Michigan 75, Michigan State 64
MOOD. [Marc-Gregor Campredon]
Everything's coming up Michigan.
After an ugly first half, the Wolverines took it to Michigan State to secure a season sweep and a shot at their second consecutive Big Ten Tournament title. In addition to being a delectable and important victory over a chief rival, Michigan once again showed how far they've come this season.
Today's hero lost his starting job after four games this season and didn't regain it until January. Zavier Simpson, Bench Player, feels like forever go. He played a brilliant game on both ends, scoring 15 points on 4/8 shooting, pulling down seven boards, handing out two assists, making life tough on Cassius Winston, and even bolstering M's post defense when switched onto MSU's big men. He routinely broke down the Spartan defense with blow-bys of Winston (and even defensive ace Tum Tum Nairn). Then he iced the game at the line while showing no signs of his season-long free-throw struggles.
"It was a sweet sight to see Zavier's shots just go right through the middle," said John Beilein. "Of his foul shots the last couple of days, maybe 8-for-10 or 10-for-12, shooting it right down the middle".
Critically, Simpson did a lot of his best work in the first half as the rest of the team scuffled on offense. Moe Wagner went scoreless on seven shots in 12 first-half minutes and M was a woeful 4-for-18 from beyond the arc; Simpson was the only Wolverine to hit more than two shots in the opening stanza. Michigan stayed close with defense, holding the Spartans to 11-for-31 shooting themselves, but Wagner's wonky shot and MSU's strong offensive rebounding portended bad things. State held a three-point lead heading into the tunnel.
Not even Tum Tum could check Z. [Campredon]
Then it all clicked. Beilein ran much of the offense through Wagner to open the second half, and he responded with five points in five minutes. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman got going with an early three. Charles Matthews shocked the Spartan defense (and others) by taking Miles Bridges left off the dribble for an uncontested dunk. MAAR, Duncan Robinson, and Wagner drilled three straight triples, and suddenly Michigan was up six.
"I told him, this is my great motivation at halftime, hey, Moe, are you going to make a shot? Because right now you're stinking the place up," said Beilein. "Just make one shot. We played with each other like that. He just smiled: Yes, Coach, I can do that."
Michigan State could only inch closer; they didn't get the margin lower than five points in the game's final seven minutes. According to KenPom, Michigan delivered the third-best defensive performance against MSU this season. Though offensive rebounds ruined some of Michigan's better defensive possessions in the first half, they still managed to hold State below a point per possession in each half. The Wolverines now rank sixth(!!!) nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency. I'll give you a moment to reassemble your jaw.
They did this by, as usual, forcing tough shots in the paint while running shooters off the line. MSU made only 7 of 25 threes, and several attempts were desperation chucks in the final minutes. Bullying towards the basket and pulling up from midrange wasn't much more effective; the Spartans made 44.7% of their twos, ten percentage points below their season average.
No easy buckets. [Campredon]
Now, for the second straight year, Michigan has a chance to win their fourth game in four days to hang another banner. They've probably locked up a four-seed in the NCAA Tournament and another win would give them an outside shot at a three-seed. It's been a little less dramatic this year; it was no easier to see coming a couple months ago. A swaggering band of Wolverines will face the winner of PSU/Purdue tomorrow afternoon. I wouldn't want to be the team to try to stop this run.
Just ask Michigan State. They're 0-2 against Michigan and 29-2 against everyone else.
[Hit THE JUMP for more photos and the box score.]
All photos by Marc-Gregor Campredon. Full gallery here.
Love the T shirt! Seems like every time they do that we Drain a 3!
that second one was a straight up ass-whoopin'.
"Big Brother don't hurt me!"
because Z was killing Winston.
both of his starting guards are borderline 5 stars. the fact izzo can't coach them up against UM is all on izzo; not on the players. hell, JB wanted winston over Z. that isn't a secret. but Z has become possibly the best defensive point guard in the BIG and is a huge pain in the ass for the opposing PG. huge joke he wasn't on the all BIG D team.
1-Z plays with absolutely no fear, and most of his drives seem disastrous until suddenly the ball goes in
2-Miles Bridges coulda/shoulda dominated that game from start to finish. I pissed off some Staee fans by shouting at him that he wishes he was as good as Matthews, then he promptly ripped off like10 points. They kept their mouths shut tho cause scoreboard.
