Basketbullets: Wisconsin
1/19/2019 – Michigan 54, Wisconsin 64 – 17-1, 6-1 Big Ten
I've already written the column about how playing games at the Trohl Center is an experience that makes you think you're the last human in the land of the bug people, and hoo boy was this a shining example of the genre. The ends of each half, taken together, are kind of amazing. The end of the first half: Wisconsin has multiple fouls to give at the end of the first half and is trying to use them, but the a guy intentionally grabbing a Michigan player doesn't get called for two or three seconds. Michigan's left with under two seconds on the clock and does not convert.
The end of the second: Ethan Happ briefly touches the ball with Michigan down three and gets rid of it; immediately afterward Brazdeikis grabs him, in the way of late game basketball. This too is ignored. When Iggy goes back to foul Happ again, this time completely away from the ball, he's called for a flagrant 1. That essentially ends the game.
I don't really know what you're supposed to do when the referees can't even get the fouls both teams are trying to commit right. When you've got an apoplectic John Beilein at midcourt being held back by his assistants you've screwed up. You made First Episode Walter White mad! He drives a minivan and loves his children! GAH!
It would be nice if Michigan's basketball team was so good it could power through batshit road garbage at the Trohliest of all Centers, but if it was it would have so much power that it could not be permitted off a military base. It's a harsh reality check for a team that had played just one game that went down to the final couple minutes.
GRIM. This kind of offensive performance is a once-every-few-years occurrence:
Wisconsin holds Michigan to 0.82 points per possession, Wolverines’ worst game on offense since November 23, 2016.
— John Gasaway (@JohnGasaway) January 19, 2019
That was the let's-drink-some-bleach South Carolina game, when Michigan was 8/26 from two and 2/26 from three. Michigan finished that season with the #4 offense in the country after Derrick Walton blew up midseason.
That was on another level in terms of offensive futility. Michigan shot 47%/28%, which is real bad but not the abomination that the South Carolina game was. Michigan's main problem was giant turnover rate—almost one in every four Michigan possessions ended in a turnover. That was spread almost equally throughout the roster.
[After THE JUMP: Teske though?]
no this was not a blocking foul if you're wondering [Barron]
Goose egg. Iggy had zero points. This is Not Good. Wisconsin started the game by playing Happ against Iggy, leaving Reuvers on Teske. This seemed completely baffling to me but Michigan's response was even more baffling: they did not clear out one side of the court to let Iggy drive on a center who happens to be Wisconsin's most valuable player.
This is a common way to screw up Michigan's offense: do something weird that seems structurally unsound and get away with it as Michigan continues running their regular sets. The early switch-everything Purdue games and Aaron Craft super-icing screens jump out as other examples of the genre. Michigan was able to adapt to those approaches and overcome them, but the ability to adjust in that first game was limited.
The difference here is that the other two approaches were team-defense approaches to shutting down Michigan's pick and roll sets. This was Wisconsin daring Michigan to play iso-ball and Michigan turning them down.
Teske though. Happ had a good offensive game thanks to seven assists vs one turnover—a stat that seems baffling after watching that game. Michigan did help some but Wisconsin only had 14 makes that did not come from Happ. He assisted on half of them? It didn't feel like it.
Happ had 26 points on 24 shot equivalents, but he had a couple of easy buckets off switches or when Davis was in the game. When Teske matched up one on one that felt like a matchup he was winning, with four blocks. He was also Michigan's only efficient offensive player with 15 points on 13 shot equivalents and just the one turnover. That turnover was pretty frustrating, coming during a sequence late in the first half when Michigan was trying to push the ball and ended up throwing it OOB a few times, but it was not in the half-court.
Teske has the best hands of any seven-foot guy I've seen at Michigan. He catches all kinds of things that many others would boot into the stands, including another transition opportunity that he was able to catch and get up for a layup despite moving at a full sprint and seemingly destined to go under the backboard.
The other Wisconsin defensive approach that was seemingly unsound but unpunished was one more familiar: switching guards onto Teske at certain times on the pick and roll. Simpson got a three blocked by Reuvers when Teske had a six-foot guy on him. Michigan never ever posts up, and while that's usually good policy they leave themselves exposed to this kind of thing when they don't even look at the mismatch.
full metal jacket-ass haircut [Barron]
Flops suck. Refereeing has improved a lot over the last decade but by god they're WWE-level incompetent when it comes to off arms. You can get away with a ton of off-arm pushing if the guy getting pushed is trying to play legitimate defense and merely gets knocked a little off balance so you can have your space. But if you go into it planning to explode into a thousand pieces at any contact you do get calls. So D'Mitrik Trice gets rewarded for playing like he's a delicate wall of frosted gypsum.
