The Michigan Wolverines will be dancing as a two-seed for the second time under John Beilein, but the road to get there through the Big Ten Tournament was slightly tumultuous, capped off with losing to key in-state rival Michigan State for the third time this season. What went down? And what's to come? That's what we're going to explore here today.
Big Ten Tournament:
Iowa:
Michigan did happen to expel their Iowa Hawkeye demons with a blowout victory in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. After getting the double-bye, Michigan was well-rested ahead of a meeting with Iowa, just the second one of the season. Iowa was coming off a big win over Illinois and despite the four straight losses to close Big Ten play, they made life tough on Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Instead, Michigan doled them a 74-53 defeat that saw Michigan have their best team defensive performance since the road win over Indiana (according to BartTorvik's ADJD stat). The Hawkeyes went the entire meaningful portion of the game without a three and it took a walk-on and former team manager to hit one in garbage time to snap the cold skid. Charles Matthews would return, but the wing player would struggle on offense, going just one-for-nine with five points and four rebounds in 25 minutes of play. He would, however, help hold Joe Wieskamp to a three point, one-for-five night on offense, a far cry from his dominating outing against the Wolverines in Iowa. Jordan Bohannon was also held scoreless and could only muster two shots in what was a stellar defensive performance by Zavier Simpson, who finished the game four-for-four with ten points and eleven assists. Eli Brooks was a highlight for the team as well as he showed confidence in his shot and hit a pair of threes while taking five shots from beyond the arc. Ignas Brazdeikis led all scorers with fifteen points and despite Tyler Cook and Luka Garza combining for twenty of the 27 first-half Hawkeye points, the two only finished with a combined 28. It was a huge victory that sent a message heading into the semifinals of the tournament.
Minnesota:
It may be hard to believe, but Michigan would play even better the next day, scoring two more points and holding Minnesota to four fewer than Iowa had, as they beat the Golden Gophers 76-49. Despite a big win for Minnesota over Purdue in a great game that likely locked up their NCAA Tournament hopes, the Gophers could not handle Michigan for the third time this season. For the first time since the Indiana and Ohio State games, Michigan hit at least ten threes in back-to-back games as they drained ten each in both their first two Big Ten Tournament outings. Amir Coffey would actually finish with solid stats, seven-for-twelve shooting with fourteen points, but in the early stages of the game it was Charles Matthews who was able to lock him down. Jordan Murphy was the only Minnesota player in double figures, with ten points, and they would only sink two threes in the game, both in the second half. For Michigan, it would be Isaiah Livers leading the way with 21 points primarily on four-for-six shooting from three. It was a breakout outing for the sixth man who scored his career-high. Zavier Simpson had another stellar outing with fifteen points on six-for-eight shooting, with five threes over the two games. Perhaps most importantly for the two games was the ability to rest starters and give run to the bench players, primarily the key freshmen Colin Castleton and David DeJulius, in these games. The win was secured, and their destiny to take on Michigan State for a third time was fulfilled.
Michigan State:
Unfortuanately for the Wolverines, it was not meant to be. Michigan State would top Michigan for the third time this season with a 65-60 victory to deny Michigan a three-peat, and complete one of their own on their rivals. Despite losing Kyle Ahrens in the first half to a horrific ankle injury (though x-rays luckily came back negative for a fracture) and despite Michigan building an eight-point lead at the half (helped largely due to Xavier Tillman sitting out with two fouls -- he finished with a game-high plus-minus of +14) and mounting a thirteen-point lead with seventeen minutes to play in the game, Michigan State came back, as they had in the previous two games, in the fifteen/sixteen-minute to five-minute stretch of the game. They cut it to 46-44 with 10:33 to play, but even despite tying it, Michigan would take a five-point lead with about two-and-a-half minutes to play after an Isaiah Livers three. Michigan State would then close out the game with the last ten points, including Matt McQuaid hitting three free throws after getting fouled on a three, then Cassius Winston hitting a lay-up that seemed to take an improbable spin while on the rim to go back in despite looking to roll out. Jordan Poole seemed to get fouled by Winston with time-winding in the game and the Spartans looking to use their foul to give. Poole thought he was fouled too, and hurled up a three, but the referees did not award him one. The story of the game was McQuaid, as he went seven-for-thirteen from three, including several that were wide-open. The Michigan counter to the devastating Tillman pick-and-rolls was to overhelp out of the corner, and Winston was able to consistently find the wing for a career-high 27 points. Winston had the worst game of the three, going just five-for-thirteen with fourteen points, but his eleven assists and ability to take the game over and hit a clutch lay-up proved his value yet again to the Big Ten. Michigan, on the other hand, encountered similar issues as the first two meetings with stagnating offense and settling for shots. Zavier Simpson had ten assists, and Ignas Brazdeikis had nineteen points on four-for-eight shooting from three, but the cumulative effort was not enough. Charles Matthews only took three shots and played just 21 minutes, Livers spent 25 in for comparison, including some time as a small-ball five. It was a gutting loss, as one would imagine, but ultimately it seemed not to affect the NCAA Tournament seeding itself too much.
