Michigan 54, Wisconsin 64
For an incredible 11 weeks, Michigan managed to avoid a snowstorm. Oh, there was the occasional flurry, but nothing that managed to stick around. This may not seem all the weird to young people who’ve grown up since global warming changed our weather expectations, but to those of us who grew up between the lakes before 2012 the welcome streak of fair weather, underpinned by strong science as it was, seemed as unsustainable as going an entire basketball season in the Big Ten without a loss.
On Saturday winter finally made its presence felt across the upper Midwest. The slippery conditions extended to Wisconin’s Trohl Center, where a team of small children (really, they were using sub-10-year-olds) struggled to keep Michigan’s end of the floor from resembling the state of the roads outside. The combination of Michigan’s lack of traction and some Wisconsin players constantly getting flung backwards by invisible trucks led to a frustrating afternoon for the Wolverine slashers, especially freshman Ignatius Brazdeikis. Iggy, who drew 6’11” Nate Reuvers, got called for two early fouls, played just 23 minutes, and for the first time in his college career finished a game without a point.
Wisconsin’s defense did an excellent job of running Michigan’s offense off the three-point line, and survived their few open looks, with Iggy missing his three, Poole going 1-of-5 (one a moonball that had zero chance of going in), Simpson 1-for-3, and Matthews unable to get one off. An ugly foot-and-rimmer by Teske early in the second half was just the team’s second made three all game.
Michigan spent much of the first half without both of its starting bigs, as Teske picked up a soft reach-on on Happ before Iggy picked up two. That necessitated some long minutes with Austin Davis against Happ. Rather than fouling the sub-50-percent free throw shooter, Davis mostly tried to hold up. The Badgers definitely knew where they wanted to attack with Davis on the floor, and Michigan had to survive some very open perimeters whenever help came. Davis wasn’t bad, but the stretch really made you appreciate how warm and cozy it feels to have Jon Teske on the floor.
Zavier Simpson made sure the game stayed close, bulling his way to the rim to set up easy points for whatever bigs were allowed out, and playing his characteristically dogged defense, especially on the perimeter. ESPN’s broadcast decisions made Wisconsin’s possessions as unwatchable as Brad Davison’s flops, especially in the first half. For a third of the frame much of the Badgers’ offensive zone had an annoying graphic literally covering a third of the frame, and the announcers spent a good four minutes of game time discussing the draft prospects of Michigan, Wisconsin, and, uh Murray State players. Michigan led 27-25 at the break.
When on the floor, Teske made life miserable for Happ, whose 26 points on 22 shots (all at or near the rim) included more than a few friendly Trohl Center rolls. Happ’s incredible post moves are devastating to defenders who leave their feet, but Teske’s size and quick feet allowed him to roll with every shot fake and stay in position.
Teske’s defense, when available, turned the #2 player to Kenpom into an average man [Barron]
Wisconsin returned the favor and then some on Michigan’s top usage guy, frustrating Charles Matthews into three turnovers and just five points. Much of that usage went to Poole, who finished with an inefficient 14 points on 23 shot equivalents. Livers had a dunk and a beautiful three-pointer late, but also three turnovers. Michigan would finish with 16 of those in a low-possession game.
With Teske’s autobench time served (he’d finish with two) and Happ resting early in the second half, Michigan had its chance to finally generate more than a one-possession lead, but got caught playing too fast. Poole in particular committed a few uncharacteristic turnovers. When Happ returned to the floor with the score tied at the 8:00 mark, it didn’t take my sensitive knees to know a storm was coming. Quickly down four, Poole took a terrible three-point attempt lob, then got flagged for his fourth foul when trying to help on Happ. An Eli Brooks long two was followed by a quick Happ slam and a Michigan timeout.
Again it was Simpson who refused stop fighting the conditions. With 3:00 remaining down six, Simpson forced a turnover, missed a contested transition layup, got the rebound, got fouled, missed two, then set up Livers (missed, rebound out of bounds off Wisconsin) and Teske (made) for open three-point attempts.
Happ got a friendly roll over Teske on a low-percentage (even for him) hook shot from six feet out to push Wisconsin’s lead to five, then made the front end of a 1-and-1 to put it back to six. Livers hit a step-back three to make it a 3-point game with a minute remaining, but the officials whistled Brazeikis for a questionable intentional foul that sent Beilein storming and Happ to the line for two. A few desperation plays later Virginia was the lone unbeaten and Wisconsin got to celebrate its first marquee win of the season.
