Michigan 76, Ohio State 74 Comment Count

Ace



Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog

Aaron Craft lay on the floor, hands behind his head, defeated.

For 45 minutes, Craft and his Buckeyes put up a hell of a fight, trading blows with Trey Burke's Michigan squad in front of an electric Crisler Center crowd. Both point guards had their moments of triumph—Burke tallying 16 points and eight assists with just two turnovers, Craft pocketing three steals and scoring 11 points of his own.

In overtime, though, Burke came out on top, redeeming his missed three at the end of regulation with an improbable pull-up triple on Michigan's first overtime possession—a shot that would ultimately provide the winning points. Craft had a jumper from the elbow to give Ohio State the win with the shot clock turned off, but it was Burke's turn to win with his defensive exploits, swatting the shot to Glenn Robinson III. Craft was forced to foul—hard enough to get a review, as it turned out—and Robinson gave the Wolverines a two-point lead with his first free throw. The second was off the mark, however, and the ball found its way to Craft, who quickly drove the length of the court for a game-tying layup, only to be blocked again by Tim Hardaway Jr., and left to stare at the rafters waiting for a whistle that never came.

It was a classic finish to a classic game, in front of a Crisler crowd that was louder than any since the days of the Fab Five (or so I'm told—it was certainly the loudest I've heard dating back to the Ellerbe era). Michigan landed the first haymaker, racing out to an 18-8 lead, but the Buckeyes crawled their way back into it—a jumper from unexpected star LaQuinton Ross gave the visitors a 31-30 halftime edge.

Ohio State pushed their lead to as much as eight in the second half, but they couldn't find an answer for Hardaway, who hit all five of his second-half three-point attempts—including triples on three straight Wolverine possessions—en route to a game-high 23 points. Still, the Wolverines struggled to close the gap completely, failing to guard the interior time and again. It wasn't until a Nik Stauskas three with 3:23 to play that Michigan finally retook the lead, one that lasted all of 24 seconds before an Amir Williams free throw tied it up. After trading buckets, Burke's last-second triple caught only iron to bring on overtime.

While Jordan Morgan was limited to four ineffective minutes with a lingering ankle injury, Mitch McGary (at left, Upchurch) shined in 29 productive minutes—his 14 points proved huge, but even bigger were his four steals and stellar outlet passing, sparking the offense without putting the ball in the hoop himself. When Morgan is back at 100%, he'll still have his starting spot—Jon Horford again got the start tonight—but McGary has made his play for a bigger chunk of the minutes. Fellow freshman Stauskas knocked down 3-of-5 triples to do his part, while Robinson again struggled offensively, needing eight shots to notch ten points.

For the Buckeyes, Deshaun Thomas led the way as usual with 17 points, but Robinson's improved defensive effort forced him to take 15 shots to get there. Instead, it was Ross who repeatedly came up with big shots, pouring in 16 while shooting 7-for-10 from the field.

When the final buzzer sounded, however, it was Michigan coming away with the narrowest of victories. A missed call here, a lucky shot there, any small moment could have made the difference; this time it's the Buckeyes who will stare at the ceiling and wonder.

Comments

Spontaneous Co…

February 6th, 2013 at 8:16 AM ^

I disagree slightly.  While I think JB's offense is conducive to three point shooting, I think we've seen with this improved talent and athleticism that our offense is, thankfully, less 3 dependent and I am sure JB like that.  I think last night what you saw was an overwhelming defense effort put forth by OSU with extremely athletic players who were coached to take away our pick and roll and drive and dish game.  I think we let them dictate that and so we fell back to what is easy on the offensive end - shooting 3's.  Luckily, we had THJ on fire.

 

I hate to see another team impose its will on us - but that just happened.  I noticed a stark difference in sense of urgency from Burke and THJ compared to the rest of the team.  Luckily, we have loads of talent.

El Jeffe

February 6th, 2013 at 8:50 AM ^

Sense of urgency--yes. I feel like M has for many years been lacking in that department. I hate the cliche that coaches mold their players in their image, but I think about it like this: between Beilein, Izzo, and Matta:

Q1: Who would you want to raise your child, teach him or her basketball, have a conversation with, or have over for dinner?

A1: Beilein, obvs.

Q2: In a post-apocalyptic world where zombie hordes walk the earth to feast on human braaaaaainssss, who would you want to lead the plucky band of heroes to raid the zombie castle and steal their supplies of boat fuel so you can escape to Madagascar?

A2: Matta or Izzo.

So as bloated and purple-faced as Matta is and as oily and pure evil as Izzo is, those bastards sure do know how to get max defensive effort out of their players.

I'm thrilled we got the win, of course, but I feel like it covered up a lot of problems. I mean, THJ won't always go completely insane from 3. We might have scored other ways if he hadn't, but we needed every bit of his heroics in this one. Fortunately, I'm sure Beilien recognizes that too.

