Michigan 75, Ohio State 69
We're probably just going to call it the Devante' Jones Game. With the deck stacked against them, and their star center missing the game, the Wolverines played through Jones, off Jones and like Jones, winning on opportunistic turnovers, drives into the lane through contact, and clever assists. Together Jones and his teammates delivered a tournament-worthy performance, helped ruin EJ Liddell's senior night, and probably punched Michigan's ticket back to the Dance.
Going in, it looked like it was going to be the Nobody Has Bigs Game. Ohio State went through the week with a couple of forwards questionable to play, but when the lineups were announced it was Michigan's crucial big man missing, as Hunter Dickinson was not available due to a stomach ailment. OSU's Kyle Young was also out with an illness, and Zed Key, a game-time decision with an ankle injury, got the start but re-rolled it in the 1st half and hopped off the court. Michigan rolled with Brandon Johns and Moussa Diabate in the frontcourt, until Diabate had to sit for 9 minutes after picking up a third foul nearly as tickytack as his first two. OSU went with Joey Brunk and had senior star EJ Liddell reprise his sophomore center role when they went small.
That led to some weird lineups featuring lots of Johns, Terrance Williams II, and Jaron Faulds, all of which Michigan survived thanks to the steady play of Jones, to whom fell Dickinson's usual role of generating most of the offense. The senior point guard responded with 21 points (on 16 shots) and 9 assists, and created more turnovers (four) than he gave up (two).
It also led to some weird frontcourt matchups. Key was replaced by Joey Brunk, whose game usually matches his name. While the lug couldn't get to the rim, his jump hook was consistently finding its way back into the net off the other side of the rim. Late in the first frame OSU rode an 8-0 run to a 9-point lead as Terrance Williams lost Brunk on a cut for a slam. Williams got those two back on jumper at the buzzer but the Buckeyes took a 7-point lead into halftime.
Two quick fouls out of halftime put Moussa on the bench and had Michigan fans thinking this was going to turn into the No Bigs Game after all. But Caleb Houstan and Eli Brooks went to work on defense to deny rising star Malaki Branham opportunities, forcing the ball to lesser ballhandlers they could pick. Brooks and Jones canned their threes, and Jones began to get comfortable breaking down OSU's defense in the paint.
And for his part, Faulds played brilliantly, contributing to one of the turnover-runout sequences, and drawing plenty of attention on the block to open up his teammates. At one point Michigan even sent the ball back into the post for him, which led to a second kickout to a wide open attempt from Houstan.
Unfortunately it was also one of those Houstan Can't Hit Anything games--he was 0/3 from three and 0/10 overall--but he played well enough on defense, and generated enough putbacks on his misses, that Michigan only kinda-sorta missed his offense. It helped that Williams was covering for him, scoring 17 and hitting 3/4 from the arc.
The Devante Jones and No Bigs and Caleb is Off and Remember When They Reposted with Faulds? Game is going to overshadow an excellent performance from Moussa Diabate, who held EJ Liddell to just 4/10 from the floor, and contributed 4 offensive rebounds on the other end. The freshman Frenchman's impact was never more evident than when Diabate blocked a point blank shot by Joey Brunk to preserve a 64-59 lead with 2-1/2 minutes remaining. On the subsequent drive Jones drove through contact by Liddell for a layup then went hard to the floor. The officials let that one go, like they did every other Liddell foul in this game, and Ohio State promptly ran the floor and drained a Justin Ahrens three. Jones writhed on the baseline for another minute, but returned at the next stoppage to help Michigan finish the job.
If anything else could define that job, it was the extra possessions. Out of Ohio State's 13 turnovers, at least 11 of them were created by Wolverine help defenders picking their pockets. OSU was shooting well over 50% from the field most of the game, and in the 2nd half started picking up whistles even before players made contact. Michigan took care of the ball, turning it over just six times and rebounded 13 of their 30 misses versus seven Buckeye OREBs. Winning the turnover/offensive rebounding battle generated 13 extra tries for the visitors, and the final margin.