With the worst part of winter still ahead, this won’t be the last time Michigan has to get out the snow shovels. On Tuesday they’ll host a slushy Minnesota squad that just lost to Illinois(!) before a trip Indiana’s Assembly Hall, another frosty venue that really makes you appreciate the comforts of home.
[Box score after THE JUMP]
January 21st, 2019 at 11:49 AM ^
but has anyone studied the climate change caused by windmills? reducing the force of the wind, by diverting it to turn a turbine, must have some effect, right?
Just curious. I've asked several 'wind energy advocates' and none of them have ever given me an answer better than, "that's the dumbest thing I've ever heard".
I admit, it might be, but then again it might not. Has there ever been a study done? :-)
January 19th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
Baby it’s cold outside
January 19th, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
Gotta not auto-bench Teske there. There was no winning this game without Teske on the floor, just gotta leave him out there.
Beilein is the biggest auto-bencher in the country.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:39 PM ^
He is, and the autobench may have been a mistake, but that's not why Michigan lost. They finished that half with the lead, and Teske was in most of the way down the stretch (when he sat, it wasn't for fouls) and Michigan just couldn't get any offense no matter who was out there.
Ironically, Teske was our best 3-point option.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:26 PM ^
What was questionable about Iggy' s hacking a player without the ball (and 25 feet from anyone who did)?! Agree with Brian on Twitter about them missing one on a Wisc Drebound when Iggy DID foul him. But that end of game thing was stupid and I really want to know what Beilein was mad about as when he gets that livid there's usually a good reason!
(Beilein also pissed going into the half...he certainly knew where he was today!)
January 19th, 2019 at 4:32 PM ^
I think it was Iggy fouled him right after he passed the ball, but it wasn't called. Then Iggy fouled him away from the ball, so they called intentional. So Beilein was going off that they didn't call the first foul that wasn't intentional.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^
Ah gotchya. Though seeing a gif online even the attempted foul after he passes the ball is pretty close to an intentional...ball was long gone and he swipes, could've been called there too imo though obviously not as egregious as the foul 25 ft away from the ball!
January 19th, 2019 at 4:41 PM ^
Well, you so rarely see Beilein getting mad, so I'll say the refs fucked up there.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
Beilein certainly was uncharacteristically hot today, but we see him get upset like this a couple times a year. He's not constantly chewing out officials, so it's notable, but it's not unheard of. It'll happen another time or two this year, probably.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:59 PM ^
"...a couple times a year..." Out of how many bad calls in a season? Hence, rare.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:38 PM ^
Do any MGoRefs know if the college rule is different from the NBA? I remember in the Hack-a-Shaq days you could more or less announce to the ref that you were taking a foul, touch Shaq on the arm, and they would call it a common foul.
Obviously, that must not be the college rule.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:13 PM ^
Rule 4 Definitions, Section 15 Foul, Art 2c Flagrant 1 (p.46, p.49 of pdf):
"4. Fouling a player clearly away from the ball who is not directly involved
with the play, specifically designed to stop or keep the clock from
starting;"
I think it would be better worded: "... to stop the clock or keep it from starting."
January 19th, 2019 at 4:31 PM ^
Hey, I'll happily take this understandable loss in exchange for no one getting injured on that ice rink playing surface.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:32 PM ^
FIRE EVERYONE SEASON OVER AHHHHHHHGHGJSKDMEKW
Anyone else not caring about this loss already?
January 19th, 2019 at 10:31 PM ^
I care a lot more than I thought I would a couple weeks ago (knowing then that this was a good candidate for a first loss). MSU winning at Nebraska made this a lot more important in the conference title race.
Did not expect to be sitting third in the conference right now but here we are.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:32 PM ^
It is a grave injustice and an affront to the sport any time Wisconsin wins a basketball game.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:05 PM ^
Logged in to upvote.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^
I find our offense modestly frustrating; there are some players who play well and there are several guys who can have great games at a given time and light it up.
But the offense often lacks some flow. It's not fun in the way that the Burke or late Walton offenses were.