Needs

February 6th, 2013 at 8:57 AM ^

I think you have it mostly correct. I don't think it's so much that Belein relies on the 3 as that he prioritizes floor spacing above all else. He did it at WVU with big lineups, with a bunch of stretch 4 and 5s (Pittsnogle). He does it at Michigan by playing 3 wings and a screener. If he inserts a second big who doesn't have a post game (which none of ours have) it hampers the 2 man games that are the heart of the offense, because it brings another help defender down low. With an interior help defender, no defenders are forced to help off the wings, you don't get the open 3s, and the offense gets clogged up. 

Next year, with Donnal, who supposedly has range to 24 feet or so, you'll see a lot more 2 big lineups, because it will still allow M to space the floor.

That said, I think he'll have to figure out a way to play 2 bigs more against state, because I don't think we'll be able to handle whichiever 2 of Dawson/Nix/Payne are on the floor with the Big/GRIII frontcourt.

club2230

February 6th, 2013 at 7:59 AM ^

I was thinking to myself the whole game that we were missing Morgan's defense.  I think it has become pretty clear in the last two games that he really is that glue guy.  There were too many breakdowns in the post.  

Spontaneous Co…

February 6th, 2013 at 8:19 AM ^

We miss him a ton of defense.  I'm not sure most are breakdowns in the post, though.  I think most are breakdowns in communication that show up via bad rotations and are ultimately result in easy buckets and putbacks in the post.  The only conclusions I can come to are that the better teams have found a weakness and are learning to exploit it or there is something Morgan brings to the table as you've described.

willywill9

February 6th, 2013 at 8:42 AM ^

Anyone else kept feeling the dong punch from ESPN, calling out Ohio's record vs michigan in football, MBB, and evein Women's BB?  

Someone else mentioned it as well, but when I saw "Top 10 nominee" on Craft's three pointer, i about lost it.  And, the last play of the game wasn't even a blatant foul, even without a "make-up" call.  You simply don't get that call in that situation (or most others with good officiating.)

The Geek

February 6th, 2013 at 8:54 AM ^

Great summary, Ace. What a great game!

I'm still pissed over DV's comment that Michigan has the "2nd  best fight song in the country, behind Notre Dame." What an incondite comment.... Did he NOT realize he was in A^? I realize he said "only joking" but that shit ain't funny, man...

I'll be glad when Aaron Craft graduates, what a competitor...

Comments about ohio's dominance over our football and basketball programs is fair... Probably didn't need to keep mentioning it, though.

[Edit: How could I forget to mention: Denard in Maize Rage!!!!!!]

Metzger

February 6th, 2013 at 9:49 AM ^

Was anyone else dissappointed at how quiet the arena seemed on TV?  Against Indiana, while watching on tv, you felt like that place was going to EXPLODE!  Yesterday, while it was still quit amped, seemed a whole lot more subdued. 

Hardware Sushi

February 6th, 2013 at 9:53 AM ^

Stauskas not fucking around with the ball at the end after Deshaun Thomas' missed three and McGary finishing on that sick pass from Burke would've ended the game in regulation.

Otherwise, I'm have nothing to complain about. Great W.

Needs

February 6th, 2013 at 11:58 AM ^

Yeah, I think his passing is the weakest part of his offensive game. He sees the court really well but doesn't always have the ability to get the ball where he wants it to go.

I'll mostly give him a pass on the Thomas 3. He lost track of Smith, Jr., but it was just bad luck to have the ball deflect right to Thomas in perfect shooting position. 

jmblue

February 6th, 2013 at 11:15 AM ^

When Morgan is back at 100%, he'll still have his starting spot—Jon Horford again got the start tonight—but McGary has made his play for a bigger chunk of the minutes.

I'm not sure about this. McGary was very productive offensively and again was active in the passing lanes (4 steals!), but in man-to-man defense he had a rough outing, and really struggled to keep his man off the glass. Our defensive rebounding has gone from a strength to a weakness with Morgan out.

User -not THAT user

February 6th, 2013 at 11:58 AM ^

I admit I follow this sport as much as most follow hockey, but I am glad that a highly ranked Michigan team could finally beat another highly ranked team.  Especially if that other highly ranked team is Ohio.  Hooray for the ball of basket varsity!

nroumel

February 6th, 2013 at 2:20 PM ^

(1) What I saw was Craft look upcourt, see the breakaway, then turn to Robinson and cold cock him. I firmly believe he did that on purpose to stop the breakaway dunk. If the refs have the guts to blow the whistle there to stop the game winning basket, then they should have had the guts to get the call right and call it intentional and/or flagrant. 

Maybe the subsequent late no-call on Craft was their way of making it up, but the no-call for such light contact was consistent with their officiating the whole game.Did you see Motta put that giant #30 on Burke for a few minutes? I think he did so for the very purpose of hammering Trey into submission, after realizing how lax the game was being called.

That being said, Craft's a hell of a competitor and a great defender.

 

(2) As season ticket holder since the first year of the Fab Five, the crowd last night was enthusiastic early but generally subdued at many key spots down the stretch as OSU frustrated us time and time again in the second half. It has been, and can get, much more electric.