Rutgers 75, Michigan 67
About seven minutes into the second half, Michigan PF Moussa Diabate went up for an uncontested dunk. The French big man slammed the ball violently at the rim, but it did not go in. The ball popped out, Michigan fans everywhere put their faces in their palms, and when they re-opened their eyes, the ensuing possession was ending with Rutgers' Caleb McConnell draining a three pointer. That pushed the Scarlett Knights' lead to 17 points and seemingly closed the door on the Wolverines' chances of leaving Piscataway with a win. That feeling was proven correct, as Rutgers toppled Michigan 75-67 tonight. Michigan is now 1-2 in the B1G and 7-6 on the season. Michigan's season is in terrible shape.
For the second consecutive game, Michigan got battered by two players with exceptional nights, this time being Ron Harper Jr. and Geo Baker. The former killed Michigan from distance (5/6 from three), while the latter killed Michigan using his height/length to knock down off the dribble jumpers with ease, shooting 7/8 from inside the arc. Meanwhile the Maize & Blue were dreadful from three point range and also subpar at the rack, going 13/22 on easy layups, blowing far too many bunnies in big moments. It's another loss and with an even tougher schedule coming up, the train continues to steam forward towards an NCAA Tournament-less season.
The game really never had a crisp stretch of basketball from Michigan, even right from the beginning. The Wolverines fell behind 9-2 just over three minutes into this game and then 24-11 ten minutes into the contest. They were fighting uphill even from before the game started after it was revealed that huge chunks of their rotation (mostly bench pieces like Brandon Johns Jr. and Terrance Williams II) were going to be missing from the contest. But it didn't get any better once the game actually started.
Dickinson was Michigan's bright light offensively [Campredon]
After that equilibrium of a 10 or so point Rutgers lead developed, the game just sort of seesawed in that state. Michigan struggled defensively in the first half, breaking down in coverage and leaving shooters wide open from the perimeter. On the flip side, they continue to stagnate on offense with no dribble penetration, and the three point shots were not falling. Even when they got open looks inside, the layups often clanged off the iron to no avail.
With about 6.5 minutes to go in the first half, your author opined that if Michigan could whittle the ten point Rutgers lead down to five by halftime, they'd be in decent shape. That didn't happen. It was a nine point lead at the break thanks in part to Moussa Diabate settling for a long two with seven seconds left in the half with the shot clock turned off that didn't fall, affording Rutgers another try before the buzzer (which fortunately did not fall). Still, the dysfunction and poor offensive decision-making was all too familiar.
Michigan didn't get a fast start out of the gate in the second half either, falling down 14 points yet again just five minutes into that stanza. They continued to be unable to contain Geo Baker off the dribble, they lost Ron Harper Jr. and Caleb McConnell outside, and then the offense, with its faulty interior scoring and awful three point shooting, wasn't enough to keep up. After the Diabate dunk mentioned in the intro popped out, Michigan trailed by 17 and the game felt over. It was.
Ron Harper Jr. was open from behind the arc far too often tonight [Campredon]
To Michigan's credit, the Wolverines didn't quit. They used the next six minutes to trim the lead down to ten, but yet another huge swing play happened with about seven minutes left: an Eli Brooks three pointer bounced out and then Harper Jr. came off a double screen to knock down a three and just like that, the lead was back up to 13. A minute or so later, a Diabate three went down and Michigan had it cut to seven, but again Rutgers answered with a huge shot, as Caleb McConnell banged in a three. Not long after that, the 2-3 zone coaxed Kobe Bufkin to go after McConnell while Baker hit an open three to make it an 11 point game. Even when Michigan's offense flowed well, as it did during that stretch, they couldn't consistently get stops, and that was a story of the game.
In the end, Rutgers was able to ride out the last six minutes and win by eight, with Michigan never seriously threatening after those moments. In totality, both teams shot about the same mark from the field and both teams made ten free throws. The difference lay in the three pointers, where Rutgers made eleven (47.8%) and Michigan made three (20%). Hunter Dickinson had a fine night inside (10/16, 25 points), and the visitors did dominate the paint. It's just the difference outside was so large. Diabate added 15 points of his own, while Houstan and Brooks each chipped in 12 and 11 points. No other Scarlett Knights scored in double figures.
