UCLA 51, Michigan 49, Season Over
I'm drained and disappointed. I imagine anyone reading this is, too.
In a slow, ugly game, Michigan missed chance after chance to push past UCLA and into the Final Four. After trailing for most of the second half, the Wolverines twice took the lead, the final time on a Hunter Dickinson free throw with 4:30 to play. They'd stay within a possession for the rest of the game.
They wouldn't make another shot from the field, missing their last eight and getting only a pair of Franz Wagner free throws. Wagner had the cleanest look at a potential game-winner only to airball a wide-open three-pointer following a Michigan timeout with 19.8 seconds left. Eli Brooks tried to put back the miss on the fly with a reverse layup and left it short.
UCLA's Johnny Juzang split a pair of bonus free throws with six seconds left to give Michigan another crack. Smith pulled up and had the space for a good look from beyond the arc but missed the mark. Yet the Wolverines still clung to life when UCLA knocked the ensuing rebound out of bounds with what the officials determined was 0.5 seconds remaining, enough time to catch and fire. Wagner's desperation three at the buzzer never came close.
Johnny Juzang, walking bucket [Jamie Schwaberow/NCAA Photos via Getty Images]
Michigan is a better team than UCLA, even without Isaiah Livers. Juzang had to be spectacular, pouring in a game-high 28 points—more than a quarter of the game's total—on 11-for-19 field goals with a high degree of difficulty. Michigan got no such performance out of their main players. Hunter Dickinson led the team with only 11 points, and while he made 5/10 shots from the field, he went 1/4 from the free throw line and committed four turnovers. Wagner shot 1/10 in arguably his worst game of the year; the only other candidate is the ugly loss to Illinois. Smith finished 1/7 and didn't record a second-half assist.
UCLA's secondary scoring paled in comparison to that of Michigan, which got quality contributions out of Brandon Johns, Chaundee Brown, and Austin Davis. Juzang's game-long heater and the immense struggles of his opponents' headliners negated that advantage. It's a game of making shots; UCLA's top bucket-getter played at his best while M's sat on the bench in a walking boot. It can be a cruel game.
In the light of day, it'll be time to celebrate the accomplishments of a team that was picked to finish seventh in the Big Ten before the season, won the conference, earned a one seed, and came within one shot (or several one shots) of a Final Four in Juwan Howard's first NCAA Tournament as a head coach. This season was an unequivocal success.
Tonight, it's tough to get over the missed shots against a beatable opponent. I was prepared to see Michigan not have enough firepower to keep up with Gonzaga; seeing that come to pass against a UCLA team that had two players score more than four points is more difficult to accept in the immediate aftermath, even if that's the nature of a game that's already produced a wild tournament.
The excitement of a top-ranked incoming recruiting class will be of considerable comfort, too. Howard is just beginning his head coaching career. The program is in as good a place as its ever been. If any program knows there are only so many clean shots at Final Fours and national championships, though, it's Michigan, and it's sad to see this team come so close to adding more banners only for a terrible shooting night to do them in.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
Franz shut down Jaquez. The announcers said early on, “You’re going to hear Jaquez’s name all night” but he was invisible most of the game.
Yeah, Franz eliminated Jaquez for much of the game. And when UCLA forced switches on screens, Franz guarded his new target well.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:12 AM ^
Totally agree with the Franz love on defense. He essentially took Jaquez out of the game. It's unfortunate that the other big scorer, Juzang, had such a good shooting night. And it's not like we didn't guard him. He might have had 2 or 3 semi open looks all night yet still had an almost 60% shooting night and 28 points. At one point in the first half I think he was 8/10 shooting or something crazy like that. And that's what kept UCLA in the game when Michigan had a chance to take a big lead. Sometimes guys are in their zone.
UCLA clogged us up on offense and took away any rhythm we attempted to establish. If we don't have our usual offensive rhythm we put up a lot of bricks. It's happened a few times this season and it's resulted in ugly wins or losses. UCLA pounced on that weakness. They made Hunter shoot over guys down low. Active hands disrupted his setup on every possession. And we didn't get many second chances. Seems like the rebounds bounced into a UCLA players hands on just about every miss.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:59 AM ^
Free throws and Wagner's poor play were obvious culprits, but I wasn't crazy about 2 of the last three play designs. The Smith three on the run was okay in a vacuum, but both before and after they should've played for overtime with Riley already fouled out.
Oh well. Go Blue.
Totally agree.. as the stronger team you need to go for two there.
Sure Franz was open but that was an nba 3. Not a good shot, at least the way he was shooting tonight. Both Smith and Wagner should have gone to the hole bc UCLA is not going to play aggressive and risk giving up a 3 pt play. Oy.
March 31st, 2021 at 12:59 AM ^
Wagner and Smith had their worst game of the year at the most unopportune time. Sucks. But that's the way it goes.
