WBB Battle 4 Atlantis finals game notes

Opponent: #24 Ole Miss (Battle 4 Atlantis Finals) 

Result: Loss 60-49, 2nd place out of 8 teams. 

Date: 11/20, neutral site

Starters: Laila Phelia, Cam Williams, Taylor Williams, Jordan Hobbs, Lauren Hansen (same as last 3 games)

Injuries/inactives: none, though Sollom and Brown dressed but did not play. Taylor Woodson only got 1 minute.

Offense:

• Had one more shot attempt than Ole Miss at half (27-26), but when you only make 4 of those field goals, it’s a miracle to be within 8 points
• Phelia had 10 points in the first half, but 7 of those were from free throws. The only other players to hit a shot in the first half were Taylor Williams, Crockett, and Brett. 
• Michigan’s first bucket came on the kind of play I would love to see more of. Hobbs drove into the lane, missed, Evans gathered the offensive rebound and kicked it out to Phelia for three. 
• Ole Miss’ center Madison Scott able to make life hard for both Cam Williams on post ups and Phelia on drives. 
• Possession at the end of third quarter typified the game: missed three from Hansen rebounded by Evans who missed the put back. Ole Miss runs it down the court and misses, but gets the rebound and puts it back with less than a second on the clock. Solid play by both teams, but Michigan’s shots not falling.

Defense:

• In the first half Ole Miss was not attempting many threes, also not hitting them (0-3). Shooting 50% from two.
• Not doing a great job staying in front of their assignments. Gave up open looks both down the lane and along the baseline.
• 1-2-2 press led to travel at end of first quarter and chance for catch and shoot. You probably guessed, but this was missed.
  • Hurry and long pass stolen by Chyra Evans
  • Broken with good passing that Michigan was never able to double team
• A couple of good charges taken by Hobbs and T. Williams

Notable stats:

• Finished the game on a 14-5 run, but at that point it was too late. Points spread out well during this run.
• Neither team scored for the first 3 minutes of the game. Michigan did not get its first field goal until 6 minutes had gone by.
• 11 turnovers for Michigan to 16 for Ole Miss. A lot of the turnovers for Michigan were unforced errors like picking up a pivot foot. 
• Alyssa Crockett had a season high 14 minutes, but only got 4 points on 2-3 shooting and not much else. As with many of Michigan’s players in this game, it seemed like she was playing well, but the stat sheet doesn’t reflect it.
• 2 intentional fouls against Ole Miss. One on a play where an Ole Miss player got injured and another player committed an ugly foul to stop play. Another a bit more questionable where an Ole Miss player shoved Hansen, who then “accentuated” the foul.

Overall: 

• Ugly shooting day for Michigan and not enough talent/defense/a little bit of everything to overcome that. Despite being down 20 at one point, it didn’t look like Ole Miss was blowing Michigan off the floor. Lots of good looks for Michigan, but the touch was not there to get the shots to fall. 

Miscellaneous: 

• First ranked opponent of the year: #24 
• Nice Bahamas-themed shirts for the Ole Miss coaching staff. 
• Phelia and T. Williams named to All-Tournament team
• Next game is Friday 11/24 home vs. Eastern Michigan at 1pm