Michigan struggled to find an early rhythm in their offense, but even when offense may fail, effort on the defensive end does not. The Michigan offense also eventually sorted itself out to the tune of 43 points in the second half. Ultimately, Michigan would pull off a double-digit lead winning in a comfortable fashion by the score of 68-55.
Game Story:
Right out the gates, Michigan's defense was in top form, holding the Nittany Lions to a single field goal over the first six-and-a-half minutes. Unfortunately for Michigan, they could only muster two themselves. Over the next couple of minutes, the teams would trade a couple leads, but Penn State's last lead, 7-6, would evaporate after a nice move by Austin Davis to get free, get the man on the block in the air, then find Ignas Brazdeikis for the two. From there, Jordan Poole drilled a three, found Davis with a behind-the-back pass, and that forced Patrick Chambers into a timeout down 13-7 after a quick 7-0 run by Michigan. Michigan would run their lead to 20-10, but over just a minute Penn State would cut that down to 20-16, then get it to two points with a Lamar Stevens lay-up with three minutes left in the half. The stabilizing point was Eli Brooks getting a steal and slamming down a big two-handed dunk, then Jon Teske stepping out and hitting a three. The lead gave Michigan some cushion and helped see them into the half up 25-20.
In the second half, by the first TV timeout, Michigan was right back up by twelve with an 11-4 run to start, with Brazdeikis having five of those after a sleepy first half (but with stellar rebounding). With just under eight minutes gone by, Zavier Simpson even got in on the fun drilling a three-pointer and giving Michigan their biggest lead of the game at 45-29. It took Penn State thirty minutes and eight seconds for their first three, Myles Dread banked one home to cut a ballooning lead to fourteen, and that would, incredibly, be their only one on the evening. Still, it was not over. Stevens again cut the lead, this time down to eight, forcing a Michigan timeout. The key then became Charles Matthews' three over Mike Watkins and a lay-up to put the team back up thirteen. Ignas Brazdeikis sealed the game with a three to give Michigan a 63-51 lead, the teams exchanged free throws, Penn State missed four shots to close the game out and Teske hit one last free throw with 21 seconds left. That was the last of the scoring and Michigan finished with a hard-earned 68-55 victory over a Penn State team that had gone 52 losses without one that was by more than twelve points.
What Happened:
Michigan struggled on offense in large part due to no player, other than perhaps Jordan Poole, putting together a full quality forty minutes. Every regular rotational player that played today had their bright moments, but the overall was not as shiny as in some games. That is in large part due to some very stellar defensive work by Penn State who, with two Big Ten All-Defensive Team players from last season, are indeed a strong defensive team. But, let's talk about Poole. Poole only hit one three, and was fouled on another hitting all three shots from the line, but his overall performance was superb. He had the highlight of the game by beating Josh Reaves on the dribble (one of those All-Defensive Team players) then attracting John Harrar on the drive. That left Austin Davis wide-open on the block, and Poole found him with an audacious behind-the-back bounce pass for the dunk. It got the Crisler Center crowd, even with the students still on break, on its feet and pumped up. He had eight in the first half, nine in the second half, and finished with seventeen points on an efficient nine shots.
Two other players who are always in headlines are Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis. Both played well, but were quiet at times. Brazdeikis snagged his first career double-double with sixteen points and eleven rebounds, but this was on sixteen shots. The freshman was just two-for-eight in the first half as well for four points, but he countered that with nine boards. His ability to drive and get fouled allows him more freedom even if shots are not falling to handle the ball and attempt to get to the rim. Eventually some of those shots went down, but as a freshman, it's important to remember that games like this can and will happen. Matthews, on the other hand, really turned it up down the stretch in particular. Matthews took just three shots in the first half and was hindered with foul trouble early. He went five-for-eight in the second half for twelve points and ultimately did a ton to keep Michigan consistently above water, and his three was the real dagger for Penn State in my eyes. Both players had their moments of average play, but when it mattered, they presented themselves.