Good write up, Ace. Well stated. Gotta remember where we started but this one stings. We beat UCLA 8/10 times without livers. 9/10 times with him. We would've lost to the zags by 18 but I'd still like a banner. Onto next year...
Smith had a few games where he was worse - he had a really good season, but put up some clunkers - OSU game, Minnesota loss, LSU.
Franz, not so much - at least on offense.
He was excellent defensively, and got a bunch of boards. He just played really tight on offense. I don't recall him missing a wide open swoop drive like the one he missed tonight, and that 3 was...well you saw it.
I don’t even know why Wagner was in the game at the end considering how bad he was all game. Smh.
Because of his defensive play.
That said, Franz simply didn't have it on the offensive end tonight and it should have been Chaundee running deep for that final shot Wagner took.
I understand his defense was why he was in the game even though his offense was missing. What I don’t understand that on the last offensive play of the game he’s in there. ?♂️
He was very good defensively, as usual. He held Jaquez to 1-6 shooting. And there have been other games (like LSU) where he got going offensively late.
Anyway, if you’re not going to play him at the end, who else would you put in?
At this point anybody. But hindsight and all
Then Jaquez held Wagner to 1-10.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:24 AM ^
Well you could say that I suppose, but Franz got up his usual shot total and many were good looks, they just didn't fall. Jaquez OTOH couldn't get a clean look most of the night.
I'll forever remember franz for that airball as will all of you.
Rough night for Franz, but I hope most people won’t remember his contribution at Michigan relegated down to a bad shot on a cold shooting night. He was ice cold tonight, but he’s still a first round pick and a major reason Michigan won the outright B1G regular season.
We needed Franz to even be in this position. Reminds me of an Arnold Palmer quote that read “I didn’t lose this tournament on a 5 foot putt on the 18th, l lost it on a 2 foot putt on the 3rd”.
It will be made legend by the rivals tho.
Edit: And tbf Michigan fans won't forget this. Who are we kidding? Look at the way this fanbase remembers players like Nico and Higdon who balled out for the football team prior to ending their careers on a whimper.
Probably, but don’t particularly care. The same rivals whose teams were sitting at home for the past two weeks anyway
Who the fuck cares? You need to leave the blog. Nobody will miss you.
It was Chris Webber-esque.
And nope. Love tormenting groupies like you
Apples and oranges. That was a championship game, not final 8. Lots of guys miss shots - few call illegal TOs.
Michigan fans will certainly remember, maybe State fans too.
I don't remember the way any of our rivals lost tournament games, except in the Championship game.
March 31st, 2021 at 11:10 AM ^
Franz had a bad game. Nico and Karan quit on the team(we can debate the reasons/justifications end result is the same). Big difference.
Nah, I'll remember him as a major contributor on a Big Ten title team as any rational fan should.
Their defense better than our offense. Good job cronin. 49 points
Definitely not the read I had from a bunch of missed layups, FTs, and open looks.
Hmmmmpf.
It's hard to explain this loss really.....
Except "if we just made free throws that we normally make"....
said every team that played ucla in this tournament.
Bizarre. This team was Championship caliber. Sad to see it go.
Come back everyone please. Unfinished business.
I know it was because of playing all games in the bubble, but how about the NCAA doesn't do a 10 pm tip off local time with teams playing on 1 day of rest ever again. Ugly game.
I’m sure the 10 pm game had an impact. FTS.
that being said, just played too tight. Suspect strategy and not enough ball movement either.
Excellent season that people will view bitterly because it ended in an upset. Basketball is a weird game, and the college version even more so. This didn't feel like the end to me, though. OSU 2016 felt like a huge missed opportunity where the boat left without us. This game felt like losing to Ohio U in the first round of the 2012 tournament: disappointing ending, but optimistic about the future. Not taking anything away from our players because they were excellent and deserve all of the praise in the world. But this is gonna be Howard's least talented team for a long time. Talent is what wins you games in crunch time. Keep the faith and enjoy the ride. And remember that the losses are what make the eventual championships so sweet!
Thank you for this! Well said, well received. Go Blue!
Should have had Eli at point and Smith on the bench way more. The offense looked competent when they did that. I don't know what Juwan was thinking. Eli only takes one three. We ran into screens all night, seemingly without people calling them out or figuring out how to switch effectively. Just did not play our game for some inexplicable reason and got way too obsessed with trying to win in the paint. Kind of baffling.
Eli is a shot taker not creator, there was just a lack of shot creation overall for everyone. The biggest weakness of Brooks all year was still when overextended himself trying to create. Too much stagnation and lack of player movement/ball movement tonight on offense. It was an issue they had in all their losses, and it was such a contrast each time to their usual team ball style.
Agree at times this year we would just decide to pound it inside while the rest of the team stands around. Much prefer the passing and movement we had against Florida State.
Hunter, while exceeding all expectations as a freshman, still needs to learn to be patient and get leverage. Gain strength and be able to go to the right hand. Would have liked to have seen him pass more tonight as well. Probably an unpopular take but Davis really should have continued on in the second half.
