1. We. Were. Bad. Really bad. In all phases. We won, so as Bill Murray said in Caddyshack, "At least I got that goin' for me, which is nice." Otherwise, ugh.
2. Let's start with coaching. I'm a well-known Beilein slappy, but I've got to tell you, I have no idea of what JB was doing playing a lineup for the last 3+ minutes of the first half which included BOTH Andrew Dakich AND Ricky Doyle. I get the need to get a few minutes for those guys, given the shape of our backcourt and some inconsistent play at the 5, but not together. We let them back in the game. And even at that, when Minnesota missed the free throw with 10 seconds left in the half, we had a use it or lose it timeout, and we chose not to use it and attack with those two on the floor. I can't imagine that what we wanted out of the end of the half was a 3 from Dakich, followed by a contested put-back from Doyle, but that's what we got because of the lineup we had in.
3. Another thing--it took 4 or 5 possessions at game's end before we actually pressured the ball on the in-bounds pass and made them take time getting to the basket. You have to something to at least interfere with offensive flow.
4. Now, on to players. Mark Donnal has, over the past 5 games, played much better on the defensive end. Tonight, not so much. When they drove, he was often indecisive, staying with his man until too late resulting in either a basket or a blocking foul. Mo Wagner wasn't any better, nor was D.J. Wilson, who also suffered the ignominy of being a 6'11" kid who missed two near dunks on the same possession. Doyle was our best 5 on defense, but he's lost all confidence on the offensive end.
5. Time out for a decent moment--we found and and closed out on Joey King very well. He was shooting 46% from 3 coming in, and until there were 20 seconds left and he hit a 3, he never got an open look.
6. I will say this--if we had made anything approximating our normal % from 3, this would have been an easy win. And I liked the vast majority of 3s we took. Duncan Robinson has finally hit a slump in the last 2 games--ditto Derrick Walton--both of whom had ridiculous percentages from 3, but if teams want to give Robinson those shots going forward, i'll be happy.
7. We had 9 assists. 9. I realize we normally would have had several more if guys had knocked down wide open looks off nice passes, but still, with the exception of a stretch in the middle of the first half, ball movement was pretty poor.
8. Walton took over down the stretch, despite apparently tweaking an ankle at about the 4 minute mark. That's encouraging (the leadership, not the ankle tweak). He better be ready to play at his best on Saturday--Nebraska, the way they're playing, is going to be very tough in Lincoln.
9. We need Caris LeVert. Badly. We've played as well as possible in his absence, but we're having increasing trouble spreading the floor with him out. And Minnesota's guards abused MAAR off the dribble. MAAR did make key free throws down the stretch. Kudos to him for that.
10. We looked flat all game--not effortless, but perhaps believing that after the 3 game stretch we played, this would be an easy one. It wasn't. We need to be intense every minute, especially with LeVert out. Even when we were leading by 15, I never felt like we were playing well or intensely.
11. Zak Irvin had a great first half, then disappeared on both ends of the floor in the second half. To be fair to him, JB sat him in the second half--too long IMO. Aubrey Dawkins did, however, play well in his absence
12. I'm going to finish by going the route of my older daughter who posted in Haiku on the Maryland Message Board after last night's narrow win over Northwestern: Michigan was bad. Walton was great down the stretch. Survive and advance.
2. Let's start with coaching. I'm a well-known Beilein slappy, but I've got to tell you, I have no idea of what JB was doing playing a lineup for the last 3+ minutes of the first half which included BOTH Andrew Dakich AND Ricky Doyle. I get the need to get a few minutes for those guys, given the shape of our backcourt and some inconsistent play at the 5, but not together. We let them back in the game. And even at that, when Minnesota missed the free throw with 10 seconds left in the half, we had a use it or lose it timeout, and we chose not to use it and attack with those two on the floor. I can't imagine that what we wanted out of the end of the half was a 3 from Dakich, followed by a contested put-back from Doyle, but that's what we got because of the lineup we had in.
3. Another thing--it took 4 or 5 possessions at game's end before we actually pressured the ball on the in-bounds pass and made them take time getting to the basket. You have to something to at least interfere with offensive flow.
4. Now, on to players. Mark Donnal has, over the past 5 games, played much better on the defensive end. Tonight, not so much. When they drove, he was often indecisive, staying with his man until too late resulting in either a basket or a blocking foul. Mo Wagner wasn't any better, nor was D.J. Wilson, who also suffered the ignominy of being a 6'11" kid who missed two near dunks on the same possession. Doyle was our best 5 on defense, but he's lost all confidence on the offensive end.
5. Time out for a decent moment--we found and and closed out on Joey King very well. He was shooting 46% from 3 coming in, and until there were 20 seconds left and he hit a 3, he never got an open look.
6. I will say this--if we had made anything approximating our normal % from 3, this would have been an easy win. And I liked the vast majority of 3s we took. Duncan Robinson has finally hit a slump in the last 2 games--ditto Derrick Walton--both of whom had ridiculous percentages from 3, but if teams want to give Robinson those shots going forward, i'll be happy.
7. We had 9 assists. 9. I realize we normally would have had several more if guys had knocked down wide open looks off nice passes, but still, with the exception of a stretch in the middle of the first half, ball movement was pretty poor.
8. Walton took over down the stretch, despite apparently tweaking an ankle at about the 4 minute mark. That's encouraging (the leadership, not the ankle tweak). He better be ready to play at his best on Saturday--Nebraska, the way they're playing, is going to be very tough in Lincoln.
9. We need Caris LeVert. Badly. We've played as well as possible in his absence, but we're having increasing trouble spreading the floor with him out. And Minnesota's guards abused MAAR off the dribble. MAAR did make key free throws down the stretch. Kudos to him for that.
10. We looked flat all game--not effortless, but perhaps believing that after the 3 game stretch we played, this would be an easy one. It wasn't. We need to be intense every minute, especially with LeVert out. Even when we were leading by 15, I never felt like we were playing well or intensely.
11. Zak Irvin had a great first half, then disappeared on both ends of the floor in the second half. To be fair to him, JB sat him in the second half--too long IMO. Aubrey Dawkins did, however, play well in his absence
12. I'm going to finish by going the route of my older daughter who posted in Haiku on the Maryland Message Board after last night's narrow win over Northwestern: Michigan was bad. Walton was great down the stretch. Survive and advance.