Talking about Penn State, the Nittany Lions found themselves struggling on offense. Mike Watkins double-double with a game-high nineteen points and twelve rebounds on eight-for-eleven shooting was impressive, but even paired with Lamar Stevens' double-double (seventeen points and ten rebounds in all forty minutes played) was not enough. The other Nittany Lions were just 8-for-28 (28.6%) combined for nineteen points. With just one made three, Penn State really seemed to have no focus on the offensive end. Getting the ball to Watkins worked quite a lot, but that's not a viable offensive system. Neither is allowing Stevens to work in one-on-ones all game, especially when helped on, even more so when several of his ten misses were not very good shots. The favored line-up of Watkins, Stevens, Reaves, Rasir Bolton, and Myles Dread is incredibly talented, strong defensively, and athletic, but as a unit Patrick Chambers does not have them clicking in the half-court set-up. With Chambers also catching flack for pushing Dread in a huddle, that is just one incident in a greater series of overall reasoning for his seat getting warmer and warmer. Things do not get much easier, Penn State face four teams ranked in this week's AP Poll (though both Wisconsin and Iowa lost and are likely to drop out for next week) and at 0-3 in conference play, this is a team with a tough road ahead.
Some other thoughts generally about Michigan's performance. Isaiah Livers was held out with back spasms despite shooting around at halftime during warm-ups with the team. His status for Sunday's clash with Indiana is still unknown, but he was missed. Brandon Johns, as a result, saw two minutes, with little to write home about. He is still getting used to the college game. Austin Davis also saw eight very meaningful minutes. He was crucial in spelling Teske, who got in first half foul trouble, and had a great dunk, nice assist, and a nice rebound too. His second half was less impressive, but it's important to get him in these sorts of moments. Zavier Simpson continues to serve as a general for the team, and Eli Brooks is looking more and more confident with a dunk, steal, and even a block in his seventeen minutes of play. His development as a sixth or seventh man on this team is a massive key in their depth.
What's Next:
The undefeated Wolverines welcome Indiana to Crisler Center on Sunday the 6th at 4:30 PM on a CBS-televised tie. Indiana are also undefeated in Big Ten play and superstar freshman Romeo Langford is coming off a career-high 28 points in a comeback victory at home to Illinois. They survived that scare, and will be coming into Ann Arbor confident of handling business despite their injury woes. Michigan has just one home loss in the past two years, to Purdue last season. They will hope to avoid a home loss to the other Big Ten team from Indiana this weekend.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more Michigan basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
Game Story:
Right out the gates, Michigan's defense was in top form, holding the Nittany Lions to a single field goal over the first six-and-a-half minutes. Unfortunately for Michigan, they could only muster two themselves. Over the next couple of minutes, the teams would trade a couple leads, but Penn State's last lead, 7-6, would evaporate after a nice move by Austin Davis to get free, get the man on the block in the air, then find Ignas Brazdeikis for the two. From there, Jordan Poole drilled a three, found Davis with a behind-the-back pass, and that forced Patrick Chambers into a timeout down 13-7 after a quick 7-0 run by Michigan. Michigan would run their lead to 20-10, but over just a minute Penn State would cut that down to 20-16, then get it to two points with a Lamar Stevens lay-up with three minutes left in the half. The stabilizing point was Eli Brooks getting a steal and slamming down a big two-handed dunk, then Jon Teske stepping out and hitting a three. The lead gave Michigan some cushion and helped see them into the half up 25-20.
In the second half, by the first TV timeout, Michigan was right back up by twelve with an 11-4 run to start, with Brazdeikis having five of those after a sleepy first half (but with stellar rebounding). With just under eight minutes gone by, Zavier Simpson even got in on the fun drilling a three-pointer and giving Michigan their biggest lead of the game at 45-29. It took Penn State thirty minutes and eight seconds for their first three, Myles Dread banked one home to cut a ballooning lead to fourteen, and that would, incredibly, be their only one on the evening. Still, it was not over. Stevens again cut the lead, this time down to eight, forcing a Michigan timeout. The key then became Charles Matthews' three over Mike Watkins and a lay-up to put the team back up thirteen. Ignas Brazdeikis sealed the game with a three to give Michigan a 63-51 lead, the teams exchanged free throws, Penn State missed four shots to close the game out and Teske hit one last free throw with 21 seconds left. That was the last of the scoring and Michigan finished with a hard-earned 68-55 victory over a Penn State team that had gone 52 losses without one that was by more than twelve points.
