Wheeeeee I get to go back on offense soon! [Marc-Gregor Campredon]

Michigan 103, Iowa 91 Comment Count

Seth December 6th, 2019 at 10:27 PM

Well thank you, Fran. Down 90-77, on the road, with just a few minutes left, Iowa coach/Person Who Would Like to Speak to the Manager Fran McCaffery could have packed it in. Instead he decided to go full Izzo, starting the foul train early so that the Wolverines could give their home fans the first super-centennial score to celebrate since you first turned to your buddy like "this Duncan Robinson can shoot." Except you'll probably still remember this one in four years.

McCaffery and Michigan's Juwan Howard clearly had the same gameplan: let Luka Garza go to work one-on-one in the post and don't let it leave there. Garza had 15 of Iowa's first 17 points, 27 of their 38 points by halftime, and finished with 44 on 43 shot equivalents without hitting a single three-pointer or giving his teammates a single assist. The Garza show also forced Howard to go deep into his bench. Teske played just 23 minutes, picking up his second foul (urrrrrgh I hated that one) with 6 minutes left in the 1st half, and his third and fourth (urggh I hated this one nearly as much as the other one) with 11 minutes left in the 2nd half. Isaiah Livers fouled out. And Garza's loose elbow sent Colin Castleton to the locker room with a bloody lip early in the first frame—he would return only once the game was well decided.

In their stead Austin Davis (10 minutes) and Brandon Johns (19) were called upon to play their most significant minutes this season. They couldn't have chosen a better opponent for it. Both struggled with Garza in the post, but also feasted on Garza's flailing style of defense. Davis had 8 points, including back-to-back dunks, and Johns scored 12 on 10 shot equivalents while adding five offensive rebounds, mostly in the last 10 minutes.

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Yuck. [Campredon]

Meanwhile the Wolverine backcourt feasted on Iowa's otherwise absent defenders. A trip home and a few nights rest did wonders for the shooting that had been absent in Louisville. Michigan shot 42% from three, hit 29 of their season-high 34 free throws, and made 55% of their two-point attempts, spreading the wealth around:

The shooting was more uncontested than truly hot, set up by the offense and Hawkeye defenders' inability to stay cohesive whenever the guy with the ball did a thing. Iowa tried various defensive strategies—full court press, zone, throwing Conner McCaffery at a 7'2" dude—but Michigan was able to pick each of them apart.

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They're called kickouts, dude. I swear it's legal. [Campredon]

The run that finally stretched the lead beyond any but the most optimistic angry banker's imagination was keyed through the high post. Teske was productive in his limited minutes, with three assists and a beautiful elbow shot to go with his usual blocks, boards, and cleanups. Franz Wagner enjoyed slinking past the overmatched Joe Wieskamp to get to the line. Livers was active on the boards and pure death at the stripe. Simpson sunk 2/3 open threes. Brooks was 50% on everything. And even David "just two points?" DeJulius was a positive, with three assists after breaking down the Iowa defense with drives.

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Things were a bit harder when Teske was in. [Campredon]

On the other end, a banged up Iowa attempted just 15 threes—most of them late prayers from well beyond the arc—and got exactly zero assists from Garza. Freshman SG CJ Fredrick, who missed Iowa's last game, was barely more effective than PG Jordan Bohannon, who seemed stiff and clearly bothered by his hip issue. Wieskamp had a few strong moments when he could shake Wagner. Big Ryan Kriener was an annoyingly effective post presence as well. Bakari Evelyn picked up a late foul to avoid Club Trillion by just one bit.

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Things could have gotten a lot worse but Garza and Connor McCaffery were also effective on the offensive glass, and Garza was able to draw a lot of whistles while getting the benefit of the doubt for his own physical play. You can bet there's going to be some boxing out practice this week.

The final shot chart is something worth staring at:

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And if you [hit the jump] there's a box score so incredible you may have to read it in Ace's podcasting voice.

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Zero assists. Nada.

Comments

Richard75

December 7th, 2019 at 3:40 AM ^

Are those shot equivalent numbers correct?

Garza had 32 total FGA (3s included) and 13 FTA. 2 of those FTAs were and-ones (and thus don’t count); 1 was a 1-and-1 miss (a full shot equivalent). The other 10 FTAs count for 5 equivalents. So he had 44 points on 38 equivalents (32+5+1), not 43.

Also, Johns had only 6 total FGA and 2 FTA, which should mean 7 shot equivalents, not 10. Did his 3-pt attempts get included twice?

crg

December 7th, 2019 at 6:28 AM ^

Very encouraging to see this team put up a triple digit score and maintain close to a double digit average lead throughout the game.  Very distressing to see that they gave up 90+ points to a good (not great) conference opponent that was not playing at full strength.

This season will be interesting to say the least.

snarling wolverine

December 7th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^

Very distressing to see that they gave up 90+ points to a good (not great) conference opponent that was not playing at full strength.

Iowa is unusually able to make us pay for the midrange shots we give up (because we want to cover the 3-point line and rim). 

Still, the total is a little misleading.  This game was played at a very fast pace, and became even faster when Iowa fouled us like 10 times in the last two minutes, creating a bunch of new possessions.

xgojim

December 7th, 2019 at 7:29 AM ^

Lots of entertainment at this game!  And it started as the Star Wars characters surprised me with the opportunity to get my photo with them.  Great fun!

The game extended that entertainment for another couple of hours.  Garza was unstoppable and thankfully there seemed to be no other players on the floor for Iowa, even though that meant he scored 44 points.  Their outside shooting was non-existent even though they actually attempted 18 more shots than Michigan.  Iowa coach Fran McCaffrey also entertained with his floor gyrations and gesticulations.

It is great to see Michigan's deep bench play important roles in its games, much unlike most seasons.

I am still amazed that I have witnessed both the top opponents' score at Crisler but the top opponents' score at Yost, when Dave Schellhase of Purdue shot the lights out with 57 points in 1966.  M won that game too, 128-94.  That performance was even more amazing since his shots were mainly from the outside without a 3-point line -- or his total would have been higher.

bronxblue

December 7th, 2019 at 10:18 AM ^

Was a fun game to watch, and the team looks really solid.  Garza got away with some roughness in part, I assume, because the refs had a side bet going to see if he would pass to anyone.

Anyway, a nice bounce back and I'll be interested to see how they finish off this calendar year with Illinois and Oregon coming up.

PublicSector

December 7th, 2019 at 11:48 AM ^

Johns had 5 offensive rebounds, next closest only 2. I recall he rebounded like a beast last year against Indiana. If he gets the playing time looks like he could be a weapon on the boards. 

AWAS

December 7th, 2019 at 12:14 PM ^

Boxscore notes:

  • Steals+Blocks:  Iowa 1, UM 10  All  you need to know about Iowas's D
  • ORtg: Garza=132, UM=7 players at 132 or above  We have more weapons
  • Brooks+Simpson:  11 Defensive rebounds by the backcourt--Yowza!

Positionless basketball has arrived in Ann Arbor.

GoBlue1969

December 7th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^

Good first B1G win for the season. Don’t know what the referees were seeing out there but they were calling so many touchy fouls. Game would have been put away if Teske wasn’t in foul trouble but it was good for Davis and Castleton to get significant minutes. Nice bounce back after a disappointing loss to Louisville.

Go Blue!