joey hauser

On an evening filled with heavy hearts, solidarity, and loads of emotion, the two in-state rivals Michigan and Michigan State did battle at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Saturday night and for one of the only times this season, it was clutch late plays from the Wolverines that won out. Michigan scored the game's final 12 points to break a late tie and emerge victorious thanks to a combination of clutch perimeter shots and the late dominance of Tarris Reed Jr. inside. The Wolverines got just enough stops despite playing the final 14:09 without Jett Howard, shouldering in-game adversity to get a big rivalry win. 

The opening stretch of the first half saw plenty of offense, with two main storylines dominating. For Michigan State, it was their evisceration of Will Tschetter's defense. Tschetter was forced into the starting lineup again due to the lingering injury to Terrance Williams II and Michigan State presented a matchup nightmare for Tschetter, a limited defensive player. Michigan had surrendered 15 points in just six minutes when Tschetter came off the floor for the first time, but thankfully for the home crowd, their side was not left in the dust by MSU's offensive outburst.

That would be because of Dug McDaniel, who dazzled early on. He scored Michigan's first seven points on a two point jumper, a three point jumper, and fast-break layup created by his steal. Jett Howard began to join in, as did Kobe Bufkin, and Michigan was able to match MSU's offense blow for blow for the first 10 minutes of the game. That's when the Spartans began to get a bit of separation, going on a 9-2 run to grab the game's biggest lead, 33-25, with 3:59 remaining in the half. Michigan's offense had entered a rut, the defense was still leaking all over the place, but they managed to pull it together, closing the half on an 8-3 run to go to the break down just three. That 36-33 halftime score felt like a mini-victory for Juwan Howard's team, with the game teetering on potential collapse before that late surge. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Tschetter, who scored zero points in the first half, made his first bucket of the game early in the second half, closing the lead to 42-41. A few minutes later, Jett Howard's pull-up jumper from two point range tied it at 46. Howard came down awkwardly, appearing to suffer a leg injury, and he laid on the floor in pain for an extended time before being helped to the bench. Howard would not play again the remainder of the game, a blow to an already-shorthanded Michigan team missing Williams too. Michigan was going to need other players to step up, and they got that. 

Michigan State jumped back ahead by four, then layups by Joey Baker and Tschetter tied it. McDaniel, who had gone quiet for awhile, started to pick it back up and take control of the offense, pulling Michigan to within one, 56-55, halfway through the second stanza. The Spartans would use an abbreviated 5-0 spurt to go up 63-57 with 8:23 to go when Howard called timeout to settle down the troops, another potential swing point. Again Michigan had an answer. 

Baker hit a three right out of the timeout and on the next time down the floor he'd miss a three that Tarris Reed Jr. would put back for an and-one. Reed connected on the free throw and the game was tied at 63. This was the moment when the story of the game became the dominance of Tarris Reed. With the struggles of Tschetter at the four, Howard decided to run with the Twin Towers of Reed and Dickinson late, Dickinson floating around the perimeter and whipping the ball around inside the arc while Reed was feasting inside using his size and strength to exploit matchup advantages. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Dickinson would hit two free throws to put Michigan up 67-65 with 4:20 left, but MSU's Joey Hauser scored a 2nd-chance bucket to tie it. Dickinson uncorked a brilliant spin-layup, but Reed fouled Houser, who made both bonus free throws. 69-69. Michigan went up the floor and Dickinson fed Reed the ball, who fumbled it at first, regained possession of the loose ball, and finished through contact on a layup, dragging Spartans with him. He hilariously banked in the ensuing and-one free throw and Michigan led 72-69. MSU wasn't done, though. Guard Tyson Walker took the Spartans up the floor and swished a step-back three to tie it at 72. 

72-72 is where things sat with 2:29 remaining in the game and the collective feeling of the Michigan fanbase was something like "well, are we gonna blow it again?". The answer, as it turned out, was no. Kobe Bufkin hit the biggest shot of the game, an improbable three after fumbling the ball just moments earlier late in the shot clock, to put Michigan ahead 75-72. Hauser had the ball for MSU on the next possession, guarded by the smaller Kobe Bufkin, and Reed arrived in help defense as Hauser went up with the shot. That shot was met by a thundering swat from Reed and Michigan now had the lead and the ball. 90 seconds left.

