1. My brother hit the nail on the head--seldom, if ever, do you watch an elite offensive team (and make no mistake about it, Michigan is an elite offensive team) suffer through an entire half when shots will not go down and not carry it over at least a bit to the defensive end. This team absolutely did not take their offensive struggles in the first half to the defensive end, and then, when the offense kicked into high gear in the second half, resisted the temptation to just get into a playground game and gug down on defense even more. That shows incredible maturity for a college team.
2. I was a bit puzzled by our offensive strategy in the first half. Iowa doesn't defend off the bounce or against open 3 point shooters, but they wall up OK on post-ups and near the basket. Getting them into ball screen action usually destroys them, and watching them try to defend against it is why Garza is where he is on draft lists. In the second half, we used FranzWagner in particular, and other guys secondarily in those actions, and the results were great. To be fair, the first half strategy got us a lot of looks near the rim which we just couldn't make, but those looks were at least guarded. In the second half, we got easier shots and made more of them.
3. When you leave your big guy on an island, as we did with Hunter Dickinson on Luka Garza tonight, you;re selling out to shut down 3s against a 40+% shooting team, and you have to carry that out. Every single one of our perimeter defenders did a spectacular defensive job--while you'd have to go back and watch the game again, sitting here now, I can't think of five missed assignments on perimeter defense in a forty minute game. That's unbelievable. When that happens, the other team is reliant on a single guy to beat you. And that guy, Garza, got absolutely handled tonight by Hunter.
4. How good was Franz tonight? He was far and away the dominant player in a game which had, I'm guessing, five guys who will make All Big Ten first or second team (Garza, Weiskamp, Dickinson, Livers and Wagner). He makes plays off the bounce, he's a fantastic passer, his 3 point shooting percentage is getting close to 40% after a slow start, and oh yeah, he's a shut down defender. He and Isaiah just bottled up Weiskamp who will be earning an NBA paycheck.
5. Two very weird statistics from the game--(1) Michigan did not shoot a free throw which was not created by a flagrant or technical foul until less than three minutes remained in the game, and (2) Iowa, whci came in fourth in the nation in assist percentage per made basket (64.8%) had 4 assists for the entire game (on 21 made baskets).
6. There weren't a lot of counting stats to hang your hat on, but I thought Brandon Johns played exceptionally well defensively at the 5 in the second half when both our bigs were in foul trouble. He fronts the post very well (did it against Williams and Edey at Purdue as well), and was a major part of the overall defensive effort against Garza. His offense was rough tonight, but he was a key contributor.
7. Our guards missed a lot of shots in the 2 point range, but had 12 rebounds between them (Eli Brooks was tied for the lead with Hunter, who is a foot taller than he is), and a 7/2 assist/turnover ratio. Just another example of guys who, when one thing isn't working, find another way to win.
8. It will be interesting to see how we react to the short turnaround against Indiana Satuday morning. Hunter was gassed at the end of the game, and I mean really gassed. I can see some smaller lineups against that match-up, including more Chaundee Brown, who was once again, all over the floor.
9. I guess the lay-off didn't destroy our season.
2. I was a bit puzzled by our offensive strategy in the first half. Iowa doesn't defend off the bounce or against open 3 point shooters, but they wall up OK on post-ups and near the basket. Getting them into ball screen action usually destroys them, and watching them try to defend against it is why Garza is where he is on draft lists. In the second half, we used FranzWagner in particular, and other guys secondarily in those actions, and the results were great. To be fair, the first half strategy got us a lot of looks near the rim which we just couldn't make, but those looks were at least guarded. In the second half, we got easier shots and made more of them.
3. When you leave your big guy on an island, as we did with Hunter Dickinson on Luka Garza tonight, you;re selling out to shut down 3s against a 40+% shooting team, and you have to carry that out. Every single one of our perimeter defenders did a spectacular defensive job--while you'd have to go back and watch the game again, sitting here now, I can't think of five missed assignments on perimeter defense in a forty minute game. That's unbelievable. When that happens, the other team is reliant on a single guy to beat you. And that guy, Garza, got absolutely handled tonight by Hunter.
4. How good was Franz tonight? He was far and away the dominant player in a game which had, I'm guessing, five guys who will make All Big Ten first or second team (Garza, Weiskamp, Dickinson, Livers and Wagner). He makes plays off the bounce, he's a fantastic passer, his 3 point shooting percentage is getting close to 40% after a slow start, and oh yeah, he's a shut down defender. He and Isaiah just bottled up Weiskamp who will be earning an NBA paycheck.
5. Two very weird statistics from the game--(1) Michigan did not shoot a free throw which was not created by a flagrant or technical foul until less than three minutes remained in the game, and (2) Iowa, whci came in fourth in the nation in assist percentage per made basket (64.8%) had 4 assists for the entire game (on 21 made baskets).
6. There weren't a lot of counting stats to hang your hat on, but I thought Brandon Johns played exceptionally well defensively at the 5 in the second half when both our bigs were in foul trouble. He fronts the post very well (did it against Williams and Edey at Purdue as well), and was a major part of the overall defensive effort against Garza. His offense was rough tonight, but he was a key contributor.
7. Our guards missed a lot of shots in the 2 point range, but had 12 rebounds between them (Eli Brooks was tied for the lead with Hunter, who is a foot taller than he is), and a 7/2 assist/turnover ratio. Just another example of guys who, when one thing isn't working, find another way to win.
8. It will be interesting to see how we react to the short turnaround against Indiana Satuday morning. Hunter was gassed at the end of the game, and I mean really gassed. I can see some smaller lineups against that match-up, including more Chaundee Brown, who was once again, all over the floor.
9. I guess the lay-off didn't destroy our season.