Doesn't mean the team is bad or that they can't win it all (they can, and wow is that still insane to think about) but it can cause problems in games like this. It wasn't just that Matthews and Iggy never got going; they never even seemed to be in a position to try.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
Livers needs to sit more. He is a non factor. Obviously he practices better than John's. I expect this will change.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:51 PM ^
do you feel bad after you hit save on posts like this?
January 19th, 2019 at 9:20 PM ^
Livers has been great this year.
January 19th, 2019 at 10:42 PM ^
Livers is the most efficient player on the team. He backs up a guy that scored zero points today. ZERO! And your conclusion is that he needs to sit more?
January 19th, 2019 at 10:59 PM ^
blueday ... you've been smoking too much. Livers has had a great year. For some inexplicable reason today, NO one wanted to take open 3's. Mathews, Iggy, Livers and Brooks all had wide open 3's when the game was up for grabs, but none of them wanted to take it. Very odd for this team ... TAKE GOOD SHOTS and open 3's are GOOD SHOTS.
Go Blue!
January 20th, 2019 at 7:49 AM ^
This is one of the most blithely ignorant posts I have seen on mgoblog, and that is saying something.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:28 PM ^
Need more ball movement. But in the end, this team is a pretty meh shooting team and that creates other problems with spacing. It is what it is at some level. The flip side is these guys are way better defenders.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
Good time for some perspective.
That Burke team was the best offense in the country that year and one of the best offenses in the kenpom era to that point. They were historically good.
The Walton senior season (two years ago) was even better, despite being the 4th best in the country.
So no, this offense is not that good.
But the 2013 team still slogged to 53 points at OSU that year, got crushed 72-52 at MSU, scored only 62 in an overtime game against Wisconsin, etc.
The 2017 team scored 46, FORTY-SIX, in a game at South Carolina, 53 against Texas, 64 at Wisconsin (hmmm, I sense a pattern there), etc.
Today was by far Michigan's worst offensive performance since the second game of the season. And it was at the Troll Center against a very good defense. A defense that is built to take away your flow, with some help from referees that called offensive fouls on flop that would have been technical fouls on the defense in the NBA.
This is still the 18th best offense in the country. They still have six different guys that can go off for 15+ on any given night.
There were teaching moments in this game and you can bet the Beilein will be teaching.
January 21st, 2019 at 11:41 AM ^
I realize I'm late to this weekend party and basically talking to myself right now, but the is a good post.
The problem with fans of any team, and specifically Michigan basketball fans here, is that the majority only watch Michigan Basketball. The team is going to have bad games. It happens to EVERYONE. Absolutely everyone. ZERO exceptions.
We're good. Really good. On to the next one.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:40 PM ^
Can't turn it over 24% of the time given that this is a mediocre shooting team.
Just one game and a tough one. But MSU is playing very well and has picked up 2 good road wins already plus the one loss lead. With our tough closing schedule, we're going to have to win these 60/40 games like @Iowa and @Indiana if we are going to win regular season title. Might need to win both of those now.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:15 PM ^
Yep, there was some leverage on this game given how well MSU is playing. I think those are games M needs to win if they want a chance at an outright title.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:45 PM ^
16 turnovers, 17 personal fouls from key guys and no points from Iggy and only 5 from Matthews. It was bound to happen ... an off night from everyone (x-Teske).
January 19th, 2019 at 4:55 PM ^
The team seemed to react with too much frustration to the typical Big Ten road reffing. That surprised me. I'm hoping this experience will pay off for what we'll face from the zebras in East Lansing and Bloomington.
January 19th, 2019 at 9:27 PM ^
I thought the team looked confident and poised up until the final 2-1/2 minutes when shit started unraveling. They made mistakes and missed a ton of shots but did their best to cover up those mistakes with good defense and hustle plays. This wasn't a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination.
January 19th, 2019 at 4:58 PM ^
When Beilein’s offense devolves into heroball, as it did for far too many possessions today, it’s ugly. When he’s got them buying into ball movement and off-the-ball motion, it’s beautiful...surprise, open shots! Matthews, Iggy and Poole forced too much to get their own, and it bogged down. I’ve noticed this same trend for years with our teams. A little humble pie generally gets them sharing the ball again and moving without it in order to generate better looks and team bball.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:07 PM ^
I don't think the issue is that the guys weren't "buying in" to the idea of ball movement, though Iggy is obviously not much of a passer. I suspect that smarter basketball minds will be able to identify things Wisconsin did to disrupt Michigan's offense that MIchigan will have to have answers for.