What the Devante' Jones No Hunter They Reposted With Faulds Diabate Exacts Vengeance on Liddell Extra Possessions Game could have been remembered for was probably the most lopsidedly officiated game of the college basketball season. Bo Boroski's crew swallowed their whistles for the first 15 minutes except to award Liddell an and-one after he shoved Johns then ran over a set Williams, then a ticky-tack call on Zed Key on the other end. Diabate picked up a cheap one near the end of the half then sat with two more questionable calls, including one where Key just plowed him over while fighting for position.
As Michigan began to pull away late, almost Buckeye drive, and for a five-minute stretch literally every attempt by Liddell, was bailed out with a bad whistle. Ohio State hit the double-bonus right after the under 8 timeout, but had to foul Michigan three times in the final minute to send the visitors to the line. Ironically, the heavy disparity in fouls gave the visitors a chance to whittle the clock under 30 seconds before they had to shoot rather than dribble.
It might have been fitting, thematically, had the 2021-'22 run ended with a No Hunter, Houstan Can't Hit the Broad Side of a Barn Refs Game. Instead, the selection committee is going to see Michigan finished its regular season with a win when everything was going against them. They'll face Indiana(?) in the Big Ten Tournament on Thursday, and could improve their seeding depending on how far they go from there. But you have to think, with this win, they're in.
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Michigan will not play Maryland Thursday, unless the Turtles overcome a 20-pt 1H deficit in EL. Michigan will play Indiana in the 8-9 matchup if sparty wins and locks up the B1G 7-seed.
Hey, the reply button is back.
Anyway...that sucks. Going through Maryland/Wisconsin/Purdue is a hell of a lot easier than Indiana/Illinois/Iowa.
The Reply button is only back on main page posts, not on board posts, FWIW.
Sigh.
The current state of interaction on MGoBoard:
I'll say it again that something needs to be done about college basketball officiating. OSU could hammer Jones at the rim repeatedly and with impunity while every Liddell drive into the paint resulted in free throws. Boroski is the biggest offender in a sport full of incompetent and borderline corrupt officials.
Jones with probably the best game we've seen from a Michigan point guard since Derrick Walton. Nearly flawless in the way he broke down the OSU defense, scored at the rim, set his teammates up, and created turnovers on the defensive end. Williams making a case for more playing time by quietly knocking down almost 40% of his 3's on the season. It's easy to tell early on when Houstan's offensive game isn't there and Williams should be getting more run when that happens.
Totally agree. I am at least the vice-president of the Bo Boroski sucks ass at his job club.
Liddell nearly knocked Jones out with an elbow and not only was no foul called but while he lay on the floor trying to recover Ohio ran down and hit an open 3 against 4 Michigan defenders.
While I don't at all excuse the terrible officiating, I do wonder if the discrepancy is not simply incompetence or bias, but also stems from a difference in the kinds of fouls.
In what is essentially a shoving match, with two players bumping each other (Liddell vs. Diabate, Johns, etc.), when the defender hinders the guy with the ball even slightly, it looks—and more importantly, psychologically feels—like a violation.
But when a player (Jones) moves quickly to the basket, apparently unhindered and in a motion that might have him falling to the ground anyway, it's easy to dismiss that as "letting them play."
The problem with this explanation is that an offensive player, not being hindered, will not fall after a layup. He'll finish by gliding under the rim/board, landing upright, and quickly getting back into the play. Unless he's twisting around someone, if he falls he's been hindered.
Same thing, only different, for the defensive player. Unless the offensive guy slams into, or forearms, the defender, both players will land upright. If the defender is falling backward, chances are pretty good that the offensive player shoved him or slammed into him.
I don't think calling those plays are so hard. Unless, of course, you like one player better than another for whatever reason... I mean, it happens so much against Michigan that I sometimes just can't help thinking it's an intentional bias.
in theory your comment about finishing a layup won't produce a falling player is accurate, but in practice you can watch any one of a 100 games and see guys falling on the landing either trying to draw an 'and one' foul or because of the contortions it took to get to the rack. in fact, on jones layup where he went down, i'm not 100% certain (fox non-existent replays are the absolute worst) that he got any, or at most, much contact when he went down.
cassius winston would fall to the ground on nearly every drive to the basket and also lurch his head back. he got a lot of weak calls.