The ultimate dagger came just after this sequence. Dug McDaniel dribbled inside the arc and at the same time, Dickinson was stepping out. McDaniel saw Dickinson, flipped him the ball, and Dickinson swished the three. 78-72 Wolverines with just 1:07 to go. Walker came out of the timeout attempting another pull-up three and he bricked this one, rebounded down by Baker with 48 seconds left and he was fouled. Baker went to the line and swished them both, putting Michigan up by eight and the game was more or less finished. One more stop-and-foul sequence put it fully out of reach and the Wolverines had finally won a close game late that meant something. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

There were several heroes for Michigan tonight but the two biggest may well have been the freshmen, McDaniel and Reed. Dug kept Michigan afloat in the first half, gave them a key spurt in the middle of the second, and made the pass to set up the dagger. He led the team with 18 on 6/10 from the field and crucially, he was a respectable 5/7 from two. He also was 5/6 from the free throw line, had four rebounds, four assists, and zero turnovers. Oh, and Dug played 39 minutes(!). As for Reed, he only had eight points, but all eight came in the final seven minutes. When we talk about this team needing players to step up in the clutch, Tarris did exactly that. He snatched 10 rebounds in 24 minutes, provided effective defense, doubly so when you remember he was replacing Tschetter. Reed was the answer that got this game to the finish line. 

Dickinson and Bufkin were two heroes who were pretty steady throughout, Kobe providing 17 and Hunter 14. Both played 33+ minutes and were vital. Jett Howard had 10 points before injury, but on an ugly 3/9 FG and 1/7 3PT clip. Joey Baker played a big role after the Howard injury, scoring 10 on 3/6 from the floor and 2/5 from three for the game. Baker did his job. Tschetter did have seven in the second half, but the warts in his game were also on full display. As for MSU, Hauser was excellent with 20 points, while Malik Hall and Tyson Walker each scored in double figures and Jaden Akins added a spectacular ThunderDunk in the second half. 

Michigan is now 15-12 on the season and 9-7 in the B1G, with just four games to play. They are tied with MSU and Rutgers at 9-7, a half-game up on 8-7 Illinois and a half-game behind 9-6 Maryland and 9-6 Iowa. Michigan will be back at it on Thursday night in Piscataway, NJ, against the Rutgers Scarlett Knights, a tough test and one of the only teams in the conference Michigan has not yet seen. That game is scheduled for 8:30 PM EST and will be broadcast on FS1. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

2021-22 B1G Basketball Season Preview... previously: Season preview podcast, Power Rankings Lower Half

Yesterday we covered the lower half of the B1G and ranked teams 14-8. Today we will be doing the same but for the upper half of the conference, talking less about despair and more about hope and pivotal questions that could define the seasons. Our first entrant in this article is also a new face in the conference: 

7. Indiana

Projected starting lineup:

• G, Xavier Johnson
• G, Parker Stewart
• F, Miller Kopp
• F, Race Thompson
• F, Trayce Jackson-Davis

Mike Woodson takes over in Bloomington and if he wants to begin his era off on the right foot, making the NCAA Tournament is a good way to begin. Luckily for him, the Hoosiers have a high floor by returning Trayce Jackson-Davis, who is a B1G Player of the Year candidate. TJD is an elite rebounder who gets to the stripe at an incredibly high rate, in addition to soaking up a ginormous volume of possessions. Indiana leans on him heavily, but whether the Hoosiers wind up in March Madness probably depends on whether or not they find impact players besides TJD.

Race Thompson returns as well, a slightly smaller and far less used version of TJD. He rebounds, blocks, and gets to the line just like the IU star, but his usage is indicative of a role player and not a star. Thompson should be in line for a bigger job this season, but if he is, then you have a situation where both of IU’s two biggest pieces can’t shoot from outside, which raises relevant questions about floor spacing and the ability of this team to pack the perimeter punch. Rob Phinisee returns as a guard off the bench, but he certainly won’t add that three-point shooting (career 29.8%).

The rest of the roster consists of new players that Woodson has imported to Indiana. Xavier Johnson is a high usage PG from Pitt who will be expected to run the offense but he, too, has struggled from three in his career and could best be described up to this point as a “turnover machine”. Perhaps a reduced role akin to Mike Smith last year could reign some of the wildness in and make him take better shots. Parker Stewart sat out last season after transferring from UT-Martin and is supposed to be the sharp-shooter that this roster lacks. Miller Kopp could bring some perimeter shooting from the wing position if he’s more 2019-20 (39.6%) than 2021-21 (32.0%), after arriving from Northwestern. Tamar Bates also should play a role as a top 50 recruit off the bench. 

