Maryland 83, Michigan 70
Maryland's Senior Day took on a game of destiny feel from the early going. The afternoon's primary honoree, Anthony Cowan, scored the first points. Jalen Smith gave Michigan's big men a difficult challenge. Most difficult to overcome, the Terp shooters—who've been wayward for most of the season—kept connecting on three-pointers.
David DeJulius did his damndest to keep the Wolverines in the game anyway, scoring a career-high 20 points on 12 shooting possessions in 20 minutes on the floor. His contributions plus strong offensive games from Franz Wagner (15 points on 11 shooting possessions) and Zavier Simpson (13 points, six assists) kept Michigan hanging around until the end. The third bad outing in four games from Isaiah Livers, however, made it tough to keep pace—he mustered six points on 2/8 shooting from the floor.
Scoring wasn't really the issue, though. Maryland scored 1.30 points per possession, the fourth-worst mark Michigan has allowed this season. While star center Jalen Smith only made 1/5 three-pointers, the mere threat of his outside shot changed the way the Wolverines defended, and the extra attention paid to him opened up opportunities for others. Eric Ayala and Aaron Wiggins, both languishing near 30% as three-point shooters this season, each made 3/4 shots from beyond the arc to score 19 and 15 points, respectively. Cowan hit 7/9 two-pointers with Michigan's big men often drawn away from the hoop, finishing with 20 points and eight assists.
Smith, for his part, was a nightmare when he wasn't shooting from the outside. He scored 18 points, with his lone triple a deflating 35-foot runner to beat the first-half buzzer. He pulled down three offensive rebounds among his 11 boards. On defense, he added four blocks and a steal. Michigan only made five shots in the restricted area; Maryland hit 12.
Eric Ayala, presumably after sinking an unlikely dagger [Sherman]
Some of the defensive issues for the Wolverines were communication breakdowns. Some were personnel problems borne from having to match up with Smith. Some were just bad luck; seemingly every time Michigan made a push, Ayala canned a tough jumper to kill the momentum.
In fact, the box score shows a remarkably even game with a critical difference. Maryland pulled down only two more offensive rebounds and committed one fewer turnover than Michigan, and their three-point advantage on five extra attempts at the free-throw line only occurred because of late intentional fouling. Both teams attempted 20 three-pointers; the Terps hit eight to Michigan's six. Both teams attempted 30 two-pointers; Maryland made 20 to the Wolverines's 18.
Meanwhile, Simpson became the first player I can remember to foul out between free-throw attempts when a DJ Carstensen-led crew reviewed his fall after getting hammered at the rim by Smith with under 30 seconds left in a game that was functionally over. Simpson helped break a hard fall by grabbing Smith's jersey, which tugged the mesh but did nothing to put Smith in harm. Despite, you know, the conference going over this very play with this very ref to correct this very problem, Simpson got called for a flagrant that fouled him out of the game. Jon Teske had to sub in to take the second free throw. His miss was initially credited to Simpson, presumably because StatBroadcast isn't prepared for officials to be this incompetent.
At least that one didn't impact the outcome of a rivalry game.
Anyway, Michigan was locked into the 8/9 game against Rutgers regardless of this game's outcome, while Maryland gets to celebrate a shared Big Ten title that nearly slipped out of their grasp down the stretch. You'll probably forget any details from this game within a week. Except the Carstensen fiasco. Good lord, man. Get it together.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
Second year in a row we get to watch a team celebrate winning a big ten title on their home floor against us on the final day of the season
Fuck the big ten
I think we can give Z a new nickname: The Ripper
We're not going to go far in the tournament with Teske/Johns/Livers combining for 7 rebounds and without Livers scoring more. If it wasn't for DDJ, we would really have been run out of the arena. Oh well, it is what is.
Rebounding was fine. Those guys were boxing out (usually) and letting Simpson clean up. They only rebounded 25% of their misses which is fine.
The lazy, unfocused defense and carelessness on offense we saw in the first half is what would keep Michigan from having a chance to go far in the tournament.
Johns had a nice little run earlier but it seems he doesn't do anything anymore. Stands in the corner for 3s but doesn't really take any. Probably better as a small ball 5 at this point.
Livers, Brooks, Johns = 12 points. Not close to good enough.
Another poor shooting game from deep, although 30% on 3s is an uptick from recent results.
Meanwhile, Livers continues to struggle and...Bajema, with his sweet shooting stroke remains nailed to the bench. I mean...what does this team mostly lack?? Shooting! And this guy can't even get a chance...even though he does nothing but hit shots during his very limited cameos.
From all accounts, it seems like his defense isn't even close to being ready. That's why he isn't playing
Michigan's third guard scored 20 on 12 shots today and you're complaining about not seeing Bajema? That would be valid if Nunez had gotten minutes today but he didn't. Offense was not Michigan's problem today other than some careless TOs in the first half.
Livers, Brooks, Johns = 12 points. Not close to good enough.
DDJ is the leading scorer with 20 points but...a worst on the team -17 during his time on the floor?
Part of it was that he was the only guy scoring for awhile there. Also, he had a rough outing defensively.