Michigan now enters the toughest stretch of its season *gulp*, hosting Michigan State on Saturday afternoon. That game is at 2:30 pm and is slated to be on FOX. There is no content after the jump.
January 4th, 2022 at 9:50 PM ^
"There is no content after the jump".
Yep, we saw plenty of that tonight Alex.
January 4th, 2022 at 9:58 PM ^
I've resigned myself to this being a bad year of basketball, a sacrifice for the football team's success.
But honestly, the biggest miss on this team is at PG. You could survive with Houstan being a miss as a freshman instant contributor and none of the other new kids other than Diabate playing big roles if Jones turned out to be the distributor and scorer we all sort of expected instead of the slow, inconsistent ball handler he's become. A more athletic guy at the point means the ball goes toward the rim instead of around the perimeter, it opens up lanes for Dickinson and Diabate, gets less contested looks for shooters, etc. It wouldn't fix the defense but maybe it also gives them more switchability at that spot because right now any guard with a pulse can get whatever shot he wants. It doesn't make this team a FF team but they'd be 10-3/11-2 and we'd be annoyed instead of sad.
It's not unlike 2015 when the young guys didn't produce/make the leap and the offense fell off along with the defense. That team has injuries to contend with but also was dealing with a massive talent exodus. Now, that team probably still beats this one but it would be a fight.
Anyway, I have no intention of watching the game against MSU because I want to be happy.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:05 PM ^
That 2015 was filled with a bunch of bench scrubs through most of the year but played over their head all year - It seemed like every game came down to the wire, they just didn’t have the talent because of the injuries.
This team…tons of talent but doesn’t seem like anyone cares. If you listen to the Moving Screen podcast it was mentioned a lot of guys came in thinking they were the shit expecting to just win. Honestly, it sounds like a lot of the same arrogance that had doomed past M football teams…
January 4th, 2022 at 10:56 PM ^
The 2014-2015 team went 16-16 and had top-50 recruits in Kam Chatman, Zak Irvin, and Derrick Walton. All of them underwhelmed compared to expectations, and when Caris went out they never recovered. Again, I recognize the injury issues to Caris but acting like that team was bereft of talent isn't a fair characterization.
As for the whole "they don't have heart and think they're the shit"-style arguments, you don't think last year's basketball team thought they rocked? Of course they did. They were also all 3rd and 4th-year players who had been built into NBA-level talents over the years. I'm fairly certain Diabate, Houston, Bufkin, etc. want to be better, but they're also freshmen playing against guys 3-4 years older than them. Livers, Wagner, Brown, Davis, etc. all struggled to varying degrees as first-year players and typically weren't asked to do nearly as much as they are on this team. I think there's a lot of revisionist history going on wherein teams who lose had a bunch of arrogant laziness while teams that won just had supreme confidence and heart.
I'm not going to sit here and tell people this team is going to make a run at the conference title or a tourney run; it'll be a minor miracle if they win a game in the BTT. But this fanbase also can't help itself but bring the fucking knives out whenever things go wrong and you'd think after the last 2 years of football we'd have learned our lessons but apparently not.
January 5th, 2022 at 6:10 AM ^
Sports movies have a lot to answer for. They constantly recycle the idea that heroes win because of HEART, that the hero triumphs in the big game at the end or loses nobly, heroically.
And it's because he wants it more, because he decides to defy those keeping him down, because he's been humbled and realizes he has to win with the team (or take over the game from the team).
Those are great stories but ignore life: differences in talent, refs calls, bad bounces, bad nights. And it especially ignores games when someone else is hot and—in their hero story—tells themselves THEY want it more, etc.
January 5th, 2022 at 7:50 AM ^
Walton was also hurt through most of that year, too. Cam Chatman, while a top recruit, didn’t really live up to expectations. So, if anything you just reinforced my point.
