Iowa 86, Michigan 83 (OT)
Look past the final result and you can see this year's Michigan squad taking shape. Derrick Walton is more off-guard than point guard. Zak Irvin, filling the void, is a point-forward. Moe Wagner and DJ Wilson are the team's two best players. Duncan Robinson's offense has moved him past Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman in everything but the starting lineup.
Wilson starred for much of this game, the best of his career thus far. In 44 minutes, he scored 28 points, made 7/10 twos and 4/8 threes, grabbed 14 rebounds (six offensive), dished out six assists to only one turnover, and added a block for good measure. Wagner also looked excellent, scoring 12 points on ten shots while playing disruptive defense that resulted in a block and three steals. This was a glimpse into a pretty exciting future:
Those two will eventually be the go-to players on this team. This afternoon, however, their relative inexperience in those roles showed in overtime. Wagner missed a corner three on Michigan's first overtime possession when it appeared he had an open lane to roll to the basket instead of popping out the perimeter. Wilson badly missed his two three-point attempts in the extra session, including a rushed shot with plenty of time left on M's final possession that bonked off the backboard; while M corralled the rebound, Zak Irvin lost the ball on his game-tying attempt and Wagner's desperate volley from two-point range had no effect on the outcome.
While Michigan had the advantage up front, Iowa's backcourt, especially Peter Jok, held a similar edge. Jok poured in 25 points. Freshman point guard Jordan Bohannon outplayed Walton, posting 17 points and six assists with no turnovers and a couple huge shots late in the game. Irvin distributed the ball well in the first half when his shot wasn't falling, then committed a few costly turnovers in the second half and overtime when he finally regained his scoring touch. With Robinson only going 3/9 from beyond the arc and MAAR disappearing entirely, Michigan needed more efficiency from their senior guards.
They didn't quite get enough. Michigan starts 0-1 in Big Ten play, and while they have four very winnable games ahead of them on the schedule, they missed a great chance to tally a rare conference road win this afternoon.
January 1st, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
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January 1st, 2017 at 5:01 PM ^
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January 1st, 2017 at 5:15 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:04 PM ^
All the facepalms.
Can't even count on hockey to rescue me from b-ball woes.
January 1st, 2017 at 7:30 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:06 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:07 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
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January 1st, 2017 at 5:34 PM ^
I think Walton and MAAR have fallen off the plateau. Walton can't hit the broad side of the barn anymore and certainly can't drive.
Also, I sure am glad Robinson isn't "Just a Shooter" because he isn't very good at that. For a guy that is supposed to be the best 3pt shooter ever, I sure expect better than 33%.
January 1st, 2017 at 6:38 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 9:03 PM ^
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January 1st, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
I'm tired of Beilein tbh
January 1st, 2017 at 5:18 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:21 PM ^
This was a game that we needed to win
January 1st, 2017 at 10:53 PM ^
Iowa before the game was 153rd in the rpi rankings. If they don't move up some, this could be looked upon in a couple months a borderline bad loss.
January 1st, 2017 at 5:26 PM ^
Stinks..Zak Irvin really Stinks...Michigan basketball is a huge DISSAPOINTMENT
January 1st, 2017 at 5:39 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:42 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:49 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 5:51 PM ^
… I thought this was a foul at the end of regulation, and one that should have been called:
January 1st, 2017 at 6:21 PM ^
Right. The defender's clearly moving and there was contact.
January 1st, 2017 at 6:25 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 6:29 PM ^
January 2nd, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^
January 2nd, 2017 at 8:25 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 6:33 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 6:37 PM ^
Thats the play I thought Wagner could've helped Walton on, if Wagner would've chipped #3 a little bit or set a pic. Looks like he had time. Instead Walton was double teamed.
January 1st, 2017 at 9:00 PM ^
"This was a glimpse into a pretty exciting future"
I'm sorry but there is no excitement for the future for this team. How can you honestly say you are fairly assessing this team? I'm getting really tired of reading hopeful, blatantly biased analyses of this team over the last few years. The narratives that get spun are becoming more and more far-fetched, and more of an insult to the faithful readers of this blog that expect critical analyses.This team is a smoldering dumpster fire. I say smoldering because an active dumpster fire is at least exciting.
January 1st, 2017 at 10:23 PM ^
It is high time that Beilein is taken to task.
January 2nd, 2017 at 8:53 AM ^
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January 2nd, 2017 at 10:32 AM ^
Agreed, I am having trouble putting any stock into Ace's analyses these days.
January 1st, 2017 at 10:11 PM ^
January 1st, 2017 at 10:56 PM ^
True, but according to RPI rankings Iowa is the worst team in the Big Ten.
January 1st, 2017 at 11:18 PM ^
This loss isn't the end of the world, but the rosy talk about exciting futures and the tournament not being in doubt is becoming baffling. U-M has played 7 real opponents—not all of which are NCAA- or even NIT-bound—and lost to 4 of them.
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January 2nd, 2017 at 2:12 AM ^
We played great defense and they made long heavily contested jumper after long heavily contested jumper. Just bad luck.
January 2nd, 2017 at 10:21 PM ^
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