2022-23 lipscomb

Hanging onto a just-reacquired 1-point lead with two-and-a-half minutes remaining, Dug McDaniel got the ball on an inbound. He tried going off a screen but his defender went under it. He went left but the paint was packed. He went up, the ball went down, and Michigan survived another one of *those* games.

While Lipscomb came in with a reputation for playing up or down to their opponents, Michigan's own reputation for that is now in stone, after needing to overcome a 4-point deficit to the #205-ranked Bisons late in 2nd half. While the flow was different this time—Michigan held a double-digit lead for big chunks of the game—the how was similar to difficulties they had against EMU (#301) and Ohio (#194): unserious early rotations, bad defense, and most distressingly, some clear holes in a very unsettled rotation.

Even with Lipscomb back-cutting them to ribbons early, Jett Howard was taking advantage of a huge size difference to keep up, and it felt like Michigan only needed someone to start playing defense to open up a lead. That came after the first Under-12 timeout, and the guy playing defense was Kobe Bufkin, who looked every bit the butterfly he's been rounding into this season.

Bufkin was also too much for the Bisons on the other end. Two drives exposed Lipscomb's own defensive limitations, and Bukkin was able to use that threat to set up fouls early in the lane, a couple of open shots for his teammates, and when those wouldn't fall, an open three at the barest hint of another trip to the lane. After Bufkin generated a turnover then hit a heat check on the other end, Michigan had turned a 9-13 deficit into a 25-17 lead.

Pruitt's big day vs Dug is kind of a big problem. [Campredon]

The bench got some run then, but the team's defensive issues continued to plague them, allowing Lipscomb to get to 41 points in the first half. That scoring looked legit despite Bisons PG Will Pruitt pouring in 16 points by shooting 4/5 from the arc in the half, because Pruitt's teammates weren't converting on some pretty good looks. Help defenders arrived late, Michigan's bigs struggled when forced to guard five-out, and Dug McDaniel's height presented an unfortunately high floor for opponent possessions. Back-cuts continued to be a problem until Jett Howard finally anticipated one with about five minutes to go.

Some of the defensive breakdowns could be attributed to the shifting lineups, but a lot of this is baked in: Of the guys in the regular rotation, Dickinson, Williams, Baker, and Jace Howard lacked the agility to stay with Lipscomb's parade of 6'4"-ish wings. Bufkin finished the first frame a perfect 5/5 from the field and 2/2 from the line for 14 first-half points. Notably, a good two minutes of that featured Bufkin at the point, a small proof of concept for a look that Michigan's going to need in the Big Ten season now that Jaelin Llewellin is out for the year.

Lipscomb quickly climbed to within five, as Bufkin missed a pair of free throws then fouled Pruitt late on a three-point attempt. The Michigan guard hit a pullup triple on the other end, and keyed another run to earn a breather, but as soon as he left the court the Bisons climbed right back in the game. With the Bisons using help to deny entries to Hunter Dickinson, Michigan needed someone other than Kobe Bufkin to do something. Lipscomb needed someone other than Will Pruitt to do something.

It was Pruitt's teammates who stepped up first. Dug McDaniel committed an unnecessary foul under the basket to give Pruitt a pair of free throws, Youssef Khayat couldn't find the bottom of the basket from anywhere, and the rest of the offense went on a 4-minute scoring drought. On the other end, back-to-back failures to box out Lipscomb freshman winger Grant Asman led to two extended possessions, and six points on second-chance threes.

The starters were reinserted, but Jace Howard missed another wide-open three, and Lipscomb got a few low-percentage shots to fall. A couple of ugly turnovers off bad passes by Hunter Dickinson and Kobe Bufkin led to transition points, and the Bisons took their first lead before the Under 8 timeout.

Jett Howard and Will Pruitt traded incredible and-one drives, and Lipscomb's lead climbed up to four as Terrence Williams II missed a wide-open three on one end then got out-raced down the court by Quincy Clark. Bufkin shifted the narrative back by canning an open three from the corner and then forcing Pruitt into a panic shot on the other end, but the Wolverines still trailed, and sickos around the league were scrambling for BTN+ passwords to see it.

Michigan tried guarding guards with Jett but it didn't go well. [Campredon]

That's when Dug McDaniel finally got an ugly floater to fall for his first field goal of the game, allowing Michigan to take a one-point lead into the last timeout with 2:30 remaining. Out of the break, Dug found the paint packed once again, pulled up for a long two, and got nothing but net. Lipscomb drew up a couple of looks from three for Pruitt, but at 27 points the Bisons guard had run out of juice. His pullup off a screen barely got the front of the rim. On the other end, Hunter Dickinson stepped out for a corner three, and though his foot was on the line, his shot was pure. Pruitt's next attempt airballed to McDaniel under the rim. Dug hit both ends of Michigan's last free throws in the bonus to push the lead out to 7 with under a minute left. There was one more attempt, but like every other Upset Alert that Michigan's been a part of this year, that one fell short as well.

The highlight reel from this one is going to show all the crazy ways Michigan can score that other teams can't. Jett Howard went around the back for a dunk. Hunter Dickinson plowed through smaller men to get to the rim. Kobe Bufkin finished 4/5 from three and 8/9 from the field to lead Michigan with 22 points. What it's not going to show are all the things that concern us about this team, which doesn't have enough playable guards to keep up with anyone who can play more than two of them at a time.

Since their own upset bids against Kentucky and Virginia came up short, Michigan heads to North Carolina on Wednesday with one last chance to pick up a signature non-conference victory. Hopefully they play up.

[A box score after the jump]

THE ESSENTIALS

THE OVERVIEW

Lipscomb had a great year in 2019, finishing 45th in Kenpom with a 29-8 record, but got relegated to the NIT after a loss in the ASUN conference tournament final. That led Belmont to hire away Casey Alexander, and in the three years and change since the Bisons have been thoroughly middling under Lennie Acuff. Acuff's conference record three years in is 24-23.

This year is likely to be more of the same. They check in at #200 on Kenpom and have a split personality kind of schedule featuring losses to #333 Alabama A&M, #282 Tennessee St, #256 South Dakota, and a one-point win a couple days ago over #325 Tennessee Tech. On the flip side they've beaten Belmont, Chattanooga, and Navy, all reasonably good teams, and came up a bucket short against #90 Notre Dame at ND.

So I guess that's bad news for Michigan, since they're not ranked eleventy billionth.

THE US

Seth's graphic [click to embiggen]:

faq for these graphics

All right, let's see where the Dug McDaniel thing goes.

THE LINEUP CARD

Seth's graphic [click for big]: