[Paul Sherman]

Maryland 64, Michigan 58 Comment Count

Alex.Drain January 19th, 2023 at 11:00 PM

The 2022-23 Michigan Wolverines are a young college basketball team and with that comes quite a few ups-and-downs. Players who can look awesome one day can look terrible a few days later. And matchups with the same opponent can look totally different the second time around. That's more or less what happened tonight: Michigan's second meeting with Maryland was entirely different than the lopsided first meeting and Wolverine players who excelled on Sunday against Northwestern struggled through a bad night. It was a battle on the glass and finding consistency at both ends of the floor and in the end, the Wolverines succumbed to the Maryland Terrapins 64-58 tonight in College Park. 

The first matchup was defined by Michigan's red hot start out of the game, leading by a score of 17-0 at one point in that game. Though Michigan got the first bucket tonight, it was decisively not that kind of game. Maryland opened the game showing a 2-3 zone defensively, slowing down Michigan's offense and taking advantage of a few missed Jett Howard open 3's to hold the Wolverines at bay. On the other side of the court, Maryland got to the rim with ease in the first few minutes and were able to eventually build a 15-6 lead when Juwan Howard called his first timeout- bolstered by a four minute stretch in which Michigan scored two points total. 

Michigan ended the offensive funk when Tarris Reed Jr. drove the rack and slammed home a resounding dunk and that's around the team that the perimeter shooting started to heat up. Jett Howard knocked down a triple to make it 21-13 and the Wolverines mostly hung with the Terps for the next several minutes before mounting a surge late in the half. Over the last five or so minutes of the opening stanza, the defense started to tighten up for the Wolverines. They held Maryland to five points in five minutes during the waning moments, battling through continued defensive rebounding problems to get stops, and started to hit timely threes. Hunter Dickinson stepping out from beyond the arc gave Maryland a bit of trouble, hitting two threes late, including one with under ten seconds to go. Dug McDaniel fouled Jahmir Young with 0.9 left in the first half, giving him a one-and-one (which Young went 1/2 on), and after which the halftime score stood at 34-32 Terrapins. 

[Paul Sherman]

It was an odd feeling at halftime, the defensive problems at the rim, rebounding the ball, and offensive rhythm standing out as particularly ugly, yet Michigan trailed by just two points. Hunter Dickinson and Jett Howard led the way with 10 and 11 points, respectively, as those two accounted for five of Michigan's six made threes in the first half, while offensive contributions were pretty minimal elsewhere. Young led Maryland with 11 points, while Hakim Hart and Donta Scott each had 5 for the Terps, who shot a dismal 2/10 from three but were very efficient inside. 

The second half got off to a sleepy start for both teams, six total point scored between the two teams in the opening four minutes, and ten total points in the first six minutes. A spurt from Terrance Williams II consisting of a pair of offensive rebounds culminating in a put-back and then a drive and score tied the game at 42, the first time it had been tied since the early stages of the first half. The score stayed close for the next few minutes, before Maryland stitched together a 7-0 run around the midway point of the second half. Hakim Hart swished a three, an extended possession ended in a Donta Scott dunk, and then a Kobe Bufkin turnover ended in a Hart layup to make it 51-44 Maryland. 

That 7-0 run coincided with the beginning of a sequence in which the teams combined to score on five straight possessions, a rare of opening up of offense in the back 30 minutes of the game, Michigan getting five from Joey Baker but unable to pair it with enough stops. After Young toasted Dug McDaniel, Juwan called a timeout with the score 55-49 Terrapins and 7:20 to go in the game. The timeout didn't do much, as Maryland scored the next four after it to bump the lead all the way up to double digits, while Michigan did not score for nearly four minutes until a Dickinson three snapped the skid with 4:05 remaining. 

After that three, the score stood at 59-52 Maryland and the Dickinson make didn't wake Michigan back up. In fact, neither team would score for another 2.5 minutes, when Jahmir Young hit a free throw to finally put a point up on the board. Michigan was getting stops, but nothing was falling on the offensive end. Terrance Williams II made a layup to trim the lead to 60-54 with 1:26 left and after a miss from Donta Scott, Michigan ran the floor and Hunter Dickinson got an offensive board off a Williams missed three and put it back in. 60-56 Maryland. The problem was the time, just 40 seconds remaining in the game and Michigan had to foul. Williams sent Young to three throw line, and he made them both, making the score 62-56 with 33 seconds remaining.

[Paul Sherman]

Michigan failed to get a bucket and even though Ian Martinez missed the front-end of a 1-and-1, Michigan wouldn't get points back on the board until there were five seconds remaining. Those were two free throws from Hunter Dickinson, which made it 62-58, but once Young went back to the line to swish two, the game was over. When the horn sounded, it was a 64-58 Maryland win. 

For Michigan, it was a story of younger pieces who had strong games against Northwestern having a regression to the mean sort of game. Dug McDaniel, coming off the best game of his young career, was miserable tonight. He shot 2/10 from the floor, turned it over three times, and fought through defensive problems on and off for much of the night. Kobe Bufkin, strong recently, was 1/6 from the field and 0/2 from three for two points. Tarris Reed Jr., coming on strong recently, had four points but went 0/4 from the free throw line, including one ugly airball. Will Tschetter was also quiet, with two points on one attempted field goal. Hunter Dickinson and Jett Howard were the rocks for Michigan, but they needed more from the supporting cast, and didn't get it. 

Maryland was powered by Young's 26 points, doing so on 9/19 shooting from the floor and 8/10 from the line, including those clutch free throws late. Julian Reese put up nine crucial rebounds, including four offensive, a number matched by Donta Scott. Scott's day offensively was subpar (3/11 from the floor), but he did a lot to challenge Michigan on the glass. Maryland shot a horrible 3/15 from three, struggling on other twos as well, but did enough inside to get the win. They also rebounded 44% of their misses, a number that is Michigan's worst since the CMU upset. In other words, frustrating old tendencies were back in order tonight. 

Juwan Howard's crew will be looking to shake those tendencies on Sunday when they take the court again against the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Michigan pounded Minnesota at The Barn back in December and will look to bank another comfortable B1G win at Crisler. That game is scheduled for 1:00 pm EST and is set to be broadcast on BTN. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

Comments

JMK

January 19th, 2023 at 11:23 PM ^

I was there tonight. Man, do Maryland fans hate Hunter Dickinson and Juwan Howard. It’s kind of sad, though. It seems like they really want a rival, but no one cares enough about them to oblige. 

Kilgore Trout

January 19th, 2023 at 11:28 PM ^

Bufkin not attempting a shot in the last 17 minutes of the game is not a recipe for success. They are all young and have ups and downs, but I continue to be frustrated by the lack of an emphasis on Bufkin, Jett, and Dickinson. This is a bit of a mish mash roster that doesn't appear to be being put in the best position to succeed. 

RAH

January 20th, 2023 at 12:44 AM ^

In past years, it seems like when our guys drove they were always aware of Dickinson. Once or twice a game they would realize they were pulling defenders’ attention away from Dickinson (or Teske) and find a way to get it to him for a slam. Now it seems like once they start a drive, they are absolutely committed to throwing up a shot even if they can’t get to a position to have a reasonable chance of making it. There are definitely times when when they could’ve gotten it to Dickinson instead.

bronxblue

January 20th, 2023 at 12:00 AM ^

This team plays like a young squad that is more energetic and engaged at home and less so on the road.

Howard deserves a fair bit of blame for some of these performances but this team has also just had a lot of weird bounces.  Like the CMU game it felt like Maryland got a number of 50/50 balls in that first half and that spurred great offensive rebounding numbers by them.  Some of that is effort (or lack thereof) from Michigan but there were also instances where a shot would just bounce around and wind up as an OR.  The fact they got better in the second half of the boards felt a bit like a reversion to the mean as much as an increase in effort.

That first half defense was both atrocious but also, at least on the scoreboard, not particularly egregious.  Maryland got a fair number of layups but they also shot poorly from outside with some solid play on the perimeter defensively.  

Anyway, this team was 10-8 at this point last year and I figure it'll go the same with them winning and losing games at a metronomic pace and they'll maybe squeeze into the tourney if the wins come against the better teams on the schedule.  We'll see.  Definitely not going to be an enjoyable ride.

