2021-22 ucf

Michigan Basketball's slide off the bubble and into the tournament danger zone continued in the final game of 2021. In need of simply a single decent non-conference win to pad the resume, the Wolverines could not get it amid a spectacular second-half collapse fueled by offensive droughts and memorable shooting dominance from the Golden Knights' Darin Green Jr. and Brandon Mahan. After leading 35-31 at halftime— and 49-37 with 16 minutes to go— Michigan lost 85-71 to UCF. At 7-5 and with no real quality wins to speak of heading into the meat of conference play, Michigan Basketball is in trouble. 

The first half went alright for the Wolverines. DeVante' Jones scored 7 points on 3/5 shooting and snagged five boards, also helping Michigan break UCF's occasional full-court press. Hunter Dickinson and Moussa Diabate both had their struggles around the basket due to Pitt big man Cheikh Mbacke Diong, but Eli Brooks added a couple early buckets that bolstered Michigan's offense. On the UCF side, the first twenty minutes were all about Darin Green Jr., who went 6/8 from the field (including 4/6 from three), carrying an otherwise very poor offense forward. After a dunk at the buzzer was waived off, Michigan took a 35-31 lead into the break and felt okay. 

That feeling got even better after a strong start to the second half. Michigan embarked on a 9-1 run in the first 2:21 of the second half, including a Devante' Jones three pointer, Diabate going 2/2 from the line, a beautiful drive and pass from Eli Brooks to set up a Hunter Dickinson jam, and then a Jones steal on the ensuing in-bounds pass leading to an Eli bucket. Michigan led 44-32 and forced UCF head coach Johnny Dawkins to call timeout. Another minute+ bled off the clock and the margin stayed consistent, with Michigan up by that 49-37 edge I mentioned in the first paragraph. That's when things went off the rails. 

At least Devante' Jones wasn't bad on offense! [Campredon]

Despite a middling first half, Brandon Mahan started to turn it on, nailing back-to-back threes and scoring eight straight UCF points. After he got a little help from Darin Green Jr., Michigan was really in trouble. Over the span of just 4:15 of game time, the Golden Knights embarked on an 18-2 run (!!!!). 14 of the 18 points were from Mahan and Green Jr. Michigan's offense ran dry over that stretch and those two scorers made tough shots off the dribble, even when Michigan was able to track them off switches (wasn't always the case). The home UCF crowd may not have been plentiful, but they got loud in this stretch of the game and the Wolverines appeared rattled. 

An Eli Brooks jumper trimmed the score to 57-56 but Mahan knocked down another three and a crucial swing moment occurred: Terrance Williams II dribbled down the court and went up for a layup against a UCF defender who appeared to have his foot on the restricted circle. The collision was ruled an offensive foul and with the emotions flowing, Juwan Howard was whistled for a technical foul. Mahan made both free throws and Michigan trailed by six. 

Kobe Bufkin was a pleasant sign on offense [Campredon]

Still, the Maize & Blue fought back to within one score with over seven minutes to play. That's when the offense stalled as several floaters and tip-ins from seemingly every player glanced off the rim and out. Michigan scored one point over a four minute stretch, during which UCF stretched the lead to nine. By the time Michigan finally made a FG, there were just over three minutes to play.

UCF's offense couldn't be stopped in part because Mahan and Green Jr. couldn't miss. Some of that was Michigan leaving those players open on occasion, but again, even when covered, they were dead-on. The second half box score is staggering. UCF shot 72% from the field and went 8/8 on threes. Mahan and Green Jr. combined for 11/12 from the field and accounted for all eight three pointers, summing for 33 points. UCF also went to the line 13 times and made 10 of them, hanging 54 on Michigan in the second half. Even in the waning moments when Kobe Bufkin and Eli Brooks added late threes, the UCF sharpshooters answered every time. The margin didn't budge and then UCF added a few free throws to win by 14. 

In total, Michigan shot 40% from both the field and three, actually knocking down shots from distance but not effective enough inside, and when you're up against shooters converting at the clip that UCF's did, it was going to take a lot more. Eli Brooks led the way with 18 points for the Wolverines. Michigan is now 7-5 and reeling yet again, with the B1G schedule about to really hit full swing. The team will be in Piscataway, NJ, to take on Rutgers on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM EST. 

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THE ESSENTIALS

THE OVERVIEW

Michigan’s other team in Florida takes the court tonight with less on the line than the one staying down south, but a lot more than anyone thought would be riding on a trip to a mid-tier AAC team as they wrap up a nonconference portion of the season with one win to show for four attempts at tournament-plausible opponents. Win and they hold serve; lose and they’ll need some upsets in the Big Ten to avoid a bubbly spring. Their hosts are in a similar spot, with a close loss at home to Oklahoma and a blowout at Auburn their only results against dance hopefuls.

Johnny Dawkins’s Knights have made the tournament once in his five seasons—the one with his/our son Aubrey and Tacko Fall that was some Duke officiating away from upsetting Duke in the 2nd round. Last year’s Michigan team blew them out in Ann Arbor, reintroducing the Wolverine faithful to the concept of a back-to-the-basket big while feeding an off-the-bench freshman Hunter Dickinson or kicking out for Chaundee Brown triples. UCF has a bigger big and better scouting, Dickinson has added a right hook and some range, and Michigan’s still looking for a guard off the bench to bury a triple.

THE US

My graphic [click to embiggen]:

faq for these graphics

I was close to giving Devante’ Jones a defensive cyan but he held Southern Utah’s rim-runner John Knight to 3/8 from the field and six turnovers. He gets another shot to prove himself this week since…

THE LINEUP CARD

My graphic [click for big]:

…UCF this time should have former Louisville transfer PG Darius Perry available, whereas last time these two played the Knights tried to roll with SG Dre Fuller. This time it’s Fuller who’s questionable; he missed a pair of walkover games and played 5 minutes against Temple but should be back for this one. Fuller lost his starting gig to Darrin Green this year after the two split time in 2020-’21.

[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the preview.]

Things discussed:

• Georgia mindset: They got 2018 Ohio State gamed vs Bama, think they’re going to beat Michigan and lose to Bama again.
• Hoping there’s some non-linear stuff going on: What UGA does to offenses in the 30s or 50s may not be what they do to a Top 5 group.
• Michigan has to get their explosive plays, a la Wisconsin.
• They’re 2018 Michigan on defense, if Ryan Glasgow was 6’6”/340. Want to put 8 in the box and cover 1.
• Dealing with Davis? Trap trap trap trap. Want to see a great Michigan gameplan.
• Georgia’s offense like throwing to the TE and RB so if Michigan can put them in long downs they put the Dawgs in a bad spot where they are using their best offensive weapons to chip Hutchinson/Ojabo.
• Brian recalls Andre Seldon broke up a fade in an all-star game vs their 6’7”/265 TE Darnell Washington.
• Basketball vs UCF: Michigan has to fix their turnover problem and their guards getting blown by problem. One of these problems probably gets fixed this game. Key to the game: hit your threes, because they play two bigs.

[Hit the JUMP for the player, and video and stuff]