Michigan 83, Iowa 90
It’s hard to win on the road in the Big Ten. A career night for Eli Brooks and mini breakout for Franz Wagner couldn’t overcome a scorching night by Iowa’s shooters and a 30-5 free throw advantage for the home team that at one point got to be too much for Juwan Howard, who picked up his second technical foul this season.
The T issued not five minutes into the second half was Michigan’s seventh foul of the frame, and the best of 24 issued to Howard’s normally foul-averse team, as his Wolverines battled back from 58-52 after the ensuing free throws to take a 74-68 lead with 7:46 left in the game. Michigan also benefited from 15 Iowa turnovers, most forced from the long-anticipated debut of a lot of help against Garza in the post.
But they couldn’t hold on. Iowa went back to the two-big combo of Luka Garza, who entered the game at #2 in Kenpom’s Player of the Year standings, and the vastly underrated Ryan Kriener, neither of whom missed a shot in the final 7 minutes. Their biggest moment was a no-look behind the back pass from Connor McCaffery to Kriener, two feet behind the arc, which Kriener buried to give the Hawkeyes a crucial two-possession lead before the final minute.
The game easily could have gotten out of hand many times before that. Kriener erased an early Michigan lead with a nine-point scoring flurry as soon as he hit the court. With him and Garza on the floor Michigan tried to counter with a Teske-Davis lineup that couldn't match up. Davis quickly picked up three fouls—one on a Kriener drive (off a gorgeous feed from Cordell Pemsl) that resulted in and and-one, and two soft bleeps for trying to battle Garza for post position.
With Zavier Simpson, who picked up his second foul before the Under 12 timeout and sat the rest of the half, on the bench, Iowa’s shooters also found the space they didn’t have in Ann Arbor to contribute, as the Hawkeyes built a 47-43 lead at the break. Michigan spent the last four minutes of the frame with a Castleton-Nunez lineup against Iowa’s starters but kept in range thanks to the shooting of Eli Brooks, who missed his first five open three-pointers but made his next two while rediscovering his stroke from two.
Teske also contributed a pair of timely threes to bring Michigan back to within 1 in the last minute of both halves. Iowa answered the first with a long fadeaway three by CJ Frederick, and with fouls to give were able to force Michigan’s last possession to start on the sideline with 3 seconds left. Nunez’s inbound was sloppy, but DDJ corralled it, faked a three, and drove for a floater to go into the break down just four.
Unfortunately that was but a preview of a second half full of greater atrocities. The most galling were two arm-locks by Joe Wieskamp that fooled Terry Wymer into calling holds on Michigan. The first put Franz Wagner on the bench with his fourth foul just when he was getting hot, ending the Wolverines' big second-half run and sparking the Hawkeyes' final push. The second came with under 30 seconds left in the game, Michigan down 7, and Iowa struggling to inbound, when Wieskamp locked up DDJ, got the call, and might have had it reversed into a hook and hold. But most of the whistles--including the string that got Howard so hot at the start of the second half--were garden variety contact when a guy's doubled in the post, and Iowa's posts getting every benefit of any doubt. Garza finished 11/13 on the night at the charity stripe to go with 8/15 on twos and 2/3 on threes. If you're blaming the refs for that you haven't been watching Luka Garza this year.
Brooks nearly kept pace, playing 40 minutes, sinking 5/11 threes en route to a career-high 25 points, and consistently finding open space in the offense. Challenger David DeJulius had just 10 points on 15 shot equivalents, but chipped in four assists while Simpson sat, and played solid defense down the stretch.
Franz Wagner consistently worked open and had one potential-flashing drive under the basket as he and Iowa freshman CJ Frederick mutually embarked on a new p2p rivalry. Frederick won the first round, sinking 3/4 three-pointers while Franz was 2/8 from range, but Wagner’s 18 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists to one turnover represent encouraging new highs of activity in a tough environment.
Michigan’s bench—DDJ excluded—was certainly exposed on a night when the starters’ foul situation demanded it. Other than that, for a game that was, going in, statistically their least likely shot at a victory until March, there are a lot of encouraging signs to take away from this one. Like for one, we don’t have to go back to Iowa.
[Box score after THE JUMP]
January 18th, 2020 at 1:02 AM ^
Why doesn’t Michigan even get such obvious home cooking from the officials?!
January 18th, 2020 at 9:51 AM ^
That has always puzzled me.