To me, Indiana starts out as a bubble team. They won’t be terrible, because of TJD and to a lesser extent, Thompson. But outside shooting is the crucial factor as to whether IU is another Archie-style bellyflop or a genuinely encouraging 8-9 seed type team, which is mostly a function of how well all the offseason shopping this program did in the transfer portal really went. Though Woodson has no recruits of his own on this roster, we’ll get a decent temperature of how he is as a B1G coach in year #1 based on how well he can integrate the fresh faces.

6. Michigan State

Projected lineup:

• G, Tyson Walker
• G, Max Christie
• F, Gabe Brown
• F, Joey Hauser
• F, Marcus Bingham

Michigan State missed Cassius Winston like a baby misses its pacifier last season, cycling through a number of PG options and never really landing on one until their season ran out in the NCAA Tournament’s play-in game against UCLA (haha, losers, what kind of team loses to UCLA?). Tom Izzo thinks he may have solved that problem by reeling in PG transfer Tyson Walker from Northeastern. Walker was a magnificent player in the Colonial Athletic Association, winning that conference’s POY award after posting 19 a game with 5 assists, shooting 35% from deep on humongous usage. Walker is a little undersized and of course there will be transition costs, but he could be a big addition (for the record, the CAA is roughly ranked akin to the Sun Belt and Ivy League in KP’s conference rankings).

The other big addition is five-star SG Max Christie, a 6’6” prospect who profiles as a knock down shooter with skill and poise, not unlike Michigan’s addition of Caleb Houstan. Considering that MSU couldn’t buy a three last season, adding impact shooting perimeter shooting is big. The big question for the Spartans is who whether Walker and Christie are ready to gobble up a high volume of possessions, because losing Aaron Henry, Rocket Watts, and Josh Langford means that three of MSU’s top four usage guys from last season are out the door, including their top two.

The question increases in importance when you remember that the other pieces, though familiar, have refused to take charge offensively. Lanky stretch forward Gabe Brown has been a useful option, but he’s allergic to playing an active role in the offense, and the same can be said for big men Malik Hall and Marcus Bingham. Which is why MSU’s season hinges on Joey Hauser. The Marquette transfer was not the big splash addition that Spartan fans had hoped for last season, shooting just 34% from three and 61% at the line for a 103.8 ORTG. That represented a big turn from the promising player that Hauser had seemed to be in 2019 for the Golden Eagles.

If Hauser can re-find his Marquette form, then a good campaign from Christie and Walker may be enough to boost MSU into the top four of the league. But, those are all sizable question marks considering you’re talking about one player transferring in from mid-major basketball, another who’s never played a collegiate game, and a third who struggled mightily in his first B1G season. For now, we keep State in the middle of the B1G.

[AFTER THE JUMP: More transfers!]

I thought Rutgers would be the least likely team to find itself atop the conference standings this season. I was wrong!

Northwestern went 3-17 in the Big Ten last year. They're now 3-0 this season after following up last week's upset of Michigan State with victories against Indiana and Ohio State. Here are the results from last week's conference slate (home team listed second):

• Purdue 55, Iowa 70
• Nebraska 53, Wisconsin 67
• Rutgers 68, Ohio State 80
• Penn State 81, Illinois 98
• Northwestern 74, Indiana 67
• Iowa 95, Minnesota 102 (OT)
• Wisconsin 85, Michigan State 76
• Michigan 80, Nebraska 69
• Maryland 70, Purdue 73
• Indiana 60, Illinois 69
• Ohio State 70, Northwestern 71

It was a particularly good week for Northwestern and Illinois and a rough one for Indiana, which lost to both aforementioned teams. Meanwhile, the most entertaining game of the week was Iowa's late collapse and eventual overtime loss at Minnesota. The Hawkeyes still can't guard anybody.

The Standings

Now ordered by conference record since everyone has actually played multiple Big Ten games.

The top-to-bottom strength of the conference is remarkable; 13 of the 14 teams are inside the top 55 nationally when you average KenPom and Torvik rankings. KenPom predicts all 13 of those teams to finish with at least eight conference wins, leaving Nebraska—which isn't an awful bottom-end power conference team!—with a projected 3-17 record.

Even with that 3-0 start, Northwestern is predicted to finish .500 in Big Ten play. Ohio State and Indiana are projected to finish with losing conference records despite sitting just outside the top 20 teams in the country; ditto MSU at #32. It's a scarily strong league; the Big Ten and Big 12 are well in front of the rest of the pack in KenPom's conference rankings with the former topping the list. Fox Sports' latest (way too early) bracket has 11 B1G squads in the field with Wisconsin/Iowa as two-seeds and Michigan/Illinois as three-seeds.

[Hit THE JUMP for five-out Northwestern, State's terrible defensive profile, and more.]