Looking Ahead -- NCAA Tournament Region:
Michigan, despite the loss, were awarded the West Region's two-seed. This placed them in a region with Gonzaga as the one seed, the weakest of the ones, according to the committee. The first round match-up is a rematch of last season's first round game with Montana. I will take a deep-dive into the Grizzlies later in the week as well. They will play on Thursday at around 9:10 PM, and a win means they will take on the winner of seven seed Nevada and ten seed Florida. Texas Tech is the region's three seed and most likely Sweet Sixteen rival, which takes place in Anaheim. The first and second rounds will be in Des Moines, Iowa. The Big Ten placed eight teams into the tournament, and none in Dayton. Indiana was also in the First Four Out and thus earned a one seed in the NIT. The Big Ten proved to be a conference full of quality talent, and perhaps even lucked out by avoiding Duke's region, unlike Michigan State who also are guaranteed to see a team they have already played in the round of 32. The West Region is full of quality talent, however. Nevada is loaded with potential NBA talent including the Martin Brothers. Buffalo are arguably the top (non-Gonzaga) mid-major in the country this season. Texas Tech have incredibly similar KenPom metrics to the Michigan team that made the National Championship game last season (TTU is 36th in offense, first in defense, Michigan was 35th in offense and third in defense). This is just the half of the region Michigan is involved in. There is also, other than Gonzaga, Marquette and Markus Howard vs. Murray State and Ja Morant, Florida State, who made a deep ACC Tournament run, and Syracuse, who are always dangerous. Michigan will, for now, simply focus on themselves and righting the ship. While they may not have threepeated the Big Ten Tournament, they can always look ahead to the Big Dance.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty more Michigan basketball coverage, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Liverpool FC coverage as well!
Big Ten Tournament:
Iowa:
Michigan did happen to expel their Iowa Hawkeye demons with a blowout victory in the quarterfinals of the Big Ten Tournament. After getting the double-bye, Michigan was well-rested ahead of a meeting with Iowa, just the second one of the season. Iowa was coming off a big win over Illinois and despite the four straight losses to close Big Ten play, they made life tough on Michigan at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Instead, Michigan doled them a 74-53 defeat that saw Michigan have their best team defensive performance since the road win over Indiana (according to BartTorvik's ADJD stat). The Hawkeyes went the entire meaningful portion of the game without a three and it took a walk-on and former team manager to hit one in garbage time to snap the cold skid. Charles Matthews would return, but the wing player would struggle on offense, going just one-for-nine with five points and four rebounds in 25 minutes of play. He would, however, help hold Joe Wieskamp to a three point, one-for-five night on offense, a far cry from his dominating outing against the Wolverines in Iowa. Jordan Bohannon was also held scoreless and could only muster two shots in what was a stellar defensive performance by Zavier Simpson, who finished the game four-for-four with ten points and eleven assists. Eli Brooks was a highlight for the team as well as he showed confidence in his shot and hit a pair of threes while taking five shots from beyond the arc. Ignas Brazdeikis led all scorers with fifteen points and despite Tyler Cook and Luka Garza combining for twenty of the 27 first-half Hawkeye points, the two only finished with a combined 28. It was a huge victory that sent a message heading into the semifinals of the tournament.