January 18th, 2020 at 1:38 AM ^
These are the games that are the hardest to get over as a fan. It's one thing for your team to lose because they played poorly or the other team played very well; it's completely another to lose because the refs stole it from them. Michigan showed great heart and fight to come back from double-digits down to lead late. The fact that a ref was actually going to call a foul on Brooks when *he* got elbowed in the face says it all. Meanwhile, the most homecooking Michigan can ever hope for is merely not being screwed by the officiating. Like, wtf?
I thought Howard showed good restraint by not killing any of the officials in the middle of the court tonight. Where's that trident trophy when you need it?
With that said, Michigan is too susceptible to runs. Their biggest leads tonight were 7 and 6. After they got each, Iowa immediately went on a 10-0 run. Just can't have that, especially on the road with the refs fucking you. Had a multiple-possession lead with under 8 to go and in a blink of the eye, they were down by multiple possessions and all of a sudden a team that hasn't been shooting well now needs to make every shot to come back. Without that 3:30-minute span, even with the refs, Michigan would have had a great shot to win it at the end.
The next four are 3 home games and at the #133-ranked team in the country. Win those 4 and go to 6-4 in conference with 10 games to go, and they should be looking alright for the tournament, especially if Livers comes back at some point during that stretch. Drop any, and they'll be in trouble. Drop multiple, and it'll be bubble time.
January 18th, 2020 at 7:33 AM ^
2 home games
a game at Nebraska
a game against Rutgers in MSG
January 18th, 2020 at 8:33 AM ^
Ah....thanks. Don’t know why I thought that game replaced *their* home game.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:52 AM ^
Yeh- that's unfortunate.
January 18th, 2020 at 4:08 AM ^
I am not going to bother watching any road games at this point. The homecooking reffing is completely out of control this year even more than usual and it is not worth the frustration to watch that shit. Congrats Big ten officials you are so piss poor at doing your jobs fairly that you have made road games unwatchable. Go fuck yourselves.
January 18th, 2020 at 8:20 AM ^
Exactly. I didn’t even bother to watch this one.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:12 AM ^
I watched 4 minutes and once the fouls got to 4-0 for Iowa I knew what I was in store for. FUCK Big Ten home cooked officiating and these pussy referees who ruin the game. They make what would otherwise be a great experience completely unwatchable.
January 18th, 2020 at 2:04 PM ^
I like pussy!
I don't like these refs!
Bad choice of adjective
January 18th, 2020 at 2:03 PM ^
Anyone who didn't watch this game because they were afraid of a ref screwing, screwed themselves!
Best Michigan game since the airplane team, and yes you can count Poole's Miracle in there too!
It IS a shame the refs took that game from them, but that doesn't take away that Iowa played pretty great, and Michigan played A-Maize-ing!
I enjoyed the HAIL out of the way the team battled, and the style they played. With Livers we win that game, preposterous FT margin or no!
January 18th, 2020 at 4:26 AM ^
That stretch of 4 consecutive possessions with questionable to terrible fouls called against UM was unbelievable. Followed by the 6 step travel on Garza that ended up a foul on Teske, and I am surprised JH only got one T called.
I am usually a post about ref guy like my first paragraph but tonight I will throw up my arms and groan about Iowa making everything down the stretch. Those last 5-6 minutes were Iowa making every shot with almost nothing being at the rim. 90% at the line and 56% from 3 is ridiculous. I guess it is easier when everyone on defense has fouled out or has 4 fouls and has no idea what is going to be called a foul.
January 18th, 2020 at 5:21 AM ^
This year's B10 officiating may go down as the overall worst in the history of the conference. It's mind-numbing to watch.
January 18th, 2020 at 5:41 AM ^
Yes, the free throw disparity was awful. But for the sake of good recap and analysis can you at least mention that our D is likely the worst in the conference?
January 18th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
A 10-5 disparity would be awful. 30-5? Complete unwatchable joke.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:14 AM ^
A 10-5 disparity would be awful. 30-5? Complete unwatchable joke.
January 18th, 2020 at 11:18 AM ^
10-5 wouldn't be that big a deal, just a couple extra trips to the stripe.
But 30-5 is insane. And on the heels of 27-6 in Minneapolis, good grief.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:04 PM ^
But even if the free throw disparity was smaller we’re still not going to be very good unless we play better D. And honestly, I hate it when fans complain about the officiating. It’s one of the lamest excuses out there when there are so many other things—like playing better D, or stop fouling so much, cuz all our returning players are fouling more than they did last year—that are way more within the team’s control.
January 18th, 2020 at 7:24 AM ^
Officiating always has been and always will be the real homecourt advantage.
With this roster there will always be a foul differential-against Michigan. This is who Beilein recruited...this is about to change.
