Kentucky 73, Michigan 69
The Michigan Wolverines Men's Basketball team went across the pond to London, England to face another top 25 opponent in the Kentucky Wildcats. Much like on Tuesday, it was a valiant effort that saw Michigan give themselves a chance to pull out a resume-building win, but it met the same fate. That is, a tough defeat late that qualifies as a victory in the moral column, but not the one that matters. Frustrating yes, but some takeaways to be had too. Here's a quick recap for your Sunday afternoon:
The first half of action was an evenly-matched back-and-forth affair. One team would take the lead, stretch it to two possessions, and then the other squad would come storming right back. Michigan led 17-11 off a 9-0 run, punctuated by Jett Howard getting fouled on a trey attempt and swishing all three free throws, but Kentucky answered with a 6-0 run to tie it. From that point forward it was tight, with the biggest lead in the latter stages of the half being five points. After Isaiah Barnes surprisingly knocked down a three to put Michigan ahead 34-29 with 3:56 to go, Kentucky's defense tightened up and big man Oscar Tshiebwe got going. He made a layup, snatched a rebound leading to an Antonio Reeves three, and then drew a foul and hit two free throws, a 7-0 run that erased the Michigan advantage. The Wolverines would score just two points in the final ~four minutes of the half and were trailing by one, 37-36, at the half.
At halftime, the box score indicated an evenly matched game. Kentucky shot 13/30 from the floor; Michigan shot 13/32. Kentucky was 5/8 from three; Michigan was 5/10. Kentucky had eight turnovers; Michigan had committed six. Kentucky's big had 11 points; Michigan's had 9. Both teams had a wing with nine points, Kentucky's Reeves and Michigan's Kobe Bufkin. It was a game that looked as close as the score indicated.
[Campredon]
The second half opened hot for Kentucky, who began on a 12-6 run to build their largest lead of the afternoon. Cason Wallace made a jumper and then knocked down a pair of triples for Kentucky's first eight points of the half. After Tshiebwe and Reeves joined in with points, Juwan Howard took a timeout to get his team to regroup. It worked. Michigan came out of the timeout with an 8-0 run to take the lead back, cashing in at the free throw line and getting a Dickinson tip-in to drop. Play continued in tight fashion and Kentucky held a 55-54 at the midway point of the second half. Tight, again.
Michigan, who played several odd bench lineups for stretches of the game, did so with under 10 minutes remaining, and it was the tandem of Tarris Reed and Dug McDaniel who trimmed a small Kentucky edge down to two points after McDaniel hit a three. McDaniel's role in the game would quickly elevate, and not in a good way: Michigan starting PG Jaelin Llewellyn would go down with a non-contact knee injury and had to be helped off the court, later seen icing the knee on the bench. Llewellyn would not return and McDaniel thus became the PG for the rest of the game.
With 7:34 to go, the Wildcats led 60-58, with their advantage from beyond the arc the only difference in the game. Michigan was within striking distance for a signature win, but that's when the offense began to dry up. They'd go scoreless for over 3 minutes, with Dickinson missing easy layups and the front-end of a one-and-one. The Wolverine defense held up decently well but Kentucky was able to stretch the lead to eight with just over four minutes left when Juwan Howard called timeout. Kobe Bufkin's steal leading to a Jett Howard put-back bucket finally ended the dry period and then a McDaniel floater cut the lead back to four.
Get well soon, Jaelin [Campredon]
John Calipari called timeout with 2:55 remaining and Michigan would force two misses on the ensuing Kentucky possession, but a pair of offensive rebounds for the Wildcats set up a tip-in for Jacob Toppin. Jett Howard answered with a fancy hookshot against contact and after Kobe Bufkin drew a charge, a Dickinson dunk cut the margin to 68-66 with 1:44 left. Calipari called another timeout and it was the next Kentucky possession that decided the game. The Wildcats passed it around and eventually found Cason Wallace open for three. Wallace connected on his fourth three of the game in as many tries and Kentucky had a five point edge. Howard missed a three and Michigan was quickly into the foul game. Kentucky would actually miss several free throws down the stretch, which allowed the Wolverines to keep the margin close, but they never again had the ball down one possession. The final horn sounded, and Kentucky had won 73-69.
