Michigan 43 Louisville 58
In what became the de facto #1 game of this year's Big Ten/ACC Challenge, Michigan came out looking like they had just played three games in three days in another country, and Louisville showed their home fans why they're the #1 team in this one.
The sluggish Wolverines were stymied by Louisville's defense, which doubled the ball, and harassed Simpson—who came into the game with a nation-leading .500 assist rate—with hard hedges he looked unpracticed against. Their engine already sputtering, Simpson picked up his second foul with 5 minutes left in the frame. Lamarr Kimble made 1/2 ensuing free throws to push their lead to 22-7 as X hit the bench. Brooks took over at point but couldn't penetrate where Simpson had already failed. The Wolverines finished the first half with 18 points, six turnovers to just one assist, and 0.39 points per possession by my reckoning--arguably their worst half of offense since Beilein's first season.
For the most part Louisville managed to do to Michigan's offense what the Wolverines did in Atlantis to Gonzaga and UNC: force them into all kinds of bad twos. Michigan tried to have Teske work down low but that further played into the Cardinals' defensive strength with those two burly bigs they rotate. Louisville too looked uncomfortable with Michigan's length, forcing up contested jumpers or driving into a sea of arms. The teams combined to start the game 5/26 from the field over the first eight minutes, the Cardinals getting just a few more bad shots to fall and capitalizing on a few open shots off loose balls.
Ope, lemme just. [Campredon]
Even when they did find a crack—mostly in the second half—Michigan's shooters could barely hit iron. Isaiah Livers, Franz Wagner, and Eli Brooks combined to go 2/10 from the arc despite mostly decent looks; as a team they were 3/19.
The standoff finally broke in a direction when Louisville center Steven Enoch made long set shot two over Teske, the kind of shot you'd let a 6'10/255 guy take any day. On Michigan's next possession David DeJulius got the ball to Livers in position to drive, but he kicked it back to DDJ who forced a long three attempt. The ball bounced off iron and started a rare transition drive that ended with the first open look all night for Jordan Nwora, who drilled a three to push the score to 18-5 at the 7 minute mark.
We shouldn't even be here today. [Campredon]
The second half began with a glimmer of hope as Simpson started reacting better to the hedges. Assist #500 of his career was, appropriately, a perfect pick and roll to Jon Teske to cut Louisville's lead to four. It was also the last nice moment for their team. Louisville answered Michigan's 6-0 run with an 8-0 period of their own, though every bucket was well-contested. A prayer by SF Samuell Williamson spun 360 degrees around the rim, then popped right back to him for a put-back to extend the Louisville lead to 12 and send their home crowd into an enviable roar.
(Side note: more students near the floor seems like a good idea cc Warde)
Heavy legs set in again from there, though Zavier Simpson at least wasn't ready to quit. He broke through a hard hedge and got the ball to Eli Brooks at the top of the key, but Eli passed it up. Simpson drove and kicked it out to Wagner several times after that, but the freshman struggled to collect one, and missed two more perfect looks. Michigan again had to go back to their C/PG pair until they too finally wore down. Teske finished 5/14 from two, 1/4 from three, and 5/8 on free throws. Simpson went 4-9—most of those hook shots—at the rim, 0/2 deep and 1/3 on free throws, finishing with just 3 assists to 4 turnovers.
Simpson's skyhooks weren't going in at their normal clip, but they were going in more than anything else. [Campredon]
The last 10 minutes got weird. Enoch got away with a travel of six steps before putting in a basket over an incredulously pointing Teske. Simpson slipped while dribbling, picked himself up, drove, and kicked out for a Big Sleep three to cut the lead to 10. A few possessions later Teske had the ball in transition and took a heat check. I guess when you're the only guy on the team who's hit from range you might as well.
Current Kenpom Player of the Year leader Jordan Nwora finally woke up for the last few minutes, driving down Michigan's now clearly exhausted wings and beating them down the court for a dagger of an and-one. A three-pointer by Enoch at the top of the arc was the final sign this wasn't happening.