January 5th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
I don’t think arrogance dooms many sports teams. We fans like to add that narrative because it helps us lay our bourgeoisie heads to sleep at night, knowing that defeat comes from moral failings. Plenty of very arrogant teams win a ton (like Spencer Hall’s collection of great teams that taunt) and plenty of perfectly upstanding dudes compose teams that get their asses kicked all the time. I doubt anyone on this Michigan team thinks the team is super awesome.
It’s hilarious to me that people still believe that arrogance doomed past Michigan football teams— arrogance about what? You think they couldn’t beat OSU for ten years because they were over confident? Lol. Do you think those OSU teams that pummeled them were a humble lot of saints? If anything Michigan probably didn’t believe they could win and that adversely affected them. But even still, I’ll bet on good talent and good coaching over the all humble all stars every time. This isn’t a movie.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:16 PM ^
The spacing is not optimum at all. Even if M iso'd, there would be no drives to be had. Even Diabate & Hunter have issues with the post at times.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:59 PM ^
I agree the spacing isn't great but a guard who could drive maybe frees up Dickinson to shoot outside more and can get the ball moving. I think part of the reason the spacing is so off is because the offense as a whole is stagnant. A guard or SF who could create his own shot inside the arc and/or toward the rim gets the defenses moving and that would open up offense immensely. Now it just feels like Jones or Eli pound the air out of the ball or trying to feed Dickinson despite help always coming and him not really having anyone who can hit a shot if they're open.
It's a mess overall but last year you had guys like Livers, Wagner, Smith to an extent, Brown, etc. who could move the ball toward the rim and this year they don't really have that.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:37 PM ^
Meanwhile msu is top 10 in both sports with no issue
And even their tire fire year of both sports kicked both our teams' asses.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:46 PM ^
Do you mean last year's basketball team, which got busted by UM by 19 in their title-clinching game and then slogged to a 6-point win the following game when UM was down Brooks in the first minute and clearly didn't have their full heart in to it? Or do you mean the 3-point win by the football team against maybe the worst Michigan team I've seen in the past 40 years, and that includes the RR 3-9 team?
Yes, MSU is having a good year in basketball and football. Congrats to them. Last year they were a tire-fire in football and barely made the tournament in basketball despite having a team that was (checks notes) ranked #4 at one point in the year.
Michigan isn't good at basketball this year; we probably should have all not overlooked losing 4 starter-ish players, including a ROY-candidate and a couple of other senior contributors and assumed the true freshmen and up-transfer they were bringing in would slide in seamlessly. Shit happens, and it sucks to live in it but so be it.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:03 PM ^
So when 2022 msu plays us saturday, their heart won't be in it and just roll over like we did in 2021?
January 4th, 2022 at 11:07 PM ^
What are you talking about? Michigan didn't "roll over" in their loss; they lost by 6 points in a game wherein, shockingly, MSU hit some junk and UM clearly felt the pain of losing Eli in the first minute and struggled a bit defensively while MSU hit some patented junk, the same they did against Illinois a couple games earlier.
Again, I get you aren't happy about the current state of the basketball team but you don't need to construct some huge season-spanning narrative in which Michigan sports is always lazy and MSU is this paragon of consistency.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:14 PM ^
We trailed at one point by 11 point.
And then came back far too late having also missing key free throws.
Let me guess.
We won't magically hit that junk at home versus them.
January 5th, 2022 at 12:05 AM ^
So wait, now you're considering getting blown out trailing by 11 with 6 minutes to go but NOT considering UM coming back to down 2 with under a minute to go? And yes, that features Langford hitting a 3 after a scramble as the clock hit zero.
Again, enjoy getting mad about future losses if you want but save me this revisionist history wherein only one game against MSU mattered last year.
January 5th, 2022 at 6:12 AM ^
There you go again, looking at facts.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:15 PM ^
Meanwhile, you're a pointless troll.
