Utah 68, Michigan 52
Michigan 4-4 (0-0 Big Ten)
Perhaps the most frustrating part of the game against Utah is that the team looked, at times, as competent as it's been all year. The rest of the game though, not so much. The shooting woes continued, with the team shooting a collective 34% from the field and a horrendous 55% from the free throw line.
Zack Novak didn't play against the Utes, missing the game with the flu. It's impossible to know whether he would have been the difference in the game, especially since a 6-5 power forward is probably unlikely to see tons of success guarding guys a half-foot taller than him.
The depth is so bad that Ben Cronin actually got first-half minutes, as did walk-on Eso Akunne... and the team might have played better with them in the game than it did without. This whole post is turning out to be really bullet-y, and the heart's not in it, so I might as well get right to the...
BULLETS
- This might sound like a pretty mean-spirited thing to say, but at one point Paul said to me "Why didn't Anthony Wright go on paternity leave or something?" I totally agree. I fail to see why he continues getting minutes, when he's such a liability on both ends of the court. I'm sure he's a great guy, but he's not producing for this team.
- Manny and Deshawn both got going in this game, though they were the only two Wolverines in double digits. Sims only scored 10, but that's not too bad against such a tall lineup. You'd like to see him get enough to keep the defense afraid and open up the outside for the shooters, but...
- AAARGH SHOOTING. It has to get better sometime, right?
- I don't intend to accuse the referees of bias, because I would even guess that Michigan got the better end of more calls last night. Still, holy crap is the officiating in NCAA basketball horrible. Seriously, make me the head of officiating and it will get better in a snap.
- Hats off to Eso Akunne. Dude's a freshman walk-on and he played his ass off.
- I kept waiting for Gibby to break out and do a couple awesome things, but he never did. I guess more playing time wasn't what he needed, one-game sample against a very tall team noted.
- Michigan actually seemed to be forcing a good number of turnovers, both from man and the zone. Unfortunately, they were pretty generous with the ball themselves, and didn't come down with many rebounds.
Up Next
Detroit comes to Crisler Arena at Noon ET on Sunday. The game will be available on the Big Ten Network. After that, the Wolverines will sacrifice themselves to Kansas the following Saturday.
December 10th, 2009 at 3:02 PM ^
December 13th, 2009 at 5:18 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 3:13 PM ^
December 11th, 2009 at 12:22 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 3:30 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 3:52 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 3:59 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 10:29 PM ^
December 11th, 2009 at 12:26 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 4:15 PM ^
December 11th, 2009 at 11:08 AM ^
December 12th, 2009 at 8:04 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 4:55 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 5:28 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 6:21 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 6:23 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 6:22 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 6:56 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 7:12 PM ^
December 10th, 2009 at 9:31 PM ^
December 11th, 2009 at 11:05 AM ^
Comments