There are worse losses to take than on the road, on a quick turnaround after a tournament, at even a soft #1 team in the country. Another solid defensive performance against a team that came in unsustainably hot, and the uncharacteristically cold shooting from guys with a track record otherwise, suggest this was probably just one of those schedule losses.
That schedule doesn't ease up yet. A hot-shooting Iowa squad visits Crisler on Friday.
Box score after THE JUMP:
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:29 PM ^
You know it was an ugly game when the Kenpom MVP needed 26 shot equivalents to get 22 points.
But the Trident is still coming home to Crisler!
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:31 PM ^
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:38 PM ^
It seems like Loyer was a complete whiff by Sparty. He’s short, slow, unathletic, etc. Unless there’s a deadly 3-point shooter lurking in him dying to come out, Idk what State saw in him.
December 4th, 2019 at 8:14 AM ^
He's a trophy.
Michigan got the 2017 Mr. Basketball (Livers), so you knew damn well that Izzo was going to go all out for whomever the 2018 Mr. Basketball winner was. Doesn't matter that DDJ has more potential as a pro or college player.
December 4th, 2019 at 9:17 AM ^
Sorry, no. I'll put my money (miss/whiff) where user "Ham" did. Izzo may be annoying, but he's not stupid. Loyer is taking up space on the roster that could be used by (for example) a 3-star developmental prospect with a higher ceiling.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
What he saw was a local kid (Izzo wants in state kids) and there was the Fife connection with Clarkston.
if he was honest, I bet Izzo would trade Loyer AND any one of about 6 other players for either DDJ or Brooks.
Winston better stay out of foul trouble and get used to playing 38 minutes a game.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:21 PM ^
thanks for that. was sad after watching the game, cruised over here to check out the comments, and sure glad I did. have a great evening !
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
This is incredible. I enjoy this clip immensely.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:37 AM ^
He fouled the bottom of the guy's foot with his stomach. God, that was the most Duke call ever. Its scary to see Duke get Duke calls on the road at a horrible venue where another troll coach is known for berating refs for 40 minutes.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:44 AM ^
I have zero love for Duke, but if you fall down right under a guy's landing area and he lands on you, that's a foul. How could it not be? Put differently, there are rules about giving shooters space to land, so if you literally are positioned where he is landing, that's a foul.
Poor damn Foster Loyer.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:32 PM ^
Welp.
Teske with 18 was the only offense, but it took 22 shot equivalents to get it, as he was nearly as cold as everyone else. Livers? Ice cold. DDJ and Brooks looked spooked. And Franz looks like a guy who is getting thrown into the deep end while still needing some work learning to swim—kinda like when you fire up a new video game you’re not familiar with and ram the difficulty to “Murderously impossible” and get nuked all the time because you don’t have time to figure out the stuff that works.
Oh well. There will be other games. On the plus side, the defense was solid all game long, and I think some of the nervousness was a combination of fatigue and environment and just not being used to shooting in such tight windows. That can be fixed.
December 4th, 2019 at 4:34 AM ^
It was the perfect storm: First true away game, a hostile environment - did anyone notice how the crowd noise would ramp up the volume unexpectedly every now and then? - , a formidable opponent, just returning from the Bahamas after a three games in three days stretch. They were primed for a sub par performance. They definitely looked a step slow. I give props to the Louisville defense, they seemed to be everywhere they needed to be; we hardly had any uncontested shots.
December 4th, 2019 at 1:01 PM ^
I was wondering what was going on with the crowd noise. Its like they were watching a different game or replays or something. Getting loud randomly.
December 4th, 2019 at 7:54 AM ^
Livers was ice cold, Teske wasn't much better, and Simpson played horribly - but at least they were aggressive.
Everyone else on the team was horribly passive - too many open looks passed up, standing around off the ball, etc.