Bridges is big and can shoot, but I don't think he's as athletic as some of our players. I like Bridges as a competitor and team player. It's not his fault that he is what he is.
terrible shots. The guy jacked up so many long twos (all of which were bricks) despite being a good three point shooter and a guy that can get to the hole. He doesn't play very smart and that's partially on the coaches, but he is a ball hog and shot selection has to be partially his fault.
...does our team living rent-free in Sparty's head consitute an impermissible benefit?
I also think that every team playing MSU should wear the same ribbons to mock their brazen hypocrisy.
I wish I could upvote this 100 times.
in the last 16 minutes of the half was...ugly. That's a very long drought. Defense kept us in it though.
What a box score - three very noteworthy things to me:
- Michigan had five players in double digits. Fantastic balanced scoring, a true team win.
- Michigan outrebounded Sparty! Incredible job crashing the boards in the second half.
- Langford had 2 points. Wow.
Michigan didn't really ourebound MSU. They collected more rebounds, yes, but that's because MSU had many, many more shot attepmpts (and, more to the point, misses). Michigan rebounded 17% of its misses, whereas MSU rebounded 22.5% of theirs.
Now, having said that, holding MSU to 22.5% OREB is great, especially since they were at 35% at halftime. In the second half, Michigan held them to 10%! (By an odd coincindence, MSU missed 20 shots in each half; they rebounded 7 of those in the first half and just 2 in the second).
So, Michigan performed better against expectations than MSU, but in terms of the box score, the idea that Michigan outrebounded them is a bit of a mirage. Still, MSU is #6 in the country with a 36.1% OREB rate, and if they had collected 5 more of their second-half misses, that game could have been awfully uncomfortable.
Outrebounded might be a misnomer, but they won on the glass. Holding MSU well below the national average, much less their own average, for offensive rebouding is a massive win.
there will be advanced metrics saying UM didn't win the game despite scoring 11 more points.
/s
I think Matthews erased every single frustration I've had with him throughout the Big Ten season by knocking Ward on his ass and then laughing in his face. And drawing a technical from that genius too. Also he played pretty well today in general.
I love that grin. "U mad, bro?" IRL.
reminds me of Irvin last year. Stopped forcing it. Letting the game come to him and playing great defense.
Bridges required 18 shots and had a turnover to score 17. That is very good defense. For most of the game he was beating Bridges to the spot, which caused Bridges to pull up for bad shots. Before he made the two late post buckets, he was 2-9 from 2 and still ended up a very bad 4-11 and even better Matthews kept him off the FT line.
I was shaking my head thinking, man, this JB team staying alive with D? That's 2 BTT games now (Iowa and MSU) that the D kept them in it. I kept saying, CUMONG MOE!, hit a shot, put it in the basket. Man, if he doesn't get going we in for a bumpy ride.
But Alas! Moe has swag. MAAR is commanding. Simpson is LOCKDOWN! Matthews showing flashes of a lottery pick. I like this team.
Yes, I like them very much.
While changes with the Assistant coaches has been huge, especially defensively. The biggest reason I've seen in the growth defensively on the floor is Simpson's pressure he puts on the opposing point guard. He does a great job of reducing the pentration from the other team's PG and not allowing whomever it is into the paint very often. Lets hope we see this today against Edwards! Go Blue!
If you look closely, you will notice that the focus is right on Bridges.:-P
I was hoping he would cry.
It certainly has been enjoyable to bask in the afterglow of yesterday's win overnight -- with the exception of anticipating today's game. Part of the afterglow is looking at the boxscore and figuring out how M won based on the stats. When was the last time M had stats like this:
1. Beat a Top 10 opponent with 49 points in the second half!
2. Actually outrebounded a Top 10 opponent
3. Had 16 less shots than the opponent but only 3 less makes
4. Hit 24 free throws, nearly 75% of them, compared to opponent's 9 makes!
What an amazing game. More impressive than the win over Nebraska, given the opponent, though not quite as powerful as the first half of that game.
Go Blue against Purdue! It will take a comparable effort, or more, to beat that team.
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