keisei tominaga

Michigan Men's Basketball closed out their regular season of the 2023-24 campaign with an eighth straight loss, the team's 13th in 14 games and 18th in 20 games. Matched up against a Nebraska team who eviscerated Michigan's defense in the first meeting between the two teams back in early February, the defense of the Maize & Blue did no better this time. They allowed 50 points in the first half and Nebraska shot 28/36 (77.8%) from two for the game, scoring at a 1.21 PPP clip for the contest. Michigan hung around in the first half but like so many other games this season, were blown out of the water in the second half and the final minutes ticked down without any intrigue. Wash, rinse, repeat. 

The first half was the Keisei Tominaga show, as the Japanese guard piled up 23 points (nearly half of Nebraska's total) on a sizzling 9/12 shooting. Tominaga had his way with the Michigan defense, lethal from downtown with four triples, plus gobs of easy scores inside at the rim. Tominaga led the Nebraska offense that bulldozed the Michigan defense throughout the first half, scoring 70% from the floor and 15/18 from two, numbers that only cooled off slightly in the second half. Even for a Michigan defense that has had plenty of ugly halves this season, this first half effort had to have been among the ugliest. Josiah Allick and Rienk Mast each chipped in seven points as well on a combined 6/7 shooting as Nebraska hung a half-century in the first half. 

To Michigan's credit, they had a lot of offensive success as well in the first half against a Nebraska defense that had been pretty sharp in recent weeks. It wasn't enough to keep up with the way their defense was hemorrhaging points on the other end, but it gave the game a competitive feel, as Michigan only trailed by seven at halftime. While Tominaga dazzled for Nebraska, Dug McDaniel was the star for Michigan, shooting 5/6 from three on his way to 17 points in the first half. There were a couple instances of Tominaga drilling a shot at one end, only for McDaniel to pull up from three and swish it at the other end. Michigan didn't get a ton else of note offensively outside of McDaniel in the first half, but it was enough to keep them within striking distance at the half. 

[Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Michigan was going to need to defend better in the second half and while they did somewhat, their offense also bogged down and were unable to close the gap. Nebraska's three point shooting cooled off dramatically and Tominaga was held in check, but with Tominaga on the perimeter drawing attention, the Huskers were still able to get inside for too many easy layups and dunks. Nebraska was 11/18 on 2's in the second half, with Josiah Allick standing out as the star in the latter 20 minutes. Allick played good defense, with an excellent recovery and close-out to block a Burnett three early in the second half hanging in the memory. He scored 8 points in the second half to lead the team, same as Brice Williams, as Nebraska put together a rather ensemble offensive performance in the second half. 

For Michigan, the biggest story was the three point shooting vanishing. They made just one out of 13 attempts from deep in the second half, missing a number of pretty wide open looks, Terrance Williams II making their only triple of the second half. McDaniel in particular was ice cold, 0/5 from the floor in the second half and Michigan's best sequence of the second half, when they trimmed the Nebraska lead from 20 back to 12, came with Dug on the bench. That briefly looked like it could give Michigan an opening to charge back into the game, but Nebraska wrestled control back and the two teams were rather lackluster and sloppy late in the game. Michigan never got it back to single digits after Allick's layup to make the score 59-48 and the end of the game was again marked by walk-ons in the game and discussion from the broadcasters of how good Michigan's opponent is playing recently.  

Michigan ends the B1G regular season at 3-17, last place in the conference by four games. Their only conference wins were over Iowa, Ohio State, and Wisconsin, just one coming on the road. Seven of their last eight games have been losses by double digit margins. Last season was a year of repetitive pain after meltdowns in the final minutes of close games. This season, the team was so bad in calendar 2024 there haven't even been close games to meltdown in. Each game is a similar shade to the last one and my recaps have grown shorter and shorter because there are only so many ways you can describe how nonexistent Michigan's defense is or their one-dimensionality sans Olivier Nkamhoua on offense. 

Michigan will play in the (14) vs. (11) game in the B1G Tournament on Wednesday night, with one more loss to end their season. It is not clear who the opponent will be, but we will know by the end of the evening tonight. What we do know is that game will be at roughly 9:00 pm EST and will be broadcast on Peacock. 

[Click the JUMP for the box score]

THE ESSENTIALS

WHAT	#97 Michigan (8-14, 3-9 B10) vs #52 Nebraska (16-8, 6-7 B10)
WHERE	Champions Circle Arena Lincoln, NE
WHEN	Saturday, 6:30 PM
THE LINE	Kenpom: Neb-7 Torvik: Neb-7
TELEVISION	BTN (link)

THE OVERVIEW

Well whaddaya know, Michigan won a basketball game. Over a top-11 opponent and the projected top three-seed no less. Granted it was the most fraudulent Wisconsin team in a minute, but if our stink's gonna rub off on someone this year, nobody deserves it more than the Badgers.