DDJ has a rough outing defensively but I thought it was more to do with a tough Cowan was playing offensively.
DDJ should really open up the offense next year at point especially if he can make a nice leap in his game.
I hope both the February and November team return in the both the B1G and NCAA tourneys. If we play soft defense and cannot shoot well, we will not last long in either tournament
Livers has gone cold. He needs to break out of that for Michigan to have any chance of winning more than 1 game in both tournaments. Brooks also 0'fer on 3's. Michigan kept cutting it to 7 points and even 3 points with 10 min left but couldn't consistently do anything on offense. I don't know what you can do when Livers is having a bad night...maybe Johns should have played more? I think Castleton should have gotten Davis's minutes in the 1st half.
Why the hell are there no repercussions for bad refs? Michigan needs to do something to prevent DJ Carstensen from reffing their games. He's clearly biased. I mean calling a jersey rip twice against Michigan but letting it go for other teams, what the fuck is that? The bullshit foul he called on Livers. It didn't affect the game on the whole, but this guy is clearly biased or an idiot. Fuck that guy.
Carstensen calling a game involving Michigan would be like assigning me to call a game played by my ex-wife.
And don't think for second the B1G doesn't know this which is why he keeps getting assigned to our games.
The help side defense was awful.
Another really poor defensive performance, especially on the perimeter. Becoming a thing with this team. That's why 30% shooters shoot 75% from 3 against us because they are wide open for 3's. What has happened to Simpson defensively? He used to be called an elite defender, now he can't stay in front of anyone.
I was going to mention this and agree completely. For everything he's done in his career, Simpson has mailed in his defense for chunks of this season.
Today, the difference in the game was the awful defense Michigan played in the first half, allowing a seemingly endless stretch of layups and dunks. And Simpson was the culprit on too many of them.
He left Morsell wide open under the basket to half-ass double a guy that Johns already had well-guarded. He got lost on a switch that appeared to have been called out pretty well by DDJ to leave Morsell wide open for a three. He got torched on drives by Ayala (when he lazily reached from behind) and by Wiggins. I get that guys like Wiggins and Pritchard and others are going to be able to shoot over him but no reason they should be driving past him.
I'm not sure if he's just gassed by the offensive burden he's had to carry this year, or if the new coaching staff doesn't keep him accountable (last player I would have expected that from) or if he's just over some of these less impactful games after a long career. Or maybe his new girlfriend has him feeling too good, but you're absolutely correct that that part of his game has been missing too often this year.
Hopefully the effort and focus comes back now that they're back in single elimination tourneys.
March 10th, 2020 at 12:58 PM ^
The most mystifying thing is why what was a strength 2 weeks ago has become a glaring weakness as of late...
Would have been nice to play a little better today. Glad to see us play better in the second half (even in fact) and got the game competitive at certain points. Have to hope the three point luck swings the other way as that is having an impact. Have to do our part in limiting the number of threes that go up but their complementary players hitting 6-8 three pointers was not a help to us. I guess that did offset Sticks going 1-5.
Anyway, work to get the defense back to snuff against Rutgers and see what we can do against a really good Wisconsin team should we get there.
Maryland only shot 8/20 today. It's good, but not that good. Wiggins and Ayala being hot was mostly offset as you mentioned by Sticks and Cowan combining to go 1-7. This wasn't a game in which three point luck made much of a difference.
Michigan's defense is disorganized right now, and that's troubling at this point in the season.
True dat, but the lion's share of points came from guys we didn't think we had to d-up as much - which was the right gambit by the numbers...oh well, basketball.
It would also be nice to convert more uncontested layups. This team has missed so many bunnies they should dress up as Elmer Fudd for the tournaments.
Another shit performance. Lost 3 out of the last 4.Not a good way to finish a season. The only saving grace is they can start over in the tourney but I'm not hopeful. There is something fundamentally wrong with this team. They lack energy for long stretches. Their defense is often atrocious. Offense is wobbly most of the time. This team has a lot of talent but coaching is lacking this year.
This team objectively does not have very much talent
Maryland had two 5 star centers on their team last year. We have Teske and Davis
Can we register a protest about this ref? He seems to have a specific problem with one rule and one player, even with the league publically correcting him after the first instance. Maybe ask that anyone else officiate a B1G tournament game involving Simpson?
Well we could but that would mean Warde having the stones to publicly confront the league (you know like the OSU AD does whenever they get hosed) and that's not something he has the stomach (balls?) to do.
Anyone think its possible Juwan is dealing with the opposite problem as Beilein adjusting to the NBA? Juwan's used to the NBA coaching atmosphere where players don't want to be coached, so he's not riding these guys and that's leading to defensive performances that we've seen the last few weeks.
I'm not going soft on Nook, but between inheriting a lineup not built for his system and injuries, I would have taken 19-11 before the season. The Trident misaligned expectations and they've gone through some bad streaks in a super tough conference that say more about the odds and ends of basketball than any coaching performance, imho. Healthy Livers all season and this team adds 4-5 wins even in figuring in the nature of competition in a bear of a league.
How do these refs continue to find work in this conference? Is it simply a "who you know" aspect?
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