Anybody see the Bball game?

Submitted by atticusb on

All I've seen is the box score/recap (here).  Z only got 3 pts in 18 minutes... but added 9 assists!  Simmons/Brooks combined for only 4 pts and 1 assist in 24 minutes.  Robinson, Matthews, and Wagner led all scorers with 21, 20 and 18.  ESPN's recap says "up and down" performance, with the game close into the second half.  They quote Matthews as saying "Shots missed. It's a game of imperfection, you're not going to make every shot. I'm going to continue to shoot those shots and hopefully the ball drops."  That makes me wonder... I'm not a big fan of hero-ball...  Anybody see the game and have comments?

allintime23

November 12th, 2017 at 8:30 AM ^

I’m not surprised by the stats and Game recap. It will take some time before the teams gets its groove. Hopefully we can steal one from UCLA. LSU will be a toss up and NC will prob be a night we’ll want to forget.

ppudge

November 12th, 2017 at 8:34 AM ^

I was there. Lots of missed shots and North Florida was 7 for 10 on 3's at one point. It was close until about halfway through the 2nd half when we went on a run to blow it open. As always, when shots are falling things look a lot better.



We appear to be a 3-headed monster with Robinson and Matthews each getting over 20 and Mo had a double-double. MAAR was non-existent on offense which was a little disappointing. We forced a ton of turnovers but didn't convert on a lot of our breaks.



I thought Teske and Austin Davis were good in their limited minutes. Still need a point guard to step up. Simpson did a decent job but he is like Tum Tum Nairn at MSU - not much of a threat to shoot. He did hit one 3 and that was it.



I will say that we did not do much with the pick and roll. Not sure if that was because North Florida played a lot of zone against us or if our guys just aren't comfortable with it yet.

ReegsShannon

November 12th, 2017 at 8:44 AM ^

I was at the game. The offense was sloppy but it’s not super unexpected. North Florida played a zone and we weren’t used to it



The defense was horrible for most of the game.

A2MIKE

November 12th, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^

Missed Walton a ton. The sooner they find a pg, the better. All have massive flaws. Zavier is a liability on offense, not as much as tumtum up in EL but close. Brooks is better offensively but make freshman mistakes. Literally threw the ball to the other team for a layup because he made the next pass without seeing the defense. Simmons is not a true pg. Probably more of a combo guard.

robpollard

November 12th, 2017 at 10:47 AM ^

It's early, so I understand completely Beilien is trying things out, but with about 9 minutes to go in a close game, our lineup was:

- Brooks, Watson, Robinson, Livers and either MAAR or Austin Davis (I can't remember).



That's a lineup you'd put in if you were up by 20,not tied. I was shocked. This lineup did OK, but we didn't pull away until we finally had the starters back in there (and ran UNF off the court).



We played poorly most of the night -- we *constantly* got beat off the dribble, so much so I wondered if it was on purpose (to funnel dribblers to our "shot blockers" inside?). We gave up tons of open 3s (which they hit). Fortunately, UNF was very sloppy and we were also very aggressive about getting steals on passes. Also, smartly, in the second half we started feeding Mo inside and he did well, though he could have done even better. Takeaways:



- Matthews is good, but seemed to be pressing a bit (understandable in his first home game). He is a athletic and a volume shooter.

- Duncan Robinson is Duncan Robinson - a fantastic 3-point shooter and a bad on the ball defender. He could have had 30-plus point if we properly fed him for wide-open 3's in the corner (which we didn't, for some reason; he was open all night).

- If Eli Brooks is only 170 lbs, Michael Owenu is under 300 lbs. He is remarkably thick-bodied for a PG. It's his first game, so I won't comment much, but I was surprised how much time he got -- Simpson is clearly a better defender and, at least in this game, there was no noticeable difference in offense (both did squat and were a bit careless with the ball)

- We need to figure out a "Two Towers" offense. It would be opponent driven, but I think teams would struggle mightly to stop Wagner on the floor at the same time with Teske/ Davis (though I don't know what we would do on D -- 2-3 zone, maybe?). Those latter two have skills and provide rebounding we don't have, otherwise.



Finally, there were maybe 5-6000 people there. UM needs to figure out a way to get bball tickets for these body bag games to more actual people (e.g., sell 200 level for $5/piece to all local school basketball teams), especially on a Saturday night.