Michigan came up short in this game and the final box score indicates why: the Wolverines shot under 40% from the field, as key misses late weighed down their shooting percentage and the difference from beyond the arc was stark. Kentucky was 9/15 from three, with Wallace's 4/4 mark standing out as heroic for the Wildcats, while Michigan shot a fine 8/20. Good, but not quite good enough. There were stretches where the Wolverines offense looked good enough to win, but those stretches were in between dry periods.
Dickinson led Michigan with 23 points, but he did it on an inefficient 10/22 shooting, with turnovers and poor shot selection harming him in the first half. He was better in the second. Bufkin had a nice showing with 11 points, getting a bigger role in the offense and showing why he's Michigan's best defensive player. Howard battled foul trouble but scored 16 points, which was good for second on the team. Isaiah Barnes' two threes off the bench was a bright spot for an otherwise empty unit yet again, while Terrance Williams II's 3 points in 32 minutes will almost certainly be discussed in the coming days. Llewellyn's health is another storyline to watch over the next week.
Michigan falls to 5-3 on the season still in search of a non-conference victory worth much of anything for the resume. Before they return to the non-con, they must open up B1G play on Thursday night against Minnesota. That game is in Minneapolis and is scheduled for 9:00 PM. There is no content after the jump.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:21 PM ^
No team that shoots free throws this poorly is going to beat any good teams. It’s that simple.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:33 PM ^
Kentucky shot 50% from the FT line and on the year are only shooting 71% (UM is 69%). The free throw shooting isn't great but it isn't close to a major reason why they aren't winning these games.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:41 PM ^
Michigan is not Kentucky and free throws is a major reason that they are not winning these games. Killed both the opportunity to extend the lead and cut it or continue a comeback. The inability to complete the most basic straightforward action in the game permeates the entire psyche of this team. They live in a basketball BPONE because it it.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:22 PM ^
Kentucky has previously lost to any team inside the top 100 they've played (MSU and Gonzaga). They're signature win now is Michigan. I get that people just want to complain but FT shooting is very much within the statistical norm for a team. Against UVa Michigan shot 8/10 (80%) from FT while the Cavaliers shot 12/19 (63%). In this game UK shot 10/20 while UM shot 11/17.
The biggest issue for UM shooting-wise in their losses is that they're hitting 33% from 3 while their opponents are hitting 57% of theirs, well above their season averages. This was a problem last year for UM as well and while some of it is undoubtedly defense it's not like ASU, UK, and UVa have played a murderer's row of defenses. Flip UK and UVa to their season averages and UM wins both of those games.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:38 PM ^
Free throw shooting is 1 of MANY issues -- and not the biggest issue -- this team has. Kentucky won the game and only shot 10/20 on free throws, worse than Michigan.
Defense. Jett is extremely talented, but may be the worst defender I have witnessed in a Michigan uniform. Yes, he's a freshman, but he's also likely a one-and-done and I don't see him making big strides on that end of the floor before the end of the season. If he's not hot on offense, he's a net negative because of his defensive struggles. Michigan played well when he sat for most of the first half, Kentucky was just unconscious from 3, making several that were heavily contested. Combine this with our guards inability to keep anyone out of the lane.
The media has been nicer about it then I would be, but Juwan's rotations are AWFUL. Why can't he sprinkle in bench players with starters like every other coach? Instead he does near-full line changes and teams almost always increase the lead during that time.
Today was a big missed opportunity.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:53 PM ^
Jett is nowhere near the worst defender Michigan has had lately. Good Lord, Houstan was in cement half the time last year. Jett has two classic issues, he reaches when going through screens and he also lunges likes a matador at times and gets blown by. He’s also gotten some big blocks on shots.
I totally agree on Juwan’s rotations though. Today looked as if he was experimenting with different players 8 games into the season against a top 25 team no less which was very odd. Playing them for 8-10 minutes and then doing a four person sub out while Bufkin gets further worn down is a problem. He’s gassing his starters out by the end of the game. Barnes had a good first half and barely played the second half. Juwan’s recruiting is not matching what people say his preferred style of play is.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:27 PM ^
When I envisioned position less basketball it wasn’t the most position locked, traditional center imaginable and a bunch of wings more comfortable in the paint.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:47 PM ^
That's conventional wisdom but our 2018 Final Four team was epically bad at free throws. Free throws are not in our top ten problems.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:31 PM ^
How are they so bad at free throws?