Matthews and Iggy only took five shots each today. That is, frankly, not enough; it also seems to be a product of Wisconsin defending them well, forcing them to pass to someone else. Where heroball happened, I think it was usually a consequence of having few good options (and, occasionally, guys passing up open looks that they should be taking). Other than a couple of shots from Poole, who was hot early, I didn't see a lot of shots that made me think "what are you taking that so early in the clock for," which is something I will absolutely gripe about when it happens.
January 20th, 2019 at 7:14 AM ^
I just watched a couple clips-which are not that informative...and I think you have this correct. In-conference play is a great leveler of the playing field. Your opposition intimately knows your strengths and weaknesses...and good coaches know how to force you toward and beat them with your weaknesses. Better teams often fall into the trap of thinking they can beat a lesser team-even with their weakest link(s). I think this happened yesterday.
BTW, I upvoted you not only because I agree with but you but to also get you out of the negative column here. I find it most remarkable how people are offended by the truth :)
January 19th, 2019 at 5:14 PM ^
It’s a really sad state of affairs when a team such as Wisconsin has to flop their way to victory. If I was refereeing their games, I would be doling out unsportsmanlike conduct penalties left and right. Their flopping definitely constitutes “intent to deceive,” but more than that, it signals to the audience that they don’t feel they can win playing straight up, Mano-y-mano. They are cowards and cheaters and chicken-shits. When there is contact to your mid-section and I can see you throw your head and shoulders back, that’s not contact that Michigan initiated. It’s flopping around like a fish out of water. The Wisconsin basketball program should be ashamed and embarrassed by that piss-poor display today. Whatever happened to “sportsmanship” and playing with dignity and class?
January 19th, 2019 at 11:23 PM ^
I agree with everything you said except that you seem to be putting this on Wisconsin and expect them to show some sportsmanship. As long as that is enabled by the refs (which it is), why wouldn't they do it? You are absolutely correct that they can't beat Michigan playing straight up. So if the refs are going to give them those flops, good on them.
That flop by Trice (I think) on Livers in the first half was one of the worst offensive fouls I've ever seen.
The one where Iggy made slight contact with Reuvers after a jump-stop and sent Reuvers flying was nearly as bad.
January 20th, 2019 at 12:01 AM ^
Didn't see it, (outside shoveling snow) but if they were flopping around so blatantly, it's the opposite of integrity.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:16 PM ^
Fair officiating and UM wins this game - very ugly, but still a win. No doubt in my mind.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:29 PM ^
Gota love a good global warming reference.
January 19th, 2019 at 5:53 PM ^
Did Brooks take a long 2 or not? The box score says no.
January 19th, 2019 at 11:01 PM ^
he never took a shot. Why, no fucking clue.
Go Blue!
January 20th, 2019 at 8:48 AM ^
I saw it I swear
January 19th, 2019 at 6:03 PM ^
This was just a bad game. Every team has them. Michigan has had a couple but not paid a price. The world isn't ending and they are leaps beyond what a typical Michigan team does in mid January. Remember, in previous years, this is where we wonder if we can squeak into the tourney as a bubble at large. This is fine. They'll recover and beat the ever loving snot out of Minnesota on Tuesday. I actually kind of feel sorry for Minnesota and what's about to happen to them...
January 19th, 2019 at 9:45 PM ^
Never feel bad for a Pitino coached team.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:27 PM ^
It sucks to lose, but this wasn't a team designed to go undefeated and losing close (that final margin was due in large part to the last 20 seconds of the game) on the road isn't a bad way to go down. Yes the team has to figure out how to generate more efficient offense and stay out of foul trouble, but that's an issue for basically everyone in college basketball. I do think that Iggy getting right will be a huge plot point these next couple of games; they can't survive without him.
January 19th, 2019 at 6:57 PM ^
Matthews has been M.I.A. for several games. They were steamrolling teams when he was hitting jumpers.
January 19th, 2019 at 7:22 PM ^
We were bound to have a game like this. Big Ten road games are tough. Luckily we dont have to wait too long to get revenge on these guys.
January 19th, 2019 at 7:41 PM ^
Floppers win
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