MGoBender

November 12th, 2017 at 11:00 AM ^

UM offered high school bball teams $10 tickets for this game.  (I'm a coach).  $5 tickets for the exhibition, $10 for this and some games.  They are even offering group/team rates for B10 games, but the prices increase.

Honestly, the crowd was OK for a season opener against a body bag.  I've seen much, much worse.  Remember, during games that aren't that exciting, a ton of people are always out on the concourse, so it's tough to tell the attendance just by how many seats are filled.

robpollard

November 12th, 2017 at 11:32 AM ^

I went to get some food, and unless the time I went was totally different than the rest, there weren't a couple thousand people out there.



It's is good to point out they offer some deals (I went on a $10 ticket myself last night), but they need to do more. The $5 has to be for regular season *and* they need to involve the teams/groups more. I didn't see any "Let's welcome the students from Ypsi Community High School! (Picture on the screen)!" etc. Plus, get those kids involved in the breaks/half time games -- shooting 3 pointers or doing races.



Finally, StubHub, VividSeats, etc is typically a waste land for UM basketball, even when there are literally thousands of unused seats. UM needs to figure out a way to get those seats in the hands of people who will go to the game.

MGoBender

November 12th, 2017 at 11:19 AM ^

Your game takes are a little on the pessimistic side, I think. 

Yeah, that was the lineup with 9 minutes to go.  The lineup with 8 minutes to go was the starters.  Clearly, Beilein was going to go to the starters at the 8 minute timeout - and even did a possession before it.

I think you're right on Matthews being a volume shooter.  He has a step of athleticism that others on the team don't.  I think it's going to be a part of the deal; he's going to take some shots where you cock your head, but at times you need a guy like that. I was questioning the turn-around jumper in the middle of the zone, but then he hit 2-3 in a row during the late run.

North Florida played exclusively in zone.  They started in 2-3, but then played a 1-3-1/amoeba hybrid*.  Weird zone, Michigan will never see it again.  That plus Beilein toying with an expanded bench makes me not worried in the slightest.

My player bullets:

  • Zavier looks fine.  Clearly the leader in the PG race.  Had a few times he got in the middle of the zone, but not enough.  Has the quickness to do it.  He's going to be a distributing PG and that's fine with Matthews, Wagner and Robinson taking the bulk of the shots.
  • Eli Brooks is a head of Simmons as the backup PG.  At least for now, but with both in their first year at UM, it's a bit of a surprise.  Eli does look big, but he has some quickness and an ability to create.  Solid defender, I think (tough to tell against NF).
  • Isiah Livers is definitely in the rotation.  Looked great with Wagner, making and receiving some passes to slice up the zone.  It was nice to see they are already playing so well off of each other.
  • Wagner had a nice night; easily could have had 25+.  Missed some short bunny hook shots that hit back rim.  Only took 1 three, I think.
  • Matthews is legit; as I mentioned he/Beilein will need to reign in a bit of the shot selection, but I think he's good enough to be the go-to scorer, along with Wagner.
  • Robinson passed up at least 1 open three.  Dude has the greenest of all lights.  He needs to shoot to make up for his minuses on the defensive end.
  • Teske looked promising. Knowing Beilein, though, he'll need to do a little more to maintain a rotation spot. Defensively, he was OK.
  • Ibi Watson is a bit buried on the bench, it seems.  He did good things when he got in there.
  • Jordan Poole is this year's bench mobbing star.  Please someone gif his reaction to Duncan's dunk.

*They were set up in a 1-3-1 formation, but had a guard/wing in the middle.  The middle guy would step out and swap with the top guy in an amoeba/1-1-3 like rotation. I've never seen it before; interesting. 

OneFootIn

November 12th, 2017 at 12:08 PM ^

Last night was one of those ugly early season games that make you wonder if the team will ever be any good. But I think it's mostly just rustiness and guys finding their comfort zones in the system with a bunch of new guys, etc. Beilein will get that corrected with some time.

I didn't get to watch the GVSU game so this was my first chance to watch the new guys. Obviously no one played anything close to a perfect game and our sample size of minutes is still small, but I had a strong sense that these young guns are going to be great.

Livers looked ready to have an impact with his speed and power. Poole looked like he had no idea what to do the first time he found the ball in his hands, but later he made a beautiful shot that made it clear he could be really good. Brooks looked very comfortable out there for a freshman at guard, and a lot more physically ready than some young guys. And Matthews obviously looks like a huge pick up.

It might not always be pretty, but I think this will be another fun Michigan team to watch.