December 4th, 2019 at 8:16 AM ^
Brooks regressed to his old self last night. passed up too many open looks.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:33 PM ^
Turns out if you’re going to play the #1 team in the country, don’t do it as your 4th game in 7 days (and 3rd top-10 game in 6) on the road (for your first road game of the season) just a few days after returning from literally another country when the #1 team had only played a single game in the past week+.
Had I known going into the game that Louisville was going to be held to under 60 points and under 40% shooting, I would have felt pretty good about Michigan’s chances. The team did a good job not letting their fatigue + not being able to get anything going offensively result in Louisville getting easy buckets. Had they just been a little fresher and been able to knock down a couple more threes, this would have been a completely different game.
The important thing now is to get as well rested as they can before Friday so that they don’t: 1) Let this ugly shooting become a trend; and 2) Allow a 2nd ghoulish performance on O result in them starting B1G play 0-1. Wipe this game from your minds, get ready for Iowa, and then defend home court.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:34 PM ^
Spot on.
Rest and get ready for next up.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:35 PM ^
I don't mind an early loss to a #1-ranked team to show us how much work we still have to do. You want to discover that you might be overrated in December rather than March.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:46 PM ^
I have seen most of the top 10 teams. Very weak at the top this year. No one stands out.
December 4th, 2019 at 4:37 AM ^
I don't think this was one of those games that can guide coach on what we need to work on; the team simply didn't have their 'A' game last night. Calling it their 'B' game might be pushing it.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:40 AM ^
Would you accept it as our C game?
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:47 PM ^
JUWAN IS 0-1 AGAINST TOP 5 OPPONENTS FIRE JUWAN BEFORE IT GETS WORSE
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:54 PM ^
Cards looked like garbage and have played no one yet. That’s no #1 team.
But I see everyone is buying the “tired” line.
I guess no one remembers being 21 except for Craig Ross who wants a 6 man rotation.
December 4th, 2019 at 9:02 AM ^
I remember being 21 but I never played on a D1 basketball team that played 4 games in a week.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:46 AM ^
Just an awful take. No one is saying that the loss is 100% due to being tired and no one is saying Michigan played well and would have won but for being tired. But it seems like it could have been a factor.
December 3rd, 2019 at 10:54 PM ^
Louisville's defense is pretty good. We got some work to do against teams that play physical defense. I suspect the big ten will train us up on that.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:07 PM ^
Completely predictable result.
Will be very interested to see how they respond vs. Iowa
December 4th, 2019 at 5:05 AM ^
It was completely predictable, yet that didn’t prevent the large majority of posters from making rosy predictions af a Michigan victory. Some things never change.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:13 PM ^
Just beat iowa and all is good.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:17 PM ^
15 FGs game for the whole game on 58 shots. 25.8% for the night.
When you make 15 FGs all night, you're going to lose.
Shit happens. On to the next one. No one's been perfect for 43 years.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:43 PM ^
Reminds me of my grade school church league team.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:34 PM ^
Juwan’s first big ten game as a player was against Iowa. I believe Jalen scored 29. I listened to the game on a radio in my bedroom. I was in 7th grade.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:43 PM ^
You're old, satansnutsack
December 4th, 2019 at 8:47 AM ^
I just had to login to like your name and to type, satansnutsack.
December 4th, 2019 at 10:01 AM ^
I watched that game at Scorekeepers .. as a senior. It had just re-opened after a couple years of dormancy following Dooley's closure (liquor violations IIRC). No one really knew about it yet; their pre-opening marketing kinda sucked. But it quickly hit its stride.
Jalen went off that game. Didn't Fisher bench him from the starting lineup for a team rules violation? I believe he was inserted into the game even before the first media timeout. Man, so many moons ago. I feel old.
December 3rd, 2019 at 11:39 PM ^
Thread jack, how many 6'9" guys that can't shoot does izzo need? Haha. Good luck with that team in any kind of tourny.
December 4th, 2019 at 12:03 AM ^
Not even mad about this...welcome home!