Minnesota:
It may be hard to believe, but Michigan would play even better the next day, scoring two more points and holding Minnesota to four fewer than Iowa had, as they beat the Golden Gophers 76-49. Despite a big win for Minnesota over Purdue in a great game that likely locked up their NCAA Tournament hopes, the Gophers could not handle Michigan for the third time this season. For the first time since the Indiana and Ohio State games, Michigan hit at least ten threes in back-to-back games as they drained ten each in both their first two Big Ten Tournament outings. Amir Coffey would actually finish with solid stats, seven-for-twelve shooting with fourteen points, but in the early stages of the game it was Charles Matthews who was able to lock him down. Jordan Murphy was the only Minnesota player in double figures, with ten points, and they would only sink two threes in the game, both in the second half. For Michigan, it would be Isaiah Livers leading the way with 21 points primarily on four-for-six shooting from three. It was a breakout outing for the sixth man who scored his career-high. Zavier Simpson had another stellar outing with fifteen points on six-for-eight shooting, with five threes over the two games. Perhaps most importantly for the two games was the ability to rest starters and give run to the bench players, primarily the key freshmen Colin Castleton and David DeJulius, in these games. The win was secured, and their destiny to take on Michigan State for a third time was fulfilled.
Michigan State:
Unfortuanately for the Wolverines, it was not meant to be. Michigan State would top Michigan for the third time this season with a 65-60 victory to deny Michigan a three-peat, and complete one of their own on their rivals. Despite losing Kyle Ahrens in the first half to a horrific ankle injury (though x-rays luckily came back negative for a fracture) and despite Michigan building an eight-point lead at the half (helped largely due to Xavier Tillman sitting out with two fouls -- he finished with a game-high plus-minus of +14) and mounting a thirteen-point lead with seventeen minutes to play in the game, Michigan State came back, as they had in the previous two games, in the fifteen/sixteen-minute to five-minute stretch of the game. They cut it to 46-44 with 10:33 to play, but even despite tying it, Michigan would take a five-point lead with about two-and-a-half minutes to play after an Isaiah Livers three. Michigan State would then close out the game with the last ten points, including Matt McQuaid hitting three free throws after getting fouled on a three, then Cassius Winston hitting a lay-up that seemed to take an improbable spin while on the rim to go back in despite looking to roll out. Jordan Poole seemed to get fouled by Winston with time-winding in the game and the Spartans looking to use their foul to give. Poole thought he was fouled too, and hurled up a three, but the referees did not award him one. The story of the game was McQuaid, as he went seven-for-thirteen from three, including several that were wide-open. The Michigan counter to the devastating Tillman pick-and-rolls was to overhelp out of the corner, and Winston was able to consistently find the wing for a career-high 27 points. Winston had the worst game of the three, going just five-for-thirteen with fourteen points, but his eleven assists and ability to take the game over and hit a clutch lay-up proved his value yet again to the Big Ten. Michigan, on the other hand, encountered similar issues as the first two meetings with stagnating offense and settling for shots. Zavier Simpson had ten assists, and Ignas Brazdeikis had nineteen points on four-for-eight shooting from three, but the cumulative effort was not enough. Charles Matthews only took three shots and played just 21 minutes, Livers spent 25 in for comparison, including some time as a small-ball five. It was a gutting loss, as one would imagine, but ultimately it seemed not to affect the NCAA Tournament seeding itself too much.
Looking Ahead -- NCAA Tournament Region:
Michigan, despite the loss, were awarded the West Region's two-seed. This placed them in a region with Gonzaga as the one seed, the weakest of the ones, according to the committee. The first round match-up is a rematch of last season's first round game with Montana. I will take a deep-dive into the Grizzlies later in the week as well. They will play on Thursday at around 9:10 PM, and a win means they will take on the winner of seven seed Nevada and ten seed Florida. Texas Tech is the region's three seed and most likely Sweet Sixteen rival, which takes place in Anaheim. The first and second rounds will be in Des Moines, Iowa. The Big Ten placed eight teams into the tournament, and none in Dayton. Indiana was also in the First Four Out and thus earned a one seed in the NIT. The Big Ten proved to be a conference full of quality talent, and perhaps even lucked out by avoiding Duke's region, unlike Michigan State who also are guaranteed to see a team they have already played in the round of 32. The West Region is full of quality talent, however. Nevada is loaded with potential NBA talent including the Martin Brothers. Buffalo are arguably the top (non-Gonzaga) mid-major in the country this season. Texas Tech have incredibly similar KenPom metrics to the Michigan team that made the National Championship game last season (TTU is 36th in offense, first in defense, Michigan was 35th in offense and third in defense). This is just the half of the region Michigan is involved in. There is also, other than Gonzaga, Marquette and Markus Howard vs. Murray State and Ja Morant, Florida State, who made a deep ACC Tournament run, and Syracuse, who are always dangerous. Michigan will, for now, simply focus on themselves and righting the ship. While they may not have threepeated the Big Ten Tournament, they can always look ahead to the Big Dance.
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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