The refs did manage to see through Brad Davison's fish antics, but it's not good enough to watch a guy like Davison flop to the floor against Matthews without a call. There's not enough downside to playing basketball like a little [REDACTED]. Flops should be fouls.
Hell, off-arm pushes so powerful that someone gets knocked over shouldn't be fouls. If you knock a whole human over with just one of your arms they should stop the game to give you a novelty t-shirt with a giant bulging bicep on it, and then give the guy you knocked over a bib and a container of apple sauce.
Only off-arm pushes that clear space but do not knock a guy over should be fouls.
The downside of Michigan's vast egalitarianism. So Michigan's in a huge funk offensively most of this game, and unlike Wisconsin they don't have a default option that's decently efficient even when it's not going that well. Jordan Poole was able to be that in the first half with a series of iso two-point jumpers that went down at an acceptable rate, but that goes away and then there's no alpha dog to Walton/Stauskas/Burke at you when you really need a bucket—and then when they react to that other things open up.
It would be nice if someone would emerge as the clear #1 option on offense over the next month.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:30 PM ^
For all of our beefs with the refs and fouls, at least this isn’t a blog full of Saints fans. I can’t even imagine the anger and frustration they must be dealing with.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
you weren't here in 2016 after The Game.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:03 PM ^
I'm not sure what you're talking about?
*stares blankly out the window for the next 45 minutes*
January 21st, 2019 at 4:49 PM ^
+1 for perfectly articulated imagery
January 21st, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^
Somehow, "The Sounds of Silence" just started playing in my head.
January 21st, 2019 at 6:07 PM ^
No, that sucked but the spot could be argued both ways. Even Brian believed it was short. But that PI no call left no doubt. The Rams player knew he committed PI and said so postgame. Everyone watching that game, regardless of rooting interest knew the refs completely blew it. You couldn’t say that for The Game 2016.
January 22nd, 2019 at 9:38 AM ^
It's not even about the spot though, which I think you're right, an objective person could argue could have gone either way. Its about OSU getting called for 2 penalties for 6 yards in a game where they committed many many pass interference penalties, while Michigan's DBs doing the same thing were called for it EVERY TIME. (Michigan ended with 7 penalties for 59 yards, and if I remember correctly this included some critical first downs). But, that is why it is harder to win on the road.
January 22nd, 2019 at 12:15 PM ^
when you have Chris Fowler exclaim "Oh my goodness!" And nothing is called. . . Then yes, we can absolutely relate to the Saints' plight.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:49 PM ^
2009. Karma.
Fuck the Saints.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:51 PM ^
Saints fan here. My sporps ball weekend was ungood, to day the least. Really need to evaluate how much importance I place on sports...
January 21st, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
and spelling
January 21st, 2019 at 1:31 PM ^
What's a typo here and there? If they're a Saints fan I assume they're still drunk.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:32 PM ^
Flops should be crimes.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:37 PM ^
There can be flops. But don't get upset when the flopper tends to trip the victim and the victim lands on him in a flying elbow like fashion. . . .
January 21st, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
I believe you can be called for a T if you flop??
January 21st, 2019 at 12:36 PM ^
Many thanks for the colorful descriptions of game "action." "Batshit" kind of says it all. I did DVR the game but think I will pass up watching it and use my time doing something more useful. You forgot to add the floor dynamic of playing basketball on a hockey rink.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:43 PM ^
I cannot think of anything that I would rather NOT be doing than watching a replay of a game, especially a loss.
Wow--to think someone would ever have that much time on their hands, unless they make money to do it.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:41 PM ^
Even when Iggy tried to foul Happ the first time he didn't have the ball. That was the right call no matter what.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:59 PM ^
Per Baumgardner on Twitter just now: Beilein admitted he was wrong about that.
https://twitter.com/nickbaumgardner/status/1087407676609490945
January 21st, 2019 at 1:19 PM ^
He did appear to get there late. But it looked a hell of a lot worse when he went back and tried to foul him
January 21st, 2019 at 1:26 PM ^
I haven't rewatched it (nor will I), but it seemed to me like it was close enough to warrant a foul--the one where Happ got rid of the ball and then Iggy sort of followed through and fouled him. Then when it wasn't called he goofed and fouled Happ way late.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:01 PM ^
It wasn't that close. End of the day, the refs got that call right.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:10 PM ^
Bambi ... its called "late game fouls". There are no fucking rules other than what the refs want to see and call. The first grab by Iggy of Happ (even after he dumped it) was a late game foul that EVERYONE KNOWS is a LATE GAME FOUL ... read this - it IS an intentional foul. All teams do it ... better everyone is impressed that you read the rule book / S
Go Blue!