January 5th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
that top 10 will not last long for their bball team. once the big ten hits, they will be exposed for poor 3 pt shooting and poor point guard play; much like us.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:00 PM ^
Yeah it's the most important position on the court and Jones has been a big disappointment. I'd expect Frankie to be the starter later in the year, but he still probably can't shoot this year, and that's a killer when hardly anyone else can either.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:03 PM ^
This year is a mulligan. Next year, Juwan is firmly on the hot seat. This is pathetic.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:08 PM ^
I understand the frustration, but nah, Juwan is entitled to more -- in my opinion, much more -- than one disappointing season before "the hot seat." His recruiting is at a level we haven't seen since ... early Steve Fisher, and although the pieces clearly aren't fitting together well this year, that at least means most of them will be back next year, which I hadn't expected.
Add in next year's freshman class, and another opportunity at a few key transfers, and things can turn around awfully quickly.
Amazing to me how fast fans turn from "God, I can't wait to get back to the NCAA tournament again" to "we're Michigan, dammit, and any season that doesn't end with at least an NCAA tournament birth is an out-and-out failure."
Juwan is so completely awesome in every way, that jeez, one year of disappointing on-court results is just not that big a deal. Relax.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:15 PM ^
I respectfully disagree. This team has has far too much talent to be getting blown out by UCF and Rutgers. Yes, Juwan won a title last year, but he did so almost entirely with players Belein recruited, including the NBA rookie of the month.
This team doesn’t just lack talent. They lack organization, acuity, awareness, and toughness. It looks like an Amaker team, and even that is being kind.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:22 PM ^
Agree.
So what about Phil Martelli? Juwan is supposed to the cool CEO who is not an X and O guy but works with big men and is so NBA relatable. What are the assistants doing? Team effort in losing but 30+ year guy who knows bball is supposed to help.
Let's get back our defensive whiz kid who ran off into the sunset a few years ago because this group of players could care less about defending. It's an AAU environment that would make Kentucky proud.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:27 PM ^
Beilein recruited wagner, yes. But he also left for the NBA before he committed. Howard was able to convince franz to come to Michigan, not John Beilein. Stop with the revisionist history because you're unhappy with the current squad.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:00 PM ^
The only reason Franz even considered Michigan was because of Beilein recruiting Mo.
And Beilein also encouraged Franz to still go to Michigan.
January 5th, 2022 at 12:13 AM ^
So the fact Wagner improved under Howard, as did guys like Dickinson, Livers, Smith, Austin Davis, etc. should be ignored? I swear people think a guy who last coached at UM 3 season ago now is still the only reason they're good just want to argue.
January 5th, 2022 at 5:59 AM ^
UCF and Rutgers both shot the daylights out of the ball; UCF the whole second half, Rutgers with half the threes we took. Yeah, we have a lot of issues, but if both those teams shot normal, we could be talking about wins. I liked the effort the team put forth, though that doesn't show up on the stat sheet. I'm going to say it was the Rutgers defense that caused us to miss so many up close shots. We still have a ways to go to be a solid squad, but I see improvement. We just need to see the shots fall.
Oh, that and the rest of the team to suit up.
January 5th, 2022 at 10:39 AM ^
Those teams didn’t “shoot normal” because our defense is fucking horrible. This is like saying that MSU had a chance against OSU in football if only OSU “passed normal” in that game.
Every team makes some low percentage shots. Teams against Michigan get and make a million high percentage shots to go with those bad makes that everyone remembers. Their defense is killing the team.
Howard isn’t and shouldn’t be on any hot seat, but this team isn’t getting blown out because of bad luck.
January 5th, 2022 at 12:55 AM ^
Any season that doesn’t end with an NCAA tourney birth is absolutely a failure. That being said, I don’t think Juwan deserves to be on the hot seat after this year.
January 5th, 2022 at 6:16 AM ^
berth
January 4th, 2022 at 10:44 PM ^
By years end, he'll have in his career
A COVID title where we didn't reschedule 3 games (we lost 3 of 4 to end the season) so 2-1 in those games were played give Illinois the title.
2 blowout losses to Minnesota. Previously 2-20ish to us
Be 2-4 versus msu (including a loss to their worst team in 25 years last year).
