[Speechless]

Before and after. [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

At the 17:35 mark of the second half last night, Ethan Happ backed Moe Wagner down from just inside the three-point line all the way to the charge circle and hit a baby hook. That marked his ninth field goal in ten attempts; he had 20 points, five assists, no turnovers, and no fouls. Up to that point, Michigan had been content to let their big men try to handle Happ on their own, as they'd done much more successfully in the game in Madison. It wasn't working. John Beilein adjusted (thanks to UMHoops' Orion Sang for saving me the transcription work):

“We looked at our numbers last time that we played this — Northwestern just double-teamed him the whole game and it was a point per possession, and when we didn’t double team him last time it was 0.6. So we said we can have it in our package, but we’re not going to do it unless we need it. Not all of those were post-ups — he blew by Mo a couple times. Mo’s 21 points, I’m really happy about that. He’s got to improve his defense too, he got sloppy a few times. He’s just got to get better there. Happ is really good. Part of where Wisconsin is so successful with us and others is there’s just so little low-post game in college basketball. … It’s unique for people to guard.”

“(Happ’s) good. He missed some shots from four or five feet. He didn’t miss them this time. He’s a good player. But we weren’t going to change just to change knowing we had our package, and save it for the second half. Just save it for the second half and see if we need it.”

From that point forward, Happ went 1-for-3 from the field with one assist and three turnovers. He also committed five fouls, two of which came on the offensive end of the floor. His fourth foul came after Moe Wagner and Zak Irvin combined to force a miss; Happ was visibly frustrated after unnecessarily hacking Muhammad-Ali Adbur-Rahkman on the rebound.

Eric Coughlin of the Detroit News tweeted a useful chart displaying how Michigan's defensive adjustment—and Wisconsin abandoning the pick-and-roll—had an enormous impact on Happ's output: 

How did @umichbball hold Ethan Happ to four second-half points last night? pic.twitter.com/typcHIJwLx

— Eric Coughlin (@EricCoughlin1) February 17, 2017

Mark Donnal looked overmatched in the first half; in the second, with some impressive help defense from Zak Irvin, he more than held his own. Irvin's offensive resurgence would've been for naught if Michigan didn't make, and execute, a mid-game scheme change on defense. It led to one of the most unexpected plays in recent memory:

My coverage of Donnal has been rather harsh at times; last night was his most encouraging game in a long time. Yes, he struggled to guard Happ one-on-one in the first half, but so did all of Michigan's big men; Jon Teske's disastrous two-minute stretch put a serious damper on the #FreeTeske movement. Donnal's seven minutes in the second half were impressive, even more so because he made a positive impact without taking a shot, which isn't exactly his norm. In addition to the block on Happ, he had a nice tipout offensive rebound and perhaps the most forceful blockout of his career:

If that's the version of Donnal we get going forward, there won't be any more controversy about who should back up Wagner.

[Hit THE JUMP for MAAR the quiet killer, updated bracket watch, and more.]

Rahk Steady

Before I get into any sort of analysis, let's all admire this for a moment:

That is, first and foremost, a great play by Walton. He recognized the late clock situation, used the threat of his outside shot to get Happ off his feet with a pump-fake, caused Wisconsin's defense to collapse, and found the open man in the corner.

What's gone largely unnoticed, however, is MAAR's improvement during Big Ten play. He started 1-for-6 beyond the arc in conference games; since then, he's 14-for-23; while shooting 61% on threes is unsustainable, his shot looks pure and he's clearly gained confidence in it. With a 50% mark on two-pointers, he's also finishing well, and he's been a reliable free-throw shooter (78%) who doesn't commit many turnovers. Albeit on limited usage, MAAR now boasts the tenth-best ORating in the Big Ten.

After showing a disturbing penchant for falling asleep while playing off-ball defense, he's been locked in on that end during Michigan's defensive resurgence, too. After Walton and Wagner, MAAR has been the team's most consistent player, even though his raw point totals wax and wane based on game flow.

More Derrick Walton Stats, Because Those Are Very Fun

Even following a 1-for-8 shooting night against Wisconsin, Derrick Walton's efficiency is a delightfully extreme outlier among top players on Big Ten teams:

I tried this for each team's "top player" based on ORtg, Minutes, and Usage in B1G games. Had to make some judgment calls in my selections. pic.twitter.com/HCAP6ns68c

— snwman (@bkbtNUmbers) February 17, 2017

He's also way out ahead of the field in a stat created by The Only Colors (PORPAG: Points Over Replacement Per Adjusted Game) way back when they did such things. He's now fifth in KenPom's B1G player of the year standings, too.

Post The Wagner Dunk GIF Already

Yes, bolded header alter ego.

ESPN should be prosecuted for never showing a replay of the dunk. Thankfully, our photographer Marc-Gregor Campredon got a phenomenal series of shots from the play:

There's so much to love here: the dunk itself, Zak Showalter getting tossed aside (after committing an obvious foul), MAAR's reaction, and the appearance of Zak Irvin's emoji head in the stands at the end—it was Irvin, after all, who got this all started with his post defense on Happ.

Quick Bracket Update

As you'd expect, last night's win did wonders for Michigan's tourney projections. The Bracket Matrix hasn't been updated to include projections factoring in last night's results (that should happen tonight), but there are plenty of individual updates: CBS's Jerry Palm bumped Michigan to a nine-seed, as did Yahoo's Bracket Brad, and Crashing The Dance has the Wolverines as an eight-seed(!).

These last two wins have moved Michigan's projected conference record from 8-10 to 10-8 on KenPom. CrislerSpidey's win probability graph based on those projections looks quite different than it did even heading into last night:

Winning a coin flip game will do wonders for your win probability graph: pic.twitter.com/0iFTyZ895z

— Crisler Spider-Man (@CrislerSpidey) February 17, 2017

They're not locks yet. A win on Sunday at Minnesota would get them darn close to that status barring a collapse down the stretch, and the Gophers haven't exactly been impressive even during their recent four-game winning streak; they eked out a one-point home win against Indiana on Wednesday in one of the uglier games I've watched all year.

I've Been Provided An Excuse To Post GRIII GIFs

NBA All Star Saturday Night is one of my favorite sports events of the year (don't @ me). The dunk contest is, of course, the headliner, and this year there's even more reason to watch than usual: Glenn Robinson III is one of the participants. He looks ready:

don't sleep #allstarweekend #dunkcontest pic.twitter.com/qvMgttFxKZ

— Glenn Robinson III (@GRIII) February 10, 2017

In honor of his participation, here are my five favorite GRIII dunk GIFs from his time at Michigan. These are in the old GIF format, so click the stills to open each GIF in a lightbox:

5. AHHHHHHHHH

Included as much for the situation/opponent as anything else. That said, he did damn near hit his head on the backboard.

4. Dunked Into Oblivion

Charles Buggs never played basketball again. Don't fact-check me on this.

3. Reverse Oop

I've never seen someone do that so casually before.

2. The GR360

I don't know what GRIII had against the state of Minnesota. I'm fine with the grudge, though.

1. Hang Time

A controversial choice, perhaps, but I absolutely love this dunk. Between the hang time, the MJ-esque leg kick, the off-hand behind the head, and the clean, powerful finish, there's a lot to love here.

I put together this list rather hastily. You're encouraged to rectify any errors of omission in the comments.