January 21st, 2019 at 12:44 PM ^
I'm retracting any basketball officiating comments. I did not like the game and am happy we don't have to see Kohl again this season.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:53 PM ^
Flopping needs to be made a personal foul.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:17 PM ^
Yes. As much as people complain about it in soccer, you would think there would be a more concerted effort to punish people doing it in other sports. My opinions of it in soccer, as someone who has played and reffed, is that I’ll stop the game at the next out of bounds or goal, or foul, and tell that player deliberately and succinctly that it will be a card the next time I see it, and that I will now be expecting it. If it continues, the card comes out. No hesitation. That’s how you take control of a game as a referee and nip that shit in the bud. When you don’t call it the first couple times, now you set a precedent that it shouldn’t be getting called at all.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:28 PM ^
Hockey has diving/embellishment calls for exactly this reason. Often times they even call both teams for a penalty as they feel like the player was trying to embellish the call.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:23 PM ^
Right, that's what I'm talking about.
I do think it defeats the purpose when they call a penalty for slashing or tripping and also give the player who was slashed or tripped a penalty for diving.... It should be one or the other, not both. IMO.
If a guard flails his head back, reacting to getting hit on the arm.... He should be called for a foul, and then smacked in the head..... to give him a reason to flail it back!
That'll teach'm!
January 22nd, 2019 at 4:25 PM ^
The NBA has rules to call a technical foul on a flop & can also fine floppers.
January 21st, 2019 at 12:56 PM ^
Wasn’t it Nebraska last year that did the switch everything defense, or did Purdue first do it in a prior year?
January 21st, 2019 at 1:14 PM ^
Clear number one option should be a mix of Matthews and Teske. Teske has showed himself versatile enough to be included in every ball rotation. Matthews really needs to continue attacking but look up and start assisting. He continues to draw 2 and 3 defenders down into the arc/paint, yet pivots 2 or 3 times, often traveling (frequently uncalled actually) and trying to go up at the rim or fade away. If he can recognize this is happening and find the open man, swinging the ball to the top of the key and then around will get you open looks from the corner.
Poole is very much trying to be the go-to guy, the problem being he isn’t disciplined enough. You could tell he really wanted to take the game over, but man he made some terrible choices with the ball early in the shot clock. And that’s a product of him being the only one producing and feeling like he has no help around him.
This loss falls on the shoulders of a few people. 1. Beilein. Only because “it’s always the coaches fault” but he does need to recognize things like getting Teske to work in the post, iso out so Iggy or CM can go hard at the cup and draw fouls or get us those high percentage looks. And, giving Iggy so much time when he honestly just looked completely lost out there. Definitely a tough decision to pull him in lieu of someone else, and, as is one of our biggest concerns, what do you do when you pull him? Play Livers, but then who spells Teske or Livers? We need another player to step up and offer solid minutes. Wouldn’t mind seeing Johns worked in for a few minutes a game, even at the expense of Davis. Eli Brooks running the point to spell Z is NOT something we should ever see again. That was a sloppy and undisciplined period of the game. 2. CM and Iggy. Both are great at what they do, but both need to keep their head up and try to create. Try to win off the dribble, if it isn’t there, you need to know sooner and commit to a hard take and trying to draw the foul or a hard take and slipping the ball into someone else. Iggy had a sexy behind the back pass to Teske in an instance just like this and 3 or 4 people had no idea where the ball went, myself included. Teske was even surprised. These are free buckets. Especially in this game, where Iggy and CM were concerned with driving because sneezing was being called as a charge, attack and force the offense to sink to you, then slip the ball to the other side of the court for a Teske roll or an open look in the corner. This partially falls on Beilein as well to be able to point that out. 3. THE FUCKING REFS. Seriously, I am so sick of seeing this kind of shit. Basketball has the most subjective rules of any sport. Just blow your whistle when you fell like it and make a call. It’s both right and wrong every time. Don’t blow your whistle. You’re still both right and wrong. Everyone is traveling all the time, but just call it when you want to. Ethan Happ has the ball in the post, but the double team came over and someone touched the ball. Blow the whistle, it was clearly a foul. I’ve not seen this many charges called in a single game yet this year. They were clearly trying to make a point, and it threw CM and Iggy off their game (not that things may have been different for either had the charges been less frequent). I hate being a shitty fan that whines and complains about officiating and how we should have won but for this that or the other thing, but this was pretty bad and obvious homerism. As Brian pointed out with the fouls to give at the end of the half.