December 4th, 2019 at 12:32 AM ^
Louisville kids take online classes.
December 4th, 2019 at 12:33 AM ^
Best looks Michigan had were quick 3s. But time and again they faked the shot, then found nothing. Against a top defensive team, they should shoot whenever they're open.
December 4th, 2019 at 7:56 AM ^
Yep... way too many open threes passed up to dribble into horrible shots.
December 4th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
Yeah I think Michigan needed him to pull the trigger on some of those. A lot of them weren't perfectly clean looks but they were somewhat open shots. In a game like that when no one is hitting, just shoot. Instead he often pump-faked and pulled it down but Michigan would not end up getting a better look in that possession. He should've just let it fly and see what happened.
December 4th, 2019 at 9:31 AM ^
Michigan does not have a single player on their roster who can take a good defender off the dribble-not one. Mack is a bright man...he knew they could play inside the Michigan jerseys and get by with it...there is pretty much zero down-side to attacking Michigan like this. Howard and staff likely knew/knows about this issue and will now be challenged, with this exposure, to find a solution.
The season has lifted off and the challenge is on. This is why Juwan is going after Isaiah, Josh, Nimari and Kristian...and Zeb is an up-tick here as well...you really need someone to demand a double-team.
December 4th, 2019 at 12:36 AM ^
This was going to be a very tough hurdle. And it reminded me of the Texas Tech game in the first half; only here the team was playing its third top ten team in less than a week and on the road. Going 2-1 in that span is pretty good. This season will have gone very well if this game is one that costs Michigan when it is time to seed the tournament. And Louisville still has to play in something called the "KFC Yum Center."
This was a strong test that the team should grow from. Learn from what happened, stuff upper lip and all that, onward.
December 4th, 2019 at 6:56 AM ^
Eli looked like last 2 years Eli on offense, passive.
December 4th, 2019 at 9:35 AM ^
Eli is waaaaaaay down the list of issues Juwan Howard and staff are facing with this team.
December 4th, 2019 at 7:51 AM ^
If I knew Louisville was only going to score 58 points I would have put good money on Michigan to win. Instead this...
Well, it's not a B1G game. I hope this isn't the last we see of Louisville this year. I look forward the rematch and Iowa.
The real work begins.
December 4th, 2019 at 8:37 AM ^
Where there is smoke there is fire. There was no smoke.
Ice cold and sluggish. Looked like a team that spent it all on a tough 3-day-in-row tournament, then flew home to attend classes on Monday, then fly to Louisville early Tuesday to play a night away game against the #1 team in the nation. Classic schedule loss.
On a neutral floor without that hangover, these teams looked pretty even. Both play excellent defense so would also be a tight game at the buzzer. Hope we get that chance in the tournament.
December 4th, 2019 at 8:57 AM ^
The other thing.... we held L'ville to 58 points when our offense was non-existent. We could have hardly shot worse and we were still a small run from taking the lead at several points in the game.
I think this was a good first loss..... for both the team and the coaching staff. Lots to work on, lots of film to watch, yet just a little improvement put us in that game with the #1 team in the country.
Onward, Go Blue!
December 4th, 2019 at 9:35 AM ^
First big test for this team- tough to go on the road anytime but against that defense. Chalk it up to a loss at #1.
Excited for the team going forward. Surely they can't shoot this badly all year.
Go Blue
December 4th, 2019 at 9:53 AM ^
Chris Mack is a GREAT coach and the first time we've seen Juwan out-coached so far. Blueprint is now out there on how to stop Michigan - force the ball out of Simpson's hands and give Teske all the 15+' jumpers he wants.
Livers lack of a handle also exposed. They dared somebody other than Simpson to beat somebody off the dribble, there isn't the ability there.
With that said, long season and a ton of time for improvement. Those who thought this was an elite 8 team because they beat a UNC team that was out partying in the Bahamas until 3am, needs to revise their expectations. A sweet 16 team? Maybe!
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