January 18th, 2020 at 4:00 PM ^
Beilein's teams did not foul much and that's one reason they won so much. I do not see how his recruiting would cause fouls
January 18th, 2020 at 7:37 AM ^
I don’t see how this team makes the tournament. The ISU and UNC wins are useless now and they can’t win on the road.
I get that the recruiting discussions are fun but Todd most likely isn’t coming and Christopher isn’t even verbally committed here, so you can’t really count him in for next year.
Howard has his work cut out for himself to turn this shit around.
But I predict a sub .500 conference record and a first round loss in the B1G tournament, followed by a NIT tourney invite where they win 2 games and then lose.
They just aren’t really good this year
January 18th, 2020 at 8:30 AM ^
I swear people are just purposely obtuse about the conference this year. Maryland and OSU are either 2-4 or 3-3 in conference, a combined 1-9 away from home on the year, and nobody is saying they won't make the tourney.
This is a fine team that isn't a top-10 one like they looked to start the year. But losing a couple of close games on the road to good teams with something like a -30 FT disparity against Minny and Iowa isn't a reason to panic.
January 18th, 2020 at 2:09 PM ^
Are you hoops Maizen, dtj?
You forget Gonzaga, or does that game just not fit your narrative?
January 19th, 2020 at 5:59 AM ^
Even if Todd doesn’t come—and I’m pretty sure you have no evidence of this—there are still three other 4 star recruits in the recruiting class, dum dum. Are you just here to troll?
January 19th, 2020 at 12:47 PM ^
Trying to keep an understanding of the current capabilities of this team and what next year will look like, including the currently signed recruits.
I don’t see a lot of shooting help coming and I don’t see a lot of guys who can go get their own basket, like a MAAR or Stauskas or Burke could.
I hope Todd and Christopher Show up but I don’t predict they will.
so that leaves us pretty much in the same boat where we are today.
I don’t know - maybe BPONE has me in its clutches.
January 20th, 2020 at 10:44 PM ^
Wagner will be a decent shooter. Livers (3P% at 42+) is likely staying for his senior year. Zeb Jackson will be coming in, and he’s a good shooter. Your knowledge of the program is really poor, and you’re fixated only on Todd and Christopher. The offense and shooting aren’t the program’s problems. It’s the D, moron.
January 18th, 2020 at 8:19 AM ^
It really is hard to watch road games like that. When the deck is stacked against you to that degree it is disheartening. I was hoping that after the first half foul disparity, the refs might take notice and make at least a feeble attempt to balance things in the second half. Nope. They doubled down. I don’t like to be a “blame it on the refs” guy, but with this game they truly stole it from us. Moral victories are still losses, but I must say that I am impressed with how the guys kept battling when it would have been easy to throw in the towel. If we had Livers last night, we win the game. Even with the pathetic B1G refs.
January 18th, 2020 at 8:24 AM ^
"If you're blaming the refs for that you haven't been watching Luka Garza this year."
I take exception to this - all credit to Garza for making his shots, but its pretty easy to do so when you can take 6 steps, bull through players, and get the benefit of every call, legit or not. When the defensive guys don't know what will be a foul, when they have to take shoulders and elbows in the face while getting called, the offensive player has a much easier time taking a shot. When the starters get a lot of fouls, the defense has to move players around to share the load, and bring in subs that wouldn't otherwise be playing. That makes it easier for the offense to score.
Garza is a good shooter and a good player, but he should have been close to fouling out. Instead, he and his team got to enjoy a 30-5 FT advantage (24-5 before intentional fouling at game end). Iowa shot the ball very well - but I will not give them credit for winning that game with the officiating the way it was.
B1G home teams are, what, 48-5, this year (or something close). That tells you how uneven the officiating is - it is NOT some BS conspiracy against Michigan, it is across the entire conference. Its complete BS, and its unwatchable. I wish media sources (of which MGoBlog is one) would do a better job of calling this what it is.
January 18th, 2020 at 10:10 AM ^
I agree. Garza is a shockingly great player and makes almost everything he throws up. But no B10 center who plays 30 minutes and faces a team who scored a ton in the paint should have so few fouls. He could do whatever he wanted without a call - moving on screens, elbows to the ribs, shuffling his feet in traffic....no calls. This isn't a game where we shot 90% from distance and didn't earn fouls...Teske, John's, Wagner, Castleton, and Davis took a ton of shots in the paint and never got calls.
No one is saying the fouls should have been even - Michigan has some guys who foul a lot and it was a road game. But if FTs are 20-10 instead of 30-5 we win comfortably. Iowa was called for one shooting foul.....ONE.