Overall, I don’t mind that we lost. I think it takes a lot of pressure off and allows us to go back and work on stuff. The issue is how we lost. How do you go back to practice and work on letting helping someone else foul you purposefully at the end of the half? How do you go to the gym and work on not getting called for charges and push offs that are only called sporadically? How does Beilein teach Iggy to foul Happ any more than that? The next step to his first attempt at fouling him late in the game was literally jumping on him.
Ok, had to get all that off my chest. Hope no one spent their time reading this shitty post. Onward and upward! Go Blue!
January 22nd, 2019 at 8:23 AM ^
I did, and enjoyed it!
January 21st, 2019 at 1:23 PM ^
JB had a giant brainfart the entire final minute. 1 - not knowing the "can't foul away from the ball" rule. and 2 - not fouling down 4 with about 50 sec left immediately after that flagrant 1 call. he let wisky run down the clock to under 30 sec when happ took a shot then made his putback to effectively end the game.
you have to extend the game there after the flagrant 1. and deny trice the damn ball. foul the first guy other than him that gets it. they failed on that before and after the flagrant 1.
i would have liked to see a #1 behind the team's name today. but oh well. it's only one game, and the bigger prizes are a couple months away.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:41 PM ^
Yep, as much as the coaches deserve praise when things are going well, they blew any chance Michigan had (even if small) in the last minute. Not knowing a rule and having your guy commit a Flagrant 1 because of it is bad.
But then when you're down four, why aren't you fouling? And if you're going to play it straight up (which was an ok thing to do with 50 seconds left), why wasn't Teske in the game? None of this made any sense. As it turned out, Michigan didn't foul and had Zavier Simpson on Happ. Easy bucket. Inexcusable by the coaches.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:25 PM ^
I hate flops. I propose that a player laying on the floor which causes an offensive player to trip should be called a personal foul. That way the offensive player has a choice when the defender flops: try to shoot over the guy laying on the ground, or basically return the favor and flop themselves drawing the foul.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:30 PM ^
There is a reason that 85-90 percent of big ten games are won by the home team.
Defense may travel, But refs do not. Homers in minuscule ways matter Greatly.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:37 PM ^
Michigan lost this game because their offense went into a Wisconsin-induced shell and couldn't find ways out of it. As much as I don't like post-ups for obvious reasons, maybe this is a game where you try it and see if they double or Teske can get some fouls on Happ.
That being said, this was a CLASSIC Wisconsin home game. They play D like the old MSU defensive backs. They clutch and grab all game to the point where it doesn't get called and then they flop at the mere whisper of an arm. By the end of the game the refs and players have no idea what's a foul anymore.
And while Beilein got the rule wrong technically with the flagrant, Brian correctly highlighted the problem with the refs. Wisconsin INTENTIONALLY fouled at the end of the first half, rarely getting it as quick as they (or we) wanted it. Michigan tried and didn't get the call. What's the difference? Likewise, what if on an out-of-bounds play by Michigan a Wisconsin player bear-hugged Teske so he couldn't get free? Have you EVER seen that called a Flagrant? Nope.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:12 PM ^
Who did Wisc foul "away from the ball" in the first half? no one, i think. i believe they fouled simpson and he had the ball. that's a huge difference.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:08 PM ^
Both fouls were committed on the guy with the ball, even though there was no attempt at the ball when Matthews was fouled.
January 21st, 2019 at 1:48 PM ^
Flops = fouls
Should be 1 shot technical , plus the ball. If already in the bonus/double bonus =2 shots
Also so that refs love calling it. It should come with an exaggerated signal like the moving screen call.
Any Ideas? Clutching at chest ? Swim move?
January 21st, 2019 at 1:50 PM ^
crotch grab is the appropriate ref signal there
January 21st, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Ted Valentine has several foul "moves" that I'm certain he would sell.
Go Blue!