Doing the same to Nebraska would be ruder, and surprisingly more far-fetched. The Huskers are currently just on the good side of the bubble. They don't travel well; a recent overtime loss to Illinois was the closest the Huskers have come this season to a Big Ten road win. At home howevever they've taken out Wisconsin, Ohio State, Northwestern, Indiana, Michigan State, Kansas State, Indiana, and Purdue(!), which victory is probably what's holding them in the tournament. Their remaining Big Ten schedule is a lot easier, but Road Nebraska is eminently capable of coughing up games at Indiana, Ohio State, and even Michigan.

With Dug still serving his road suspension (this will be Game 4 of the projected 6), and Jaelin Llewellin's knee in no shape to keep up with Keisei Tominaga and Jamarques Lawrence, this one doesn't have much suspense. How things have changed.

[After THE JUMP: Nebraska hasn't changed, but the Big Ten has.]

Previously: Part One (Illinois-Minnesota)

Today's post will cover the back half of the Big Ten and next week I'll post a part three that (finally) ranks the league by current roster outlook. Let's get this going before anyone else moves.

Nebraska

Key departures: W Teddy Allen (left team during season, transfer), F Yvan Ouedraogo (Grand Canyon transfer), G Elijah Wood (transfer), W Akol Arop (transfer)
Key additions/super seniors: G Kobe Webster (super senior), W Keon Edwards (DePaul transfer), W CJ Wilcher (Xavier transfer), G Keisei Tominaga (JuCo transfer), 5* W Bryce McGowens (2021 signee), 4* F Wilhelm Breidenbach (2021 signee), 3* C Oleg Kojenets (2021 signee)
Up in the air: F Thorir Thorbjarnarson (possible super senior), F Shameil Stevenson (considering pros)

Color me shocked, there's a lot of transfer action in a Fred Hoiberg program. While that reflected a poor Nebrasketball program the last couple years, however, this offseason shows some promise for the Huskers.

Hoiberg did a good job of holding the roster together after leading scorer Teddy Allen left the program midway through the season. The only other rotation player to leave is backup big Yvan Ouedraogo, while the other players who've transferred or are considering their futures either didn't play significant minutes or are fringe Big Ten talents. Starting guard Kobe Webster, a good outside shooter, decided to use the COVID exemption for an extra senior year.

Meanwhile, the players coming in look like they'll move the program forward. Hoiberg isn't shying away from heaping expectations on freshman wing Bryce McGowens, the #22 overall player in the 2021 class—easily the highest-ranked signee in Huskers history—and younger brother of senior guard Trey McGowens:

"I believe that signing Bryce changes the whole trajectory of our program." Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said. "He is the centerpiece of what I believe is the strongest class that Nebraska basketball has ever signed. Since I've been here, we have talked about building a program that can have sustained success, and adding a player of Bryce's caliber shows that we building something special here. It shows that Nebraska can compete for some of the top players in the country. It also says a lot about the type of person that Bryce is. He wanted to go to a place where he can create a legacy and help Nebraska basketball reach new heights.

He's on the skinny side and his outside shot is reportedly streaky but he has the look of a high-level scorer from day one. Top-100 big man Wilhelm Breidenbach is merely the third-highest ranked signee in program history; at 6'9, 200 pounds, his lack of bulk may matter more than McGowens' because of their respective positions.

DePaul transfer Keon Edwards is, in effect, another top-100 commit. The lanky 6'7 wing was ranked in the 40-80 range depending on the evaluator after he gave up his senior season of high school to reclassify to 2020 and enroll in December. Edwards played only a handful of minutes over five games as a freshman. The Huskers say he'll have four years of eligibility and he had some high-level programs after him as a transfer, including Alabama and Florida State.

Xavier transfer CJ Wilcher is in a similar position. The #113 prospect in the 2020 class rode the pine for most of the season before emerging as a useful rotation player and even a spot starter on the wing in its final month. He, too, will have four years of eligibility. While limited as an athlete, he was touted as one of the better shooters in his class.

Speaking of shooters, top-ten JuCo transfer Keisei Tominaga is touted as "the Japanese Steph Curry" after shooting 48% from downtown for Ranger (TX) College, which is coached by Billy Gillespie(!). His range and quick release are evident on film and he should at the very least be a fun player to track.

[Hit THE JUMP for teams with a bit less change except for... Wisconsin?]