Close Call in Evanston

So the basketball team played a huge game in Evanston last night against a pesky Northwestern team that finds themselves on the tournament bubble for the first time that I can remember.  This is the same group of Wildcats that came into Ann Arbor and took the Wolverines to overtime on January 11th.  In that contest, Northwestern held a seven point lead at the half and used their 1-3-1 zone to give the Michigan offense trouble - holding the Wolverines to 33% shooting from the floor and 7-30 from beyond the arc.  Michigan had to claw from behind in that January tilt to force overtime before eventually winning by two at home.

Tough night for Morgan [AP/Paul Beaty]

I could almost repeat what I just wrote to describe last night's game.  Again NW led by seven at the break.  Again the 1-3-1 gave the Michigan offense fits (38% shooting and 14-38 from three).  Again the game went to overtime before Michigan could put things away.  Northwestern is a tough team to play and they have a shot at making the tournament this year, but I would have liked to see Michigan come out and play better in this game especially after the huge win on Saturday.  Maybe their was a little hangover from the game against OSU and you have to give NW credit for playing hard too.  It didn't seem to me that Michigan really played as well as they are capable until the extra session.  I suppose that's a pretty good time to turn it on though.  The 67-55 final score last night is not very indicative of the game as a whole, but more so a dominant overtime performance following a lackluster regulation one.

Tim Hardaway, Jr once again proved that he is the most maddening player possible to follow and root for.  Hardaway struggled shooting the ball again last night, just when I was thinking (maybe hoping is a better word) that he was pulling out of his slump.  One of the most frustrating things about his game last night was that he didn't do much to help himself.  Of his 4-12 shooting, he was 2-9 from deep.  On an off night when his shot wasn't there, he still took 75% of his shots from three.  He has got to recognize when he's off and go more to help himself break out of his funk by using his dribble and getting to the basket.  Even something as simple as using one dribble around a screen and taking a jumper can help create better rhythm and a better shot at the same time.  Instead we got a steady diet of catch and shoot threes that were almost universally short. 

When he did drive to the basket, most of the time he ended up getting fouled.  This turned out to be an excellent strategy for the 'Cats as Hardaway went a horrid 4-10 from the line.  Now, the man still had 14 points and did his share to help the team get the win so I don't want to be nothing but negative here.  He hit a big three from the corner late and chipped in five boards and three blocks so it's not like all he did was chuck up bricks.  It's just so frustrating when you know what he is capable of and he settles for three's and doesn't create.  It's almost like he's being lazy.  Speaking of lazy, I absolutely hate when his offensive frustrations lead him to being lazy on the defensive end.  I saw it plainly several times last night and that is something Beilein must put the clamps on immediately.  Enough about Hardaway.  I could write about my frustrations with him forever.  I sure do love him when he's on though!

Great D from Burke [AP/Paul Beaty]

So what went right?  Well, Superfrosh Trey Burke had another very good performance with 19 points and even came down with six rebounds too.  Douglass and Vogrich looked decent from long range.  The team defense was quite good and the switching out top was excellent most of the time.  I can only think of one time the switch wasn't communicated and there was an open player as a result.  Not so great?  Morgan followed arguably the best game of his career with foul trouble and a minimal impact.  He played only 21 minutes and finished with four points and seven rebounds.  Novak and Smotrycz each made only one shot from the field and finished with seven and two points respectively.  Also, 38 threes?!?  Michigan took 30 the first time these teams met so maybe this is a product of facing the 1-3-1.  Regardless, this is much too large a number.  And why is it that when another team runs a 1-3-1 against us we still get out rebounded 33-30, but when we run the 1-3-1 the other team gets every offensive board possible?  ARGH.

Despite all my 'everything was awful' talk, M won the game by 12 and is now 21-7 on the season and amazingly 11-4 in the toughest conference in the land.  They might even be looking at a top 10 ranking as early as next week.  Pretty damn impressive. 

Three games remain on the schedule:  Purdue on Senior Night is this Saturday, and then a two game road swing to finish at Illinois March 1st and at Penn State on the 4th on ESPN.  Purdue should be a given on an emotional night, Illinois is a flaming wreck (but still worries me anyway), and PSU is possibly worse than Nebraska.  A 3-0 finish is possible and probably likely which would make this team 14-4 in the Big Ten and 24-7 overall.  Sounds like a 3 seed to me.