January 21st, 2019 at 1:49 PM ^
[peels back REDACTED black tape]
BITCH
January 21st, 2019 at 2:20 PM ^
I mean Jordan Morgan made a career out of flops we really shouldn't take the high horse on this one. Unfortunately it's a big part of basketball now and it's not going to change anytime soon so your best bet is to tread lightly and know which guys are floppers and approach them differently on offense.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
Morgan got calls for the rim protection charges where guys would just slide underneath and make it difficult to score at the basket. Those were significant contact, unlike that weak flopping on an off-arm push off bullshit. It's true the charging calls at the rim were out of hand everywhere back then and stymied creative finishing at the rim. He was definitely guilty of that, but no more so than every other post-defender who lacked the NBA-level athleticism necessary to contest/block at the rim. Which was why they put in the restricted zone, which I think happened partway through his career and reduced that problem a fair amount.
January 21st, 2019 at 2:21 PM ^
PRIVATE PYLE, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! ARE YOU LYING DOWN ON MY BASKETBALL COURT?! DO YOU NEED A FUCKING NAP?! GET YOUR ASS UP! YOU ARE A FUCKING DISGRACE! YOU BETTER GET YOURSELF SQUARED AWAY, OR I WILL SEND YOU HOME TO MOMMY! NOW DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!
January 21st, 2019 at 3:00 PM ^
I commented on the preview:
"I would guess Wisconsin would defend Teske with Reuvers and let him play the pick and roll. See if his impressive shot blocking can handle the Zavier Hook while giving Teske the pick and pop.
That puts Happ on Iggy, which is a much better matchup than hoping Reuvers can stay in front of Iggy."
Wisconsin has done this against other teams (Reuvers on the center/pick-and-roll guy, Happ on the best wing player). It was pretty obvious this is how they'd play it and it made all the sense in the world.
Happ isn't a rim protector, and he's a much better wing defender than he's given credit for (he can stay in front of guys like he did against Iggy). Not only was it obvious he was going to be on Iggy, that's a matchup that you don't even feel good about if you're Michigan because Happ is so good - and that's why Iggy only got five shots up. Happ turned him into a crumpled mess on the floor on one play on which Iggy thought he could get the baseline but he could not.
Reuvers is a rim protector and disruptive in the passing lanes with his length. He was the right guy to have defend the pick and roll so he could contest the ball handler while making it tough to pass to the roller.
So Happ on Iggy and Iverson on Matthews were always going to be tough matchups for M. The offense needed to come from Poole against Trice and on the pick and roll with Z and Teske.
Poole was effective early despite taking unnecessarily bad shots. He continued to take awful shots and the percentages caught up with him as he went 2 for his last 10. I think it's a big strength of theirs that essentially four different guys can be the go-to guy, even if none of them are dominant "triple threats" (shoot, drive, pass). This means defenses can't just focus on stopping one guy, and Michigan can play the matchups. Poole just didn't win a matchup that he should have won in a blowout.
I will say that Poole is the one guy that could be a dominating creator for himself and others, and isn't quite there yet in terms of decision making. Iggy probably can't be this year because he's just too far away as a distributor. Matthews and Z don't have the shooting ability to be triple threats.
Z was good in the pick and roll early with a couple nice dishes to Davis (who had a really nice catch and finish on a tough angle on the first one, easy dunk on the second) but he also he also missed a couple wide open rolls as well, but then that started getting swallowed up and he made some uncharacteristically bad mistakes (had a layup and three blocked in the second half). I don't know if Wisconsin changed the way they played those pick and rolls in the second half. Would have to watch it again.
Michigan also had an uncharacteristically high TO rate, several of which came on (mostly) unforced errors in transition (Iggy stumbling to the ground when he couldn't get around Happ, Teske missing a bomb, Livers turfing one to Matthews), and partially because they picked up a bunch of terrible offensive fouls. Those aren't issues I'm overly concerned about, long term.
January 21st, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
I agree with the point about refs suck and flopping sucks and the Kohl center is the Mystery Spot... But we played a poor game, especially 2nd half, all around. The turnovers and the numerous offensive possessions without any focus were especially surprising, as were some of the defensive lapses. We just didn't deserve to win...and no way was this team going undefeated, so whatevs.
I still feel very good about the next couple months, since we have the best basketball coach in the galaxy.
January 21st, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
We can whine all we want about refs and flops but Brian nailed the real problem, a very poorly played offensive outing. I'm sure it's hard to get up for all of the games, and UofM has done very well this year, but they did not appear to be ready, willing, and able to put in a good effort against UW
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