Ohio State Game Snowflakes Thread

Submitted by M-Wolverine on
Eat it Buckeyes, home protected, title hopes alive.

JamieH

February 6th, 2013 at 2:04 AM ^

I think it was a foul at the end of the game.  But I think the refs blew so many calls and gave so many free points to OSU all night that for OSU fans to complain about it is ridiculous.  Besides the 3-pointer that Craft didn't even START to shoot until after the shot clock went off and the obvious goal-tend, they had another 3-pointer with about 4 minutes left that came immedately after an OBVIOUS travel when the Buckeye balllcarrier took two running steps before dribbling.  Everyone in Chrisler saw it except for the 3 officials.  I'm not even counting the phantom foul on Burke because maybe THJ hit Thomas on the elbow.  MAYBE.

Was there contact on Craft?  Yeah.  Enough to get a foul call?  Sure.  Enough for a no-doublt call?  No way.  Enough to say the officials blew the game for you?  Nope, not when they had already gifted you 5-8 points on the road.  When you are playing on the road and already playing with house money from the refs, you can't complain when you don't get that call.

 

TruBluMich

February 6th, 2013 at 5:24 AM ^

A win against Wisconsin puts us in the driver seat for #1 again if Indiana losses to Ohio State and also puts us back in control of our own destiny to win an out right Big Ten Championship.  Well Im not routing for either team.  Either way Michigan wins after that game, Ohio State riding a two game losing streak or were ranked #1 again.

Cold War

February 6th, 2013 at 5:55 AM ^

This team isn't dominant. They aren't better than lil bro and Ohio, but on the same level. Instead of being the co-favorite along with Indiana, we're on a tier with at least four  teams. Still playing exciting basketball, no question.

Oh yeah, OHIO SUCKS.

DrunkOnHiggins

February 6th, 2013 at 7:10 AM ^

I have to give props where props are due. OSU is good. That was a hell of a game. Put all the cliches out there. I was on the edge of my seat biting my nails. I'm just glad we made enough plays to get the W.

Timmy Jr's 4 straight triples were huge.

Willy Wonka

February 6th, 2013 at 7:31 AM ^

Craft be the one to choke it down the stretch- blocked shot by Burke and the no call on the final play.

 

This team must bring a better defensive effort. The late run in the 2nd half was sparked by a couple of steals and deflections. The interior defense must improve beyond McGary's output. Nix and Payne are beginning to worry me a little bit.

 

Belein better get on these guys about BLOCKING OUT. OSU and IU killed us on 2nd chance opportunities. If they didn't lead to immediate putbacks, they led to free throws after the fact. Very frustrating to see opposing posessessions last longer than a minute. It's also very frustrating to see we don't really crash the offensive glass on perimeter jumpers.

 

I'll take the W. But there needs to be major improvement if we want to win in Madison and East Lansing.

Naked Bootlegger

February 6th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^

This snowflakes thread would not be complete without complimenting the raucous Crisler crowd.   Multiple standing o's from *everyone* after Hardaway hit a couple of daggers.   The environment felt electric on TV...can't imagine being there.

At Wisconsin games, the students often chant "STAND UP OLD PEOPLE!" to implore the entire crowd to get off their arses at key junctures of the game.   I wish the UM students would chant this at times.   Yesterday wasn't necessary, though.

 

LSAClassOf2000

February 6th, 2013 at 9:09 AM ^

Here's what last night's stats looked like compared to our average performance in conference games this year:

 

Offensive Stat Comparison
  Michigan (This Game) Michigan (Avg. In Conf.)
Points/Game 76 74.4
Avg Score Margin 2 13.2
Assists/Game 15 11.7
Total Rebounds/Gm 27 34.9
Effective FG % 58.33% 49.60%
Off Rebound % 32.14% 33.70%
Defensive Stat Comparison
  Michigan (This Game) Michigan (Avg. In Conf.)
Opp Points/Game 74 61.2
Opp Effective FG % 57.76% 41.50%
Off Rebounds/Gm 9 10.6
Def Rebounds/Gm 19 24.3
Blocks/Game 4 3.2
Steals/Game 7 6
 

The one thing that does stand out is the 74 points and the effective FG% for Ohio State. I think this confirms numerically what others have said in that they got quite a few second-chance shots. That aside, this was a spectacular and well-played game and I particularly enjoyed watching Burke get the better of Craft at key points in the game, not to mention Hardaway going 6 of 9 from beyond the arc. We had five players contribute ten or more points as well, so once again, we spread it around very nicely.