December 4th, 2022 at 4:38 PM ^
Defense and Rebounding is a problem with this team. The free throw woes continue as well. That is recipe for a long season.
December 4th, 2022 at 4:54 PM ^
Turnovers, ball handling, passing, shooting in general, etc. All boils down to a lack of fundamentals.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:04 PM ^
They’re slowly getting better since ASU. Need to turn the corner against Minny or UNC. Not rooting for them to fail like some are tho.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:09 PM ^
Who is doing that?
I agree they are improving, but at UNC is a bad spot to be trying to get an OOC signature win. They need to get cooking with gas in the BIG if they are going to make the tourney. Need a Top 4-5 finish in the conference or bubble-out looks like it might be in the cards.
I don’t like to bad mouth individual players, particularly ones that just got hurt, but point guard is pretty much a catastrophe and I really really don’t understand what happened in the off-season to create that situation.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:15 PM ^
Defensive boards was the biggest statistical edge for Kentucky. Michigan lacks shot makers,especially Llewellyn, Dug needs to be less aggressive on offense.Bufkin is noticably improving but still can't shoot.Overall the flow on offense was much better than vs.Virginia but I think that's just the difference between a high level well coached team (Virg.) & a poor defensive team with an average coach who can recruit.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:59 PM ^
Bingo. Rebounding has been a big problem for this team all season long - on both ends of the court. There were several offensive possessions for KY in this game where they had several offensive rebounds and missed shots before hitting a basket. And Michigan rarely gets more than one shot on their end. Other than Dickinson, they don't have any other consistent rebounder on the team. Throw in the lousy defense and crummy free throw shooting, and it's actually remarkable we've only been blown out once.
December 4th, 2022 at 5:52 PM ^
Hot take:
Juwan Howard isn't a very good basketball coach.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:14 PM ^
Calipari isn’t either, he just happens to land 5 stars all over the roster. The reason why this game went the way it did is because neither coach is an in game tactician and their roster has a few more higher rated players than ours.
December 5th, 2022 at 2:06 AM ^
This is such a trash take. You have to really not know basketball at all to think this.
Michigan has very obviously been an extremely well-coached team under Howard’s tenure. The offensive sets they run are among the more complex relative to what ncaa teams typically. They regularly generate quality looks in the half court - the problem the last couple years have been knocking them down.
They also move the ball extremely well, another hallmark of a well-coached team. I rarely see bad shots and/or selfish play, which is a rarity if you watch other teams play. Beilein’s teams were pretty good ball-movers too but even he had a few guys like Hardaway and Irvin who just couldn’t always be reigned in and had me pulling my hair out at some of their heat checks. I’ve basically never had that feeling under Howard’s tenure despite having plenty of guys with shoot-first tendencies. If you compare Chaundee Brown’s shot selection at wake forest to at Michigan you’d think you were watching two different guys.
Defense has been more of a mixed bag but I chalk that up more to relatively inexperienced rosters. The 2021 team had a top 5 defense in the nation despite starting an undersized pg and a freshman at center.
All in all you have to have the brain of a mouse or not know basketball at all to think these teams are poorly coached.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:15 PM ^
Juwan's a good coach, he's not Beilein though - sorry for you bro.
You gotta give this team a chance to grow, like previous Beilein teams. All Juwan has done is guide the program to 3 straight Sweet 16s.
Guarding on the perimeter is better, but still subpar. Lots of wide open 3's by UK, and I attribute most of this to the focus on stopping dribble penetration. Hunter is terrible at help side defense, so the guards are sinking to prevent that.
We were in this game, just like UVa. Stay the course, we're seeing improvement all over. Kobe stepping up his role, Barnes off the bench. Need to find a way to get other bench guys to fill roles. Would like to see the 2nd unit push the ball in transition with Dug, Barnes, Jett, Kobe. Tarris needs to focus on playing defense and I'd like to see him crash the OREBs.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:31 PM ^
Crazy to see the Beilein cultists come out in force. They were quiet the first 3 years.