My example may not be universal but I still think the general difference applies.
If a ref sees you still moving in a direction, it doesn't seem as much like a foul, even if the nudge / bump / hit alters the direction of the player or the ball.
Contrast that with two guys upright: a ref sees a more-or-less stationary guy being moved, and it seems more like a foul.
EDIT: In any case, my larger point is that, beyond incompetence or bias, two things that have equal effect often feel different, one seeming more like a foul than the other.
For instance, undercutting a player under the basket can seem like flow-of-the-game if that player's not hurt while hand making contact with a face can seem egregious.
Worse than the Eastside-Westside game at the end of Season 1.
Might have mentioned that Michigan won despite an 0-10 shooting performance from Houstan. Given his on-again/off-again tendencies, that bodes well for a decent shooting performance in the B1G opener.
Unfortunately they are due to lose the next game based on their inability to win or lose two games in a row. The force was just too powerful to overcome, not even with no Hunter, an ice-cold Houstan, broken officiating, at Columbus following a loss. Whatever mysterious forces are at work. . . do not test them, if you value your soul.
Hahaha! I hear you Dragonchild. But let's look at it optimistically. We had all of that mojo working against us and won. Let's see that as evidence that we broke the cycle with this game? Go Blue!
Unfortunately they are due to lose the next game based on their inability to win or lose two games in a row.
The "win one, lose one" rhythm has come against only tourney-bound teams. We haven't played a team not projected to make the field of 68 since PSU (which we won). We've also had to play a ton of games on short rest due to the Covid postponements.
Next game is against Indiana, who is projected to make the NIT, and it's not until Thursday.
Michigan lost to Iowa bc of the white jerseys. That's it. Wear maize and that game is a dub.
I wasn't able to watch the game, but it sounds like one very positive development is Houston showing up on the D side of the court despite firing bricks on the other end. D travels.
Will be interesting to see how Houstan shoots at the tourney. His shooting percentage is much higher when playing in AA then when when he"s playing away from AA.
One of the great things about this great game was how much Houstan contributed without scoring a point.
I'm glad that the commentator (OSU guy) pointed it out.
Williams played one hell of a game and kept the team afloat in the first half. He needs more recognition. The light seems to have turned on the past few games for him.
Right?! He's been solid a lot lately. Do you think he should start over Caleb?
It might help Caleb coming off the bench...
The thing is, they're both better suited at the four. And they've both excelled there recently (Caleb against Rutgers when Williams wasn't available, and Williams tonight).
So I'm not sure that we can assume Williams would do at the three what he's doing at the four. It's hard to play at the same time as both Moussa and Dickinson. It's not a good situation for offensive flow because the paint is totally jammed.
That said, yes, Williams has been a significantly better offensive player this year than Houstan. In fact, he's up to the second highest Ortg on the team, just a tiny smidge behind Dickinson.
And the big difference is his 2pt% is 10% (!!!) higher than Houstan. Houstan is a disaster when he drives. Either misses or turns it over way too much. Williams has been quite good on drives.
Williams has had an unfortunate tendency to lose focus on defense and lose his man (did it again today and gave up an oreb put back), which is the only reason I can come up with as to why Houstan is playing over him. But it's not like Houstan's defense has been better.
So I dunno.
JMO, but hell yes, I mentioned it several games ago that the coaches to try it at least once. I also understand how tough it would be for coaches to sit a 5* sharpshooter but this is where we're at. TWill is an upgrade on defense and can finish, Houston draws defense out making it easier for the post guys and if he gets hot the team is tough to beat. Glad I'm not the coach.
He can not only knock down the three but is one of the few guys on the team who can finish at the rim through contact.
Scared the dog repeatedly. Found a new piece that can break off the remote control when it hit, and broke, a misplaced toy. Yep, loudest sustained reaction to refs since that Purdue out of bounds review with Matthews.
That is my main way to measure how bad officiating is.
that evidence needs to be submitted to B10 brass!
Go look who the Big Ten brass is. She was a longtime Ohio State associate AD.