1-5 versus ohio State
0-5 versus Illinois
Maybe then people will WAKE the f up.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:56 PM ^
Damn if those are what we're going off of for basketball then Jim Harbaugh should've been fired 2 years ago.
January 5th, 2022 at 5:54 AM ^
It happens to the best of us; the Ladies lost too...
January 4th, 2022 at 10:10 PM ^
This may not be a popular take - but I thought it wasn’t the best idea for Juwan to be at the playoff game with his two kids.
Maybe you can convince me it was fine for Juwan to be there - maybe - but bringing his two kids on the sideline as well (it wasn’t reported any other players were there) … a day after the UCF loss, in the middle of a season… I don’t know.
if I’m say, Eli, flying back to Ann Arbor to work on fixing things and the coach and two of my teammates are still in Florida yucking it up on the sidelines when we have an away game in a few days… I just thought the optics weren’t the best.
(And I know none of this matters if you’re winning, but start to lose and these ”narrative” grips can snowball).
January 4th, 2022 at 10:45 PM ^
Wait, he actually was there after getting blown out by UCF?
Something tells me he doesn't work as hard as Beilein.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:03 PM ^
Maybe, but he's a fellow UM alum who's going to help celebrate UM at the playoffs. Do we know if all the other players were sent home or did some stick around?
Again, this team has been bad at the things they've been bad at all year, so if they suddenly start loafing and not preparing because their coach stuck around to cheer on another UM sports team then I'm not sure we'd really notice.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:19 PM ^
That's the thing.
Him cheering for the team in no way helps them.
Just go home and fix the team.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:12 PM ^
It was noted several times in the game thread (and surely many times before this night), but this team has nothing to go to when the game gets tough.
They don't play defense (cohesive, tenacious, sustained), they don't shoot well enough to keep runs going or stop runs, they lack a certain grit and energy, they don't rebound well, and they certainly do not look like they play as a team: enthusiasm, joy, pulling for one another; it almost looks like they're going through the motions.
Obviously generalized observations but mainly this team is not enjoyable to watch. I can't imagine it's much fun for them, either.
January 4th, 2022 at 11:07 PM ^
Yeah they really have nothing to hang their hat on. What do they do well? It'd be more encouraging if they at least had a good O with a terrible D or vice versa. Their best player is Dickinson, but he often plays with another 5 and there's no shooting around him. You can't have a good offense just throwing it into the crowded paint in the modern game.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:19 PM ^
Over under Big 10 wins = 5. Let me know your bet. Not being sarcastic.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:27 PM ^
I said 4 last week. I'll go under. It's really hard to fathom.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:46 PM ^
2007-2008 won 5 conference games.....with two less games.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:52 PM ^
Check the schedule.
A generous approach gives us 6 wins.
This team ain't winning any non-Nebraska road game.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:26 PM ^
D. Jones back in his shell, 0/3 and zero points, 1 board, 2 assists in 31 minutes. Once again Michigan did not fare well against an experienced team with a bunch of contributors, of which Michigan clearly doesn't have enough. I do think Diabate and Houstan are getting better, it's just that the team has only Hunter and Eli to carry it, and this team needs the two 5 stars to deliver now. Not fair but unfortunately there aren't really any better options (esp. tonight)
January 4th, 2022 at 10:26 PM ^
This sucks. Back to March Madness without your team involved. It's fun but it ain't the same. Goddammit, what the fuck happened?
January 4th, 2022 at 10:28 PM ^
This team looks very familiar to the Tommy Amaker era teams. A lot of talent, poorly coached, and unable to play as a team. Like others have said, they lack enthusiasm and an identity.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:41 PM ^
Huh. The sequence described in the lede is precisely when I turned it off.
Piss poor.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:41 PM ^
They need a playmaking guard (Collins?), a couple shooters to step up (Houstan, Bufkin...?) and much better defense (everybody). That's almost certainly too much to ask for this late in the season.
January 4th, 2022 at 10:42 PM ^
Sparty’s gonna drop the hammer on Saturday. This team is reeling and doesn’t have a clue how to stop the bleeding. 20 point loss coming dammit.
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