching decisions, player decisions, try to come up with a story to explain it, whatever, but the main thing about this game is that Michigan couldn't shoot it from anywhere, and sometimes that's how it goes.
It hurts to lose like this because, unlike the Kentucky Elite Eight game in 2014, they didn't play a great game and lose a coin flip to a great team. And it hurts because without Isaiah Livers we never got to see the team that won the B1G regular season title play in the tournament. And it hurts because they lost a game where they really could've used Livers. RNG didn't work out.
I'm really grateful for the season I got to watch. I'm not going to hear a bad word about anyone on the team, player or coach, after that.
Lots of stupid takes about Howard trying to create a storybook finish with those late shots because they would look so good in slow mo with "One Shining Moment" playing. But maybe, just maybe, the team ran what they practiced...which had the highest success rate when practiced. Maybe Brown can't get to his spot consistently, because that is hard to do for a prepared defense, to risk calling a play.
We missed threes, the bigs missed a ton of stuff at the basket...these individual offensive players aren't very good. But it is the coaching staff's fault because they let guys shoot deep according to some, while also being their fault for continuing to work the paint when we couldn't score there either?
Hell of a team effort this season B1G Champs. These guys buying in to one another and the coaches and fighting through the pandemic world to win a title marks their legacy at Michigan. But this was not a bunch of guys that scare you with the ball in their hands, and there is a reason Coach Howard is bringing in a truck load of players that will scare a defense individually and as part of the team.
I didn't see UCLA do anything defensively that would have stymied Michigan offensively. Nobody stepped up on offense, there were no go to guys. Not that there were guys who were willing to take shots, just no one who really had the capability in the clutch to take control. Defensively Michigan played very well. Some of the decisions made on the floor at the end of the game were suspect. Having Livers in a game like this would have been the difference.
I don't think Wagner is ready for the pros, but the money will be too great to say no, even though his game is not ready.
I really hope Dickinson stays at least another year, as his game is totally not ready for the NBA. He needs to get stronger, develop a better shot around the basket, and work on a long two, or three point shot.
Would love to see brown and Smith back, Brown coming off the bench, and Smith sharing time with a point guard of the future.
I feel like Juwan want to give Smith and Wagner both the opportunity to redeem themselves and show he believed in them. Hindsight, bad decision. Both guys had bad nights and not people I would consider clutch. They both had a great career yet tonight everyone could see the lights were too bright. Would have loved to see Brooks or Brown get some of those shots at the end.
Where was the high-low set that was unstoppable against FSU?
March 31st, 2021 at 10:38 AM ^
I don't understand why Juwan didn't put VVagner or Brown on Juzang. Eli was getting torched and we have two outstanding on ball defenders. Don't understand that.