I don't think we're going to make much progress on the refs are biased against Michigan but I can't wrap my head around why the big ten is fine with games being refed completely differently from one half to the next.
I don't think it's a bias against UM, the officiating in the Big Ten is simply an unacceptable joke all around in far too many games across the conference.
Obviously I didn't express myself very well but I don't think it's bias either. But 5 fouls in the first half and 19 in the second is a pretty obvious lack of consistency. I see that scenario play out at least weekly in the big ten and I mostly only watch Michigan games. Other than incompetence, I see no other reasonable explanation.
I thought the refs left their whistles in the locker room, the first half. It resembled a football game. Then, in 2nd half, Michigan waved their hand, especially diabate, and it was called a foul. I can live with missed calls, for or against, but don't change how you're calling a game in the middle. I try my damndest to ignore the refs and try to enjoy the game, but this was too much. The officiating was terrible and it was seriously pro osu.
I think there's absolutely a bias against Michigan, Nebraska, and a few others. There's a heavy bias in favor of Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa, and a few others. There is also some incompetence and inconsistency. Wasn't someone saying on the mgopodcast this past week that Ohio State has lost 3 of 4 since Underwood called out the big ten for officiating in their favor?
See my response to Stringer Bell above. In addition to bias and inconsistency, I think part of the problem is a difference in kinds of fouls. Two guys banging against each other makes a hindrance feel like a foul while a quick guy getting to the basket in a motion that might have him falling anyway makes it feel unhindered.
Then the incompetence is the refs failure to recognize and correct for their felt inconsistency.
Given how the season has gone, the most stunning number in the box score is: 6 (turnovers). I've seen them turn the ball over more than that in a few minutes in a few games.
Bingo. I felt the same way.
Yeah, I remember some games earlier in the season when they were 6 turnovers in the first 6 minutes.
Bingo. Michigan has been on the losing end of the turnover battle in almost every game this year. It's hard to win when your opponent is frequently getting more opportunities than you are.
For Michigan to win turnovers decisively was the difference.
Part of it was protecting the ball but forcing turnovers on 20% of OSU possessions, most of which were steals that went into transition was huge. Michigan hasn't been over 14.5% in forced turnovers since the Purdue game almost a month ago.
It was Michigan's fifth best performance in terms of forcing turnovers this season. The only four games that were better were Prairie View A&M (duh), SDSU which doesn't take very good care of the ball, that home Purdue game...and at Illinois which had something in common with this game.
And OSU is generally pretty good at taking care of the ball, but Michigan was able to pressure pretty heavily.
Our guys simply outhustled Ohio State. That shows up in advantages in offensive rebounds and turnovers.
Out hustled, outplayed. T-Will and Devante' came up so big! Everyone contributed, a total team effort!
Beat Indiana!
Great job by Jones. Apparatently this faster pace lineup suits him.
Williams was unsung hero today.
Devante' reminds me of those commercials where some good player dressed as an old guy wipes the court with the young players, much to their chagrin, lol.
Funny I had a similar thought watching the game. He is the proverbial old dude at the YMCA gym who is a total pain in the ass to play against because his game looks so weird and clunky but is so hard to stop.
Caleb has quietly become a much better defender over the last half of the season. But 0-10 shooting from a guy that is supposed to be a pure shooter? Woof. And he had a few really wide open looks, in rhythm. If his shot can come alive in the tournaments we can be a really dangerous team. If..... We've needed Caleb and Brandon Johns to step up and be consistent contributors and that hasn't materialized. Pretty big part of the reason we are 4 games above .500.
On a positive note, I think we saw the energy and leadership that Phil was talking about show up today. Keep it going.
I can't understand how Johns misses so many shots. Bunnies, 3s, mid range. Really pulling for him and he grabs some boards, but could be a huge x factor if he settles down and gets in rhythm like he did last year when Livers went out.
Well, he got absolutely mugged on one "shot" and there was no call. He had to take a quick hook / toss the ball up when Jones gave it to him with a second on the shot clock. So that's how he missed two. The two threes, yeah, you'll miss those sometimes.
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