 

Sam1863

January 20th, 2023 at 3:01 AM ^

I was watching the first half, but this team's RichRod-like inability to get a stop was pissing me off, and I turned it off before the break. Looks like that was the right call.

Rufus X

January 20th, 2023 at 7:39 AM ^

I don't agree with the general premise here. Yes, a young team will certainly see some bumps in the road, but this loss is on Juwan more than anyone else. So much lack of offensive flow, consistent defensive lapses, and got outschemed at halftime. I feel kind of the same way about Phil Martelli as I did about Don Brown at the end of his tenure. Great coach that had great impact at first, but has somehow lost his way.  

 

rc15

January 20th, 2023 at 7:52 AM ^

I really wonder if we’re gonna hear about a covid outbreak soon… after playing NW.

I’ve never seen so many bad passes, thinking lanes are there that aren’t, missing passes into the post by like 5ft, etc. The only time I can remember being “off” like that playing sports was when I was sick. Dug, Jace, and Kobe all seemed off.

PeteM

January 20th, 2023 at 8:20 AM ^

I'll preface this by acknowledging that my organized basketball career ended in grade school so take this for what it's worth, but what I've seen is that teams guard Michigan far out toward the perimeter (I realize that Maryland's 2-3 meant that there was a bit less of this last night than against man teams). It seems to me that when that happens Dug or Kobe (or anyone else who can handle to ball) need to be more aggressive about driving past the defender. That may sometimes result in turnovers or missed shots, but it might also put the defense a bit more on their heals, leading to more open 3s or at least room to maneuver.

melandtoto

January 20th, 2023 at 8:26 AM ^

Is it wrong to say that this is the least enjoyable team since before Novak/Douglas went to MSU and won? Im rarely a nay-sayer, and i get these are college kids, but there are 8 teams, at least, ahead of this one for the title of first one out. 

chatster

January 20th, 2023 at 8:46 AM ^

Michigan currently is ranked 77th and 12th out of 14 Big Ten teams in the NCAA Net Rankings. Seven Big Ten teams now are ranked in the Top 40 (Purdue-4, Rutgers-21, Indiana-23, Ohio State-30, Illinois-32, Iowa-35 and Michigan State-37). Michigan has seven games left against those teams (two with Indiana, none with Iowa), including four of the last six games of the regular season, three of which are on the road. LINK to Michigan's schedule. 

Michigan also has two home games left against Nebraska (NET Rank 89) and Minnesota (NET Rank 216), neither of which should be expected to improve the Wolverines’ NET rank.

Three of Michigan’s next four games are against the Big Ten teams Michigan already has beaten (home with Minnesota, at Penn State and at Northwestern). There’s a game at home against Purdue on January 26.

Michigan has a tough road ahead in order to get within miles of the NCAA Tournament Bubble. In order to qualify for the NIT, Michigan can do no worse than go 6-7 before the Big Ten Tournament. To do that, the Wolverines have to beat the three teams it already has beaten, beat Nebraska and beat two teams currently ranked higher than them in the NET rankings.

HarBooYa

January 20th, 2023 at 11:02 AM ^

Jett was 4 for 14 from field and 3 for 12 from 3 and no assists, that is distinctly a regression from his mean and not a "rock".  I absolutely love the player and his offensive upside, but his inconsistent D, rebounding effort, shot selection, and ball distribution have been mediocre (or maybe more faily, freshman like)  at best and take away as much as many of his hot streaks give.  I fear he may be another Caleb Houston or Moussa low first round type that shows flashes, but never fully gets coached up or goes through Camp Sanderson, and leaves early before imp.  He can be a complete player, improve this team so much and be top ten pick if he improves by increments on any of that stuff (particularly dumping off for easy assists like he did in Northwestern).  His development is a true litmus test for his Coach imo.

 

Goblueman

January 20th, 2023 at 11:43 AM ^

Juwan sticks with planned sub rotation regardless of how guys are playing.Prime example;2nd  half points were hard to come by then Baker hits a 3,drives for 2,a possession later he's on the bench. Dug is a bit of a hero ball player,he's taking nearly as many shots as Jett and HD.Dug is also the main reason HD has become a jump shooter rather than a rim scorer.