Michigan survives NW Snowflakes Thread
Not surprised the game was close, we always struggle with NW, especially at NW. That being said, thoughts:
- Bench is a massive issue. Brooks came in and did some positive things at the end but Livers was a no show and Davis was a massive negative. Need the bench to improve or some freshmen to develop.
- Collins was pretty aggressive with his decisions (not benching any of his players in foul trouble) and it generally worked for him, but the decision to not guard Z at the 3 point line was his best. Z was 0-5 from 3 in the second half and missed 3 straight during the 15-2 NW run. If he can't make even 30% of his 3's, that might be a strategy we see a lot more often and we might struggle against it.
- Goes back to point one, but yikes to Davis. He does not look like a B1G quality player. Either he or Johns needs to develop ASAP because we can't go all season 7 deep with Livers a backup wing and at the 5.
- That being said, a road win against a decent team at a place we struggle is a positive. Also nice to see us pick up a close win, especially on the road, after blowing everyone else out.
- I definitely thought the last 3 was going in.
Luckily the schedule lightens up, only 4 games before January and it's all body bag games and a mediocre South Carolina team. That's a lot of time to fix the issues we saw today, work towards developing a bench, and get a miracle worker to work with Z maybe?
December 5th, 2018 at 12:00 AM ^
And this is probably a 25-6 or 26-5 team. I will gladly take that.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:08 AM ^
Looks like Iggy is your run-stopper. When the game was at its most tight, he seemed to be the only one looking for his shot.
And Poole is still very clutch. That drive and jam, especially at that juncture, was so sweet to see.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:16 AM ^
yes, we need a “miracle worker” for z. that guy suuuuuuuucks.
wait, hang on.
okay, i got em. my eyes had rolled right out of my FUCKING head, and i needed to pick them up.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:22 AM ^
From the game preview: “The only Northwestern player who's able to do anything at the rim is Pardon, and if he goes off for 24 on 15 shots against Jon Teske I'll eat a lemon.”
He instead went for 20 on 10 shots (also 1/5 on FTA). I still felt like Teske had a pretty good game defensively, but that guy had a nice game.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:24 AM ^
He went for 17 on 9 shots (11 shot equivalents). It is criminal to give him credit for the banked-in three that was their first basket. It certainly had nothing to do with Teske, who was, sensibly enough, nowhere near him.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:46 AM ^
For the sake of Brian eating a lemon though...that banked 3 counts.
December 5th, 2018 at 12:28 AM ^
9-0. Only thing that matters
December 5th, 2018 at 12:37 AM ^
Jesus...not a word about I......Iggy...STUPENDOUS Tonight
December 5th, 2018 at 12:40 AM ^
Good test; it's nice to have an eye-opener type game without actually losing it. Other than the already mentioned issues with Z's shooting and Davis' general struggles it's just good to get out with a W. On to South Carolina!
December 5th, 2018 at 1:04 AM ^
This is almost exactly what I feared might happen when we faced a good defensive team. Not exactly what I feared, because neither Simpson nor Matthews were on the FT line for a one and one - down a point with no time left on the clock.
December 5th, 2018 at 2:39 AM ^
I think johns can play. Most of the beilein freshman play nervous if they seldom get playing time cause they know he’ll pull them quick. Johns and dejulius can both play IMO. I don’t know when Nunez will be ready or if he ever will be a big contributor. Castleton is a project and will get better with another couple semesters with a dietician and strength coach, as well as extra time learning how to be a big in the beilein offense.
December 5th, 2018 at 7:30 AM ^
How long has Vic Law Jr been in school? Shouldn't he be a DR by now? He's taking the Robbie Hummel route.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:01 AM ^
Sorry I had to miss due to work. Road conference wins are like gold, and NW is a very good team, gave Gonzaga all they could handle last year. Another big win.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:33 AM ^
I just want to say I think it's great to see over 600 posts on a Tuesday late night Basketball game thread. Nice to see the excitement over this team and some healing after the football regular season ended.
December 5th, 2018 at 8:37 AM ^
Consider what a good coach Beilein is. He's tough enough to pull the team up and through the hard games.
December 5th, 2018 at 10:22 AM ^
Hopefully Davis has a steep learning curve he can climb. It's going to be a very rough film session for him today.
13-2 in 3+ minutes, 6 possessions for both teams during the most game-changing stretch of the night. Woof.
December 5th, 2018 at 11:56 AM ^
We couldn't hit a 3 and they hit a bunch of highly contested shots. It happens. Some key players had a bad game. It happens. The nice thing is they showed resolve and the D was its normal spectacular self. No collegiate team is going to have multiple players routinely drain highly contested difficult shots. NW missing the buzzer-beater was poetic justice. If Simpson/Teske had gone a terrible 1-7 from beyond the arc this game would have felt way different. Instead they went 0-7. After North Carolina I was afraid we'd have an outing like this against Purdue. Thankfully it was saved for NW and the talent-gap was just barely enough to counter it.
December 5th, 2018 at 1:34 PM ^
Dear Austin Davis, don't read this website. You're a solid big and you'll contribute just fine to this team. It's not easy getting blamed for your plus minus when your role is to 'not' touch the ball. Last night wasn't nearly as bad as most people are saying. It's good experience that will help you down the line. Regards, the guy who knew about Moe and Teske before everyone knew about Moe and Teske.