What Happened:
Michigan struggled on offense in large part due to no player, other than perhaps Jordan Poole, putting together a full quality forty minutes. Every regular rotational player that played today had their bright moments, but the overall was not as shiny as in some games. That is in large part due to some very stellar defensive work by Penn State who, with two Big Ten All-Defensive Team players from last season, are indeed a strong defensive team. But, let's talk about Poole. Poole only hit one three, and was fouled on another hitting all three shots from the line, but his overall performance was superb. He had the highlight of the game by beating Josh Reaves on the dribble (one of those All-Defensive Team players) then attracting John Harrar on the drive. That left Austin Davis wide-open on the block, and Poole found him with an audacious behind-the-back bounce pass for the dunk. It got the Crisler Center crowd, even with the students still on break, on its feet and pumped up. He had eight in the first half, nine in the second half, and finished with seventeen points on an efficient nine shots.
Two other players who are always in headlines are Charles Matthews and Ignas Brazdeikis. Both played well, but were quiet at times. Brazdeikis snagged his first career double-double with sixteen points and eleven rebounds, but this was on sixteen shots. The freshman was just two-for-eight in the first half as well for four points, but he countered that with nine boards. His ability to drive and get fouled allows him more freedom even if shots are not falling to handle the ball and attempt to get to the rim. Eventually some of those shots went down, but as a freshman, it's important to remember that games like this can and will happen. Matthews, on the other hand, really turned it up down the stretch in particular. Matthews took just three shots in the first half and was hindered with foul trouble early. He went five-for-eight in the second half for twelve points and ultimately did a ton to keep Michigan consistently above water, and his three was the real dagger for Penn State in my eyes. Both players had their moments of average play, but when it mattered, they presented themselves.
Talking about Penn State, the Nittany Lions found themselves struggling on offense. Mike Watkins double-double with a game-high nineteen points and twelve rebounds on eight-for-eleven shooting was impressive, but even paired with Lamar Stevens' double-double (seventeen points and ten rebounds in all forty minutes played) was not enough. The other Nittany Lions were just 8-for-28 (28.6%) combined for nineteen points. With just one made three, Penn State really seemed to have no focus on the offensive end. Getting the ball to Watkins worked quite a lot, but that's not a viable offensive system. Neither is allowing Stevens to work in one-on-ones all game, especially when helped on, even more so when several of his ten misses were not very good shots. The favored line-up of Watkins, Stevens, Reaves, Rasir Bolton, and Myles Dread is incredibly talented, strong defensively, and athletic, but as a unit Patrick Chambers does not have them clicking in the half-court set-up. With Chambers also catching flack for pushing Dread in a huddle, that is just one incident in a greater series of overall reasoning for his seat getting warmer and warmer. Things do not get much easier, Penn State face four teams ranked in this week's AP Poll (though both Wisconsin and Iowa lost and are likely to drop out for next week) and at 0-3 in conference play, this is a team with a tough road ahead.
Some other thoughts generally about Michigan's performance. Isaiah Livers was held out with back spasms despite shooting around at halftime during warm-ups with the team. His status for Sunday's clash with Indiana is still unknown, but he was missed. Brandon Johns, as a result, saw two minutes, with little to write home about. He is still getting used to the college game. Austin Davis also saw eight very meaningful minutes. He was crucial in spelling Teske, who got in first half foul trouble, and had a great dunk, nice assist, and a nice rebound too. His second half was less impressive, but it's important to get him in these sorts of moments. Zavier Simpson continues to serve as a general for the team, and Eli Brooks is looking more and more confident with a dunk, steal, and even a block in his seventeen minutes of play. His development as a sixth or seventh man on this team is a massive key in their depth.
What's Next:
The undefeated Wolverines welcome Indiana to Crisler Center on Sunday the 6th at 4:30 PM on a CBS-televised tie. Indiana are also undefeated in Big Ten play and superstar freshman Romeo Langford is coming off a career-high 28 points in a comeback victory at home to Illinois. They survived that scare, and will be coming into Ann Arbor confident of handling business despite their injury woes. Michigan has just one home loss in the past two years, to Purdue last season. They will hope to avoid a home loss to the other Big Ten team from Indiana this weekend.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more Michigan basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
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