December 4th, 2022 at 7:18 PM ^
Plenty of people here weren't big fans of Beilein, either - especially around this time of year.
December 5th, 2022 at 6:09 AM ^
Are you saying that Howard is as good a college coach as Beilein?
December 5th, 2022 at 12:22 AM ^
Kentucky hit 9 threes in the game, and I would consider maybe only 2-3 of those as "wide open". Most of them were heavily contested.
Whereas Michigan continues to shoot poorly at the rim and Hunter misses at least 2-3 bunnies every game because he has ZERO lift. I'm not sure he's been a Camp Sanderson participant.
December 4th, 2022 at 6:28 PM ^
After the Michigan football season ends, there might be a walk-on available to help with backcourt play. Ronnie Bell!
December 4th, 2022 at 6:48 PM ^
Silver linings aplenty in these London clouds:
- Still hanging in and with a chance to win against a very good, top team
- Clean up just a few things—Hunter’s shot selection; a little more help from the wing—and things could look a lot different
- Llewelyn’s injury could force a change at the point that probably should happen anyway, at least for now—Zavier sat some his first year, too
- I’m a big fan of TWill, but, yeah, the team still needs more point production from that position, and TWill could really help bolster the second unit. Make TWill Sixth Man of the Year, bring in Dug and either Joey Baker (my hope) or Reed (more likely), and let’s see what happens.
It’s still early. There’s still some learning to do for this team. Past experience says it will get better. If folks can’t handle the roller-coaster, well—can I interest you in some football post-season to keep you distracted for a while longer?
December 4th, 2022 at 6:51 PM ^
I'm always struck by how few cutters there are when the ball goes in to Dickinson. Bufkin did it once early on -- and it worked -- but that was it. By this point I've concluded it must be a strategy -- the coaches have now had 4-5 games to recognize it and fix it if they wanted to ... but the point of it escapes me.
The ball goes in to Dickinson, and the other four players just stand in place out by the three point line, watching, perhaps hoping that their man will sink in to double and they'll be open for a skip pass.
Sure, that's ok. But ... damn, man, a cutter or two would help the guy out as well!
December 4th, 2022 at 7:06 PM ^
The main problem with this team is that they are soft. They dont have any closers that can put the dagger into opponents or make a play at the key time to switch momentum. Every time this team gets to a pivotal point in the game they crater and can’t turn the tide. Dickinson could be that guy but misses at least 3-4 gimme layups/ short hooks every game. This is a poor shooting team that gets opportunities but just cannot capitaize.
December 4th, 2022 at 8:29 PM ^
Michigan feels like its close to making a breakthrough.
I know fans are disappointed so far...but there's still a lot of games left. The last two losses against top 20 teams sucked as they were so close to winning them. A play here, a shot made there...
I do agree though, you must be better at FT. A team like Michigan that has trouble creating offense outside of Jett and Hunter, needs to get free points whenever they can.
Hoping that Barnes flashes continue and that he is able to carve out a bigger role, as they need some additional offense from everyone
December 4th, 2022 at 9:12 PM ^
Sparty was ranked #20, then lost by 20 to Notre Lame and tonight at home by 7 to the mighty Wildcats of Northwestern.
Everyone relax, our team has got the pieces to be good in the B1G.
December 4th, 2022 at 11:41 PM ^
Love Phil Martelli, but he’s got to get a waiver from wearing “hip” Nikewear. Or Nike needs to create a line of Philwear for guys like us.
December 5th, 2022 at 12:51 AM ^
What can Dickinson do to draw more fouls or at least get more fouls called? The guy seems to get hacked, pushed, and grabbed without getting a whistle more than any college big I've seen.
December 5th, 2022 at 8:08 AM ^
Its becoming a trend ..CANT put teams away cant -play well down the stretch and stupid turnovers and lack of defense..The young players are disappointing and JH doesnt have any answers..going to be a long disappointing season
December 5th, 2022 at 12:54 PM ^
Terrance Williams should not be starting let alone be playing 32mins.
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