The offense woke up today, while the defense had a rude awakening.
If we keep playing offense like we did today, it will keep opposing coaches up at night. We have a lot of options and we're getting multiple double digit scorers now. And they are multi faceted. The days of the spot up shooter are gone for now. Iggy, Matthews and Poole can all score on drives, mid range and threes. And Matthews is the third best scorer of the three. Livers hit a couple of huge threes off the bench to hold Carolina at arms length, and a couple more in the second half to extend the lead. When we spread the floor and give them space, Poole and Iggy are almost unstoppable taking it to the rim. When either one is draining threes, life is good.
Simpson just did his job. He had a couple of lightening quick steals. Carolina is very athletic, making it tough for Z to convert his drives. He made a few, though, and had 7 assists. I thought that we were a little careless as team and had several unforced turnovers. But we forced some at the other end. We gave up some run outs in the first half but tightened that up as the game wore on. Eli gave Z some rest, but was not much of factor.
Teske continues to impress. We drop off on offense and defense with Davis subbing in. His hands were an issue today, and he had a horrible close out that allowed #20 to shot fake and drives for a layup. I thought that our help was not consistently as good as usual, either. Carolina looked like they really worked on the high ball screen and roll and the little lob pass in the lane to Teske. They got a hand on those passes. Nevertheless, Teske converted a few of those, had a put back dunk, a mid range jumper and was 3 of 4 on FTs, IIRC. 9 rebounds. Can't ask for more in 29 minutes. I was a little ticked when Jon got a beautiful feed that put him point blank at the rim, but elected to hurriedly try to bank it in instead of dunking. Missed the shot. Beilein let him know about it.
Defensively, Teske changes the game. There was one sequence in the second half where he seemed to be everywhere, closing the lane, blocking and changing shots and securing rebounds. I really like a play where he challenged Silva 10 feet out and was there for the short side rebound on the miss. I really hope that Johns can help us in the post when B1G season rolls around. Just not feeling Davis right now.
Our overall defense was not good. Carolina attacked Iggy very successfully. #21 posted him up with ease, although he did have a big size advantage. Silva was smallish but very quick and athletic, a tough cover for our big guys. He had 14 at the half. Teske and the D clamped down on him in the second half as he didn't score again until the latter stages of the game. Matthews was spooked by foul trouble and gave up lot of points to #24 in the second half. As a whole we did not do a great job on dribble drives.
Frank Martin is a hothead. Refs had heard plenty before they T'ed him up. I do think that they had a nice game plan. Be aggressive at both ends.
If we keep playing offense like we did today, it will keep opposing coaches up at night. We have a lot of options and we're getting multiple double digit scorers now. And they are multi faceted. The days of the spot up shooter are gone for now. Iggy, Matthews and Poole can all score on drives, mid range and threes. And Matthews is the third best scorer of the three. Livers hit a couple of huge threes off the bench to hold Carolina at arms length, and a couple more in the second half to extend the lead. When we spread the floor and give them space, Poole and Iggy are almost unstoppable taking it to the rim. When either one is draining threes, life is good.
Simpson just did his job. He had a couple of lightening quick steals. Carolina is very athletic, making it tough for Z to convert his drives. He made a few, though, and had 7 assists. I thought that we were a little careless as team and had several unforced turnovers. But we forced some at the other end. We gave up some run outs in the first half but tightened that up as the game wore on. Eli gave Z some rest, but was not much of factor.
Teske continues to impress. We drop off on offense and defense with Davis subbing in. His hands were an issue today, and he had a horrible close out that allowed #20 to shot fake and drives for a layup. I thought that our help was not consistently as good as usual, either. Carolina looked like they really worked on the high ball screen and roll and the little lob pass in the lane to Teske. They got a hand on those passes. Nevertheless, Teske converted a few of those, had a put back dunk, a mid range jumper and was 3 of 4 on FTs, IIRC. 9 rebounds. Can't ask for more in 29 minutes. I was a little ticked when Jon got a beautiful feed that put him point blank at the rim, but elected to hurriedly try to bank it in instead of dunking. Missed the shot. Beilein let him know about it.
Defensively, Teske changes the game. There was one sequence in the second half where he seemed to be everywhere, closing the lane, blocking and changing shots and securing rebounds. I really like a play where he challenged Silva 10 feet out and was there for the short side rebound on the miss. I really hope that Johns can help us in the post when B1G season rolls around. Just not feeling Davis right now.
Our overall defense was not good. Carolina attacked Iggy very successfully. #21 posted him up with ease, although he did have a big size advantage. Silva was smallish but very quick and athletic, a tough cover for our big guys. He had 14 at the half. Teske and the D clamped down on him in the second half as he didn't score again until the latter stages of the game. Matthews was spooked by foul trouble and gave up lot of points to #24 in the second half. As a whole we did not do a great job on dribble drives.
Frank Martin is a hothead. Refs had heard plenty before they T'ed him up. I do think that they had a nice game plan. Be aggressive at both ends.