January 18th, 2020 at 1:14 PM ^
Garza is hands down the easiest player to hate in the big ten this year. You just wanna put your fist in his face anytime you see it.
January 18th, 2020 at 4:41 PM ^
Michigan scored a ton in the paint because Iowa doesn't even bother to try to protect the rim. They're like Beilein teams pre-Yaklich. They avoid fouling at all costs, they have no one to protect the rim and hence they're pretty easy to score on and are pretty bad at defense.
The combo of a defense like that and an offense like Michigan's that doesn't have a single player capable of drawing fouls means you have games where you shoot 5 FTs.
I didn't see anything that stood out as a blatant missed call on Iowa. I do think there were a couple bad calls on Michigan and Garza traveled so bad that one play but that's road life in the big ten.
January 18th, 2020 at 10:19 AM ^
Agree. It's horribly corrupt.
When Iowa played at Michigan: Iowa had 22 fouls to Michigan's 19. Iowa shot 24 FT's to Michigan's 34. Slight home cooking there.
When Michigan played at Iowa: Michigan had 23 fouls to Iowa's 13. Michigan shot 5 FT's to Iowa's 30.
What a fucking joke the Big Ten is.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:24 AM ^
It's hard to get fouled when half of your shots are bricks from 23 ft. Pissing away possessions with 23 missed three pointers is not the way you win games, or get fouled.
I also strongly agree with the comment about allowing runs that erase scraping a lead together. Beilein would have stayed if this team was going to be good. We all knew it was going to be a struggle this year. Hopefully the good recruiting momentum isn't lost.
January 18th, 2020 at 9:56 AM ^
At some point about halfway through the second half, points in the paint were dead even, so not sure I buy your narrative to explain the fouls discrepancy,
January 18th, 2020 at 10:37 AM ^
I made no mention to points in the paint. I made mention of 23 missed 3 point attempts. 34 attempts in total where there is seldom a foul. Iowa only took 16 three pointers the entire game.
Points in the paint has nothing to do with your likelihood of getting fouled. Michigan shot 67% from 2, Iowa was much worse. Again, fewer opportunities to get fouled.
January 18th, 2020 at 11:12 AM ^
I agree with your first take, completely disagree with your second take....how many of us honestly thought we were going to be that successful last year? Poole, Livers and Teske were major question marks coming into the 2018/2019 season....had no idea what Iggy was going to bring.....Beilein figured out a way to make it work and certainly Yaklich instilled his defensive prowess on the team....but to say with 100% certainty that this season was going to be a struggle is a stretch for me. We returned 2.5 starters in Teske, Simpson and Livers and had quite a few second and third year players along with having Wagner and (at the time), Jalen Wilson....there is more than enough talent there. I gladly would have believed Beilein and his staff would have figured and sorted it out. Right now, this staff (on the defensive side) is failing - stop making excuses.
January 19th, 2020 at 12:55 PM ^
I would take JB 100/100 times over JH right now if given the choice.
JH is in over his head and his lack of head coaching experience is showing and it’s become clear why PM is currently an assistant.
A team with this much upperclassman experience shouldn’t be digressing defensively as badly as they are.
January 18th, 2020 at 10:15 AM ^
I may be ugly, but at least I'm not Luka Garza Ugly.
Because I'm a fucking nerd, I threw together a spreadsheet after wasting two hours watching that home cooked rigfest.
So far, in 46 Big Ten games, the road team is whistled for 18.1 fouls to the home teams 14.8. The road team averages 14 free throws to the home team's 20.6. If you can just make 75% of your fucking free throws, there is a 4.95 pt advantage to the home team.
I might get a bookie or whatever app is available now and just start betting the home team, as I like to have multiple streams of income. That shit was unwatchable.
January 18th, 2020 at 1:17 PM ^
Honestly, I can live with a 6 FT attempt advantage to the home team, even the best refs are subject to some pressure from the home court. In fact, most teams play better at home. So whether your data speaks to refs being swayed or just the fact that the home team does in fact play better at home, who knows...THIS game was on a totally different level though.
January 18th, 2020 at 11:02 AM ^
Been saying it since I spotted tendencies early on - our problem is not offense...our issues are defense and fouling....look for obvious signs, we reach way more, fail to stay in front and don't wall straight up...we try to block shots and push....we have lazy footwork and get beat 1-on-1, turn our heads too often....just a complete difference in defensive philosophies and a lack of connectivity....there is enough talent in the program to win 20 games - need to put more emphasis on the defensive side of the ball.
