Michigan 79, Appalachian State 71
The callbacks were not welcome.
Michigan looked well on their way to a blowout victory in Juwan Howard's official debut, leading Appalachian State by as many as 30 points with 13 minutes to go. Jon Teske dominated the Mountaineers, who had no answer for his combination of size and skill. The offense operated with impressive speed and precision, leading to a lot of open looks that the shooters were knocking down. ASU needed tough bucket after tough bucket from guard Justin Forrest just to keep within shouting distance.
Then the Wolverines appeared to forget how to basketball. They committed ten turnovers over the game's final 13 minutes, four of them by Zavier Simpson, who looked as perplexed as the rest of us. App State ground the lead down to four with 20 seconds left, helped by a streak of cold free throw shooting for Michigan, but ultimately Eli Brooks iced the game at the line and we no longer had to hear Stephen Bardo strain himself to bring up the first ever BTN football broadcast again.
Brooks was the game's unlikely star, drilling 5-of-11 threes on his way to a career-best 24 points to go with three assists, a block, a steal, and a critical late-game rebound. In addition to taking on a lead scoring role, he piloted the offense when Simpson picked up two first-half fouls, and his defense was a positive all night—it was Brooks, not Simpson, who had the game's most memorable stop when he smothered a late fallaway jumper by Forrest.
when the game takes an unpleasant turn. [Campredon]
Teske finished with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds; he did almost all his damage before the break, though when the team needed a bucket out of a late timeout, they went to Teske in the post—he found Brooks for an open three that didn't fall, but his passing was excellent all evening.
Michigan got an up-and-down performance from Isaiah Livers, who got off to a quiet start, then popped off for 14 points on 11 shots but also turned the ball over five times, looking unsteady handling the rock in traffic. Adrien Nunez, who started at small forward, committed four fouls in 12 minutes, though he sunk a late three to help salvage a tough evening. Brandon Johns, a more positive presence at this point on defense and the boards, soaked up some of Nunez's time, as did David DeJulius, who went scoreless with three assists and no turnovers in 29 minutes.
Howard tinkered with some interesting lineups, giving us a brief look at the Teske-Castleton twin towers pairing and a much longer one at a Simpson-Brooks-DDJ backcourt.
This game may end up being a microcosm of the season: a lot of excitement, some rough moments, and ultimately coming out positive. While there was some truly hideous play for stretches of the second half, we also saw this team's potential in the early going. Simpson isn't going to have many six-turnover games. Brooks probably won't have a ton of 25-point outbursts, either, but his shooting looked more sustainable tonight than an uncharacteristic series of brain farts from Simpson.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
November 6th, 2019 at 5:46 AM ^
Troubling
November 6th, 2019 at 7:13 AM ^
I thought it was an ok performance. It'll be a work in progress. Clean up the passing/turnovers and they would have limited that App State run.
I like the new offensive style but they are still adapting.
November 6th, 2019 at 8:35 AM ^
Eli Brooks! If he is even half as productive throughout the season as he was last night, that will be an unbelievable improvement. I know it’s only one game against a bad opponent, but I loved seeing his leadership and confidence. More, please!
November 6th, 2019 at 11:07 AM ^
There were times last year it was evident to me, that he was the best player on the floor but completely curtailed by Simpson leading the show.... maybe now we will see it.
November 6th, 2019 at 8:38 AM ^
I was at the game and that was 30 mins of really good basketball, followed by the worst 10 min stretch I have ever watched.
Wow that was bad
November 6th, 2019 at 9:21 AM ^
What was surprising was not the offensive lull but the complete defensive collapse. I would expect the offense to hit rough spots, but the ole defense on drives to the basket were amazing. App State was not raining lucky 3's but was a layup line.
In addition to the turnovers the number of fouls, especially trying to block shots was discouraging. 25 minutes of encouraging play and 15 minutes of crap.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:04 AM ^
I think the foul issues led to the ole-style defense down the stretch. Livers picking up his 3rd immediately in the 2nd half was the start of some really soft defense.
November 6th, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
Agreed! I think Juwan considers himself a defensive minded coach but I was surprised the guy from Belien's staff from last year was either not offered a job or chose not to stay. Can't come up with his name but he was a difference maker on defense.
November 6th, 2019 at 8:56 AM ^
Not really worried about it to be honest. 1st game of the year, new coach, replacing 50+% of the scoring, missing an expected contributor etc. etc. etc. Glad we get some tape to review from a win instead of a loss. Learning moments all around, including Howard. How does he get the team back on track when the offense turns off? That cannot happen moving forward if we want to win more than we lose.
November 6th, 2019 at 8:56 AM ^
Livers was +18 in 31 minutes. Brandon Johns was -5 in his 19 minutes. Interesting to see Simpson at only +1 - this had to be one of his worst games as a Wolverine.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:05 AM ^
I really hope that the turnovers are not a sign of things to come. There's no way that we are going to be as good at handling the ball as we were in the Beilein era but I don't want to return to the Steve Fischer era in that department either. That stat line looks a lot like a Steve Fischer team.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:10 AM ^
As the game wound down, i was not feeling too good. I even commented in the game thread that is seems no matter the coach, we will find a way to make a blowout turn into a close game.....
This morning doesn't seem so bad. We have a team that has potential, has ability and is capable of being in the top 1/2, or top 1/3 of the Big 10. We also have a team that is playing a completely different style of ball than they have been used to. Huge positives in what Big Sleep was able to do early, great news on Brooks improvement and the less than steep drop off when Z isn't in.
Rust, early season jitters and getting out to a 30 point lead (with ease) are the reasons we allowed them to close the gap. Pretty sure coach will address that emphatically.
Great start to the Howard tenure. GO BLUE
November 6th, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^
1 down, 277 to go to catch the master.
November 6th, 2019 at 9:20 AM ^
"This game may end up being a microcosm of the season: a lot of excitement, some rough moments, and ultimately coming out positive."
Sign me up!
November 6th, 2019 at 10:15 AM ^
The ball movement looked fantastic at times. It seemed to me that when ASU came out in man that UM had a nice inside/out game that ran through Teske. Then when ASU switched to zone, UM destroyed it with beautiful ball movement. Then when ASU went back to man, Teske looked gassed and they weren't able to get the same inside/out game going. Things then broke down as UM doesn't really have a guy to create off the dribble other than Simpson and he struggled. Couple that with some sloppy play and a little bit of a cold shooting stretch and you get a 32-6 run. I think Simpson will ultimately be a good creator off the dribble and hopefully Wagner can fill that role as well. I certainly saw flashes of a really good offense.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:21 AM ^
A big part of the problematic stretch was Teske just seemed flat-out tired. Instead of running the offense through the post-kickout game, everything bogged down and I noticed Teske just standing by the baseline out of the paint.
I don't mean to put the slump on Teske -- it's not. It's just that he was the focus of an offense that was crushing it in the first half, so his fatigue became noticeable.
Positives: they still won, Teske, Brooks, Castleton.
Tough nights: X, Livers, DDJ
On to the next. Sure hope this team makes it into the tourney.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:25 AM ^
Good point, I notice that also.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:23 AM ^
Johns did not have a huge impact on the offensive side, but he was very good on the defense side of the ball. Not sure he's getting his due on this point.
November 6th, 2019 at 10:49 AM ^
The team looked great to start. Defense has regressed a bit, but there will definitely be an overall learning curve for this team in the new system. We are still subject to the same scoring droughts as last year and we'll need to try to address that. Overall I think it was a pretty good start and a good game to learn some lessons and address some issues
November 6th, 2019 at 10:50 AM ^
Yah.......can Michigan PLEASE