I get trying to take advantage of the size in the paint, but it seems like every single possession we were immediately looking to throw it down to Hunter and Hunter really wasn't playing all that great.
March 31st, 2021 at 10:13 AM ^
You're right - he wasn't. He hit 3 shots in a row at one point and after that they kept going into him - to the detriment of the rest of the offense. He and Davis had the mismatch against the smaller Riley but it's not exactly like they were scoring easily - Dickinson wasn't physically dominating him or getting easy buckets. Riley picked up a few fouls, but I would argue this type of play actually helped UCLA and he actually won that matchup. Dickinson thought he could do it all himself (I appreciate the attitude, I guess?) but too many times the ball went into the post and never came out. Michigan's offense is at it's best when the ball is moving and finding cutters and open shooters. Michigan did none of that.
UCLA did a good job getting back but Michigan didn't even try to push it in transition/half-transition. There were no quick hitters early in the shot clock. They were overly patient. Instead of someone being aggressive and making a hard move or off-ball cut, they seemed to think that if they were patient enough a good shot would appear. This happened sometimes, but not nearly enough. They wasted a lot of time trying to feed HD/AD and then waiting for them to make a move and put up a meh shot. This salted away the game clock and I was shocked when I realized there were 3 and half minutes left. I thought 'my God, we helped UCLA slow the game to their pace and waste the game away.' I kept waiting for a even a small Michigan run that never came.
Such a perplexing game and so frustrating. I hope this motivates Juwan Howard and staff for the future. They definitely will not want to lose this way again, especially to end the season.
When we get in let's post up Hunter and throw it to him for 5 possessions straight mode, our guys stand around and aren't even looking to take wide open shots.
I know we want to run the play, but if the d is sagging too much we need to take advantage
Wonder if they did most of their secondary prep this week for Alabama, assuming that's who they'd play, so didn't have time to come up with a good game plan for UCLA.
UCLA is gross. And their grossness is apparently contagious.
Yep. This is why I *HATE* teams that play Mick Cronin's style of basketball. They make the games ugly. It's pragmatic but it's UGLY. (Kelvin Sampson is another.)
March 31st, 2021 at 11:23 AM ^
UCLA - Gonzaga will be interesting to see how ugly UCLA can actually make that game. I don't think they will be successful because Gonzaga is just so good moving and sharing the ball and getting guys open. Seems like everyone on that team can shoot the three. And Gonzaga is a good defensive team as well. It would be startling if UCLA was able to keep that game to anything less than a 15 point loss.
Painful way to go out. Other than Hunter everybody had a bad game and couldn't hit basic shots. Definitely one of our 3 worst performances of the year. We still could have won if Juzang wasn't insanely on fire, but otherwise we lost to ourselves tonight.
Brown had a solid game. And I would say Hunter had an average game at best. Less than 50% shooting and three crucial missed free throws.
Davis was Davis. Can’t blame him.
The disappointment with this game was because Michigan didn't play well. Some of that should be credited to UCLA, but a lot of that was due to Michigan not executing well enough.
its tough because the game was right there for the taking...but Michigan could not hit a shot if their <tournament> lives depending on it.
One more FT made, one more put back that scored the ball, one more possession where Juzang didn't get an open look, one more contest where you reacted a split second faster...
Its heartbreaking because Michigan didn't get run out of the gym....UCLA simply made shots when they needed to be made and Michigan didn't...
I think everyone would have been thrilled with an Elite Eight appearance at the beginning of the year...but in the moment, when the game was there for the taking and Michigan could not hit a shot, make an easy layout, missed a put back, its a bitter pill to swallow...
Its Year 2 for Coach Howard...it was a great season objectively speaking...but damn, it stings right now....I don't know what next year brings, but Kudos to all the seniors.
I'm going to miss this group, that's for sure...
Our basketball team represented us well this season, unlike some other sports
I'll remember players like Brooks, Wagner and Livers for years
(I would guess Wagner comes back though)
Big picture: I think you have to consider an Elite 8 appearance as Satisfactory for the overall season performance. Hey, only one team out of 68 ends the season with a win in the tournament. I'm happy with where Coach Howard has the program. We should appreciate what we have (while acknowledging the disappointment).
Missing a final four is disappointing, but I'm grateful that this was really a "rebuilding" year and not an all-in year like it was for Iowa, Wisconsin, Baylor, etc. Nobody is beating Gonzaga and it would be painful to have your best team in school history not be able to win it all. Happy for the successful year, excited for all the talent coming in
Nah it’s not satisfactory, it’s amazing what they achieved this year. B1G title, one seed, elite eight without Livers, five losses on the year? I’m totally on board the appreciation train with you bud
No doubt the season was a big success and I'm certain we would have pulled it out if Livers hadn't gotten hurt.
This one stings though and I suspect the team was looking ahead to a matchup against Gonzaga. 14 TO and what seemed like a lack of urgency until mid second half.
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