January 18th, 2020 at 12:15 PM ^
Agree. There's a story that while Coach Howard was at Miami, the team self-assigned a "pre-practice" practice where young players and those who needed to work on their game would come in before practice to work on improving or correcting their game. This story was told with the hope that this would happen at Michigan. I'm guessing it hasn't happened yet. Coaching transitions are tough.
January 18th, 2020 at 4:56 PM ^
Spot on. It makes absolutely no sense that a team starting Zavier Simpson, Eli Brooks, and Jon Teske - all defensive specialists who are mediocre at best offensive players - is significantly better at offense than it is at defense.
This is the 15th best offensive team in the country. Last year's team with Jordan Poole and Iggy Brazdeikis was only 24th!!! If anyone thought this would be a better offensive team than last years team, they're lying.
But we've had a complete nose dive on defense going from 2nd to 54th (!!!). Best in the conference to 10th! Despite returning Simpson and Teske and swapping defense first Brooks and Livers for offense first Poole and Iggy.
This is basically a Beilein team pre-defensive coordinator era. We're squeezing everything possible out of the offense (which is impressive). But the defense is pretty bad. The scheme doesn't make sense. The gameplan's have been put together as if the opponent hadn't even been scouted. And the players are far less disciplined than they've been the last couple years, which is how it was pre-DC era when defense was largely ignored and guys weren't held accountable for their defense.
January 18th, 2020 at 11:19 AM ^
You can't overcome the other team being spotted 25 points.
January 18th, 2020 at 11:40 AM ^
FTM/A:
Purdue 27/30 vs Michigan 4/5
It has become unwatchable, especially away games. We look at Purdue in the paint and get called for foul Michigan gets mugged underneath and nothing.
There is something rotten in Denmark. Has Jim Delaney retired yet ?
January 18th, 2020 at 12:02 PM ^
ESPN= Emporer's Shirt & Pants (are) Nice. Their summary: "Iowa Surprises #19 Michigan". Really? Is that what happened last night? Or, did a soft playing Michigan team get out-worked, become content to shoot from the perimeter, and the officiating was terrible? Are these results surprising? To Michigan? To anyone?
January 18th, 2020 at 12:21 PM ^
I missed the game and was wondering about how to watch a replay since I didn't record it.
But it looks like it wasn't really a game Michigan could win due to an epic screw job by the refs. How does a 30-5 free throw advantage happen when both teams have equal production inside the paint?????? That's beyond ridiculous. The officiating spotted Iowa 23 extra points and put many Michigan players on the bench with fouls!!! That's easily a bigger advantage, maybe 30-40 points!!!
This is not basketball. It's a joke.
Kudos to Michigan for playing a great game and beating Iowa. It's too bad the refs wasted their effort and handed the game to Iowa.
January 18th, 2020 at 1:12 PM ^
30 to fuckin 5!! 5! A complete sham of a ref job.
January 18th, 2020 at 2:07 PM ^
This one was especially painful because Michigan came to play - it wasn't a typical road game in which they come out flat, get down and then can't hit shots. They were moving the ball well, running sets and hitting shots. And it was nice to seem them finally try to help each other out on defense. Eli and Wagner had great games. I just hope Michigan can bring this effort and execution to all its road games because they will need it.
Oddly enough, at the beginning of the 2nd half I made a comment to my girlfriend that I thought the officiating was actually pretty good because it wasn't that noticeable. It had been a pretty fun game up to that point. I must have jinxed it because after I said that Teske, who had 0 fouls in the 1st, got called for 3 fouls in the first 4 minutes, including one where he trapped Garza under the basket, but got whistled after Garza went into his arms that were straight up in the air. Iowa had already had a sizable FT advantage at that point but it got much worse after that. Of course, the clamp by Weiskamp on Wagner shifted the momentum towards Iowa and that was all she wrote.
I wouldn't say the officiating was the reason they lost, but it was a major factor.
I hope this game pisses these guys off and they start playing with a chip on their shoulder and kick everyone's ass the 2nd half of B1G play. PLAY MEAN.
January 19th, 2020 at 2:52 PM ^
B1G Standings
Team Record VsHomeAwayHoldingServe
MSU 6-1 +1
Ill 5-2 +1
Rut 4-2 +1
MD 4-3 --
Ind 4-3 +1
Iowa 4-3 --
Wis 4-3 +2
Min 4-3 --
PSU 3-4 -1
Pur 3-4 --
Mich 2-4 --
OSU 2-5 -1
Neb 2-5 -2
NW 1-6 -2
We get both Neb & NW away, which is nice. Not all teams do.
There have been only two away wins not at Neb or NW, and Wiscy has 'em both, at PSU and at OSU.
Comments