Soulfire21

February 6th, 2013 at 11:26 AM ^

After the post-game euphoria I found something to complain about:

Ohio State's defense is good, ours is not.  Ohio State is a middling on the offensive side of the ball in the Big Ten (hovering around 5th in the conference in most statistical categories) however, they were able to score at will against our lackluster defense.  Of course, the defense did step up big (Hardaway Jr.'s block at the end comes to mind) a couple times, but it's going to be really difficult if we can't stop.

Our offense is so-so, it works for awhile and against less talented defenses, but there's only so much you can do with pick-n-roll or pass around the perimeter until the shot clock is about to expire and take a contested 3.

Needs

February 6th, 2013 at 11:55 AM ^

Our offense is so-so? We just put up 1.19 PPP against perhaps the best perimeter defensive team in the country, scoring at 1.5 PPP in the second half. Pick and roll sets with three players spacing the floor has been the most effective form of offensive basketball for at least the last decade in the NBA, and now you're seeing it at the college level. 

Now, we shot really well from 3, but that's not chance. We have good three point shooters. This isn't Brett Petway throwing up 3s. And I think if you went back and looked at the play by play, you'd see a lot fewer shots going up late in the shot clock than you think. I don't think any of THJ's 3s were late clock contested shots, and I can only truly think of 2 or 3 from Burke. That's it. 

 

 

Space Coyote

February 6th, 2013 at 12:14 PM ^

  1. McGary gets lost on help defense. This is the reason for so many second chance baskets with him in the game. He loses his man and doesn't get a body on them when the ball gets in the air. I mentioned it earlier when Ace brought up that McGary may be a shot blocker, but McGary isn't a quick jumper (I don't know the physics behind this, but some people seem to jump higher and somehow land quicker) but he seems to be just hitting the ground when going for a block by the time the other team is getting a put back.
  2. Wing defense needs a lot of work. Indiana killed Michigan on the wings (this was a reason, combined with point 1, that the last two games have seen a lot of easy put backs). Wings need to pin guys to the sideline more and not let them get to the baseline so easily (force them up toward the help so the big can slide into them if you aren't going to be able to cut off the baseline, though the way Michigan doubles, by sliding the guy underneath, may make this different than what I was always taught).
  3. Transition defense has been a major sore spot for this team all year. They had some bright spots in this game, but on one play in particular, LaVert failed to hustle back to the block when on an OSU 1v2 break and the guy blew by him for an easy lay in. It's also leading to a lot of open looks from 3 because the team is struggling to get back.
  4. Finish. Man that game could have been a lot more comfortable in OT if Michigan would have finished some easy/open looks.
  5. I'd like Burke to take it to the hole and do a runner or pull-up from 12-17 at least one time rather than the step back 3. Have to at least threaten the defender that way at the end of the game at some point to get better looks from deep at the end of games.
  6. When Stauskas drives he needs to look opposite corner. A few times he took it to the hole (which I like, and most of the time he should have finished) but there were some open players opposite corner when he got doubled down.
  7. Robinson really needs to work on his picks. OSU got around his picks way too easily numerous times (part of this is the ball handler isn't running off tight enough because they are used to McGary being a wider body). He needs to set up closer to the defender so they can't slip over top of it as easily.

Those are the things I saw off the top of my head.

michclub19

February 6th, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^

Around halftime of the game, a thought occurred to me that Ohio is the worst team we match up with against all year.  They are the only team who have multiple guards who can defend our backcourt and Thomas matches up against GRIII, who is still a freshman and we really can't sub for him.  You could obviously make a case for Indiana too, but I feel that is more about their superb talent than individual matchups.  Bottom line, I'm glad we made it through the season series with a split and hope we don't see them in the postseason as Craft is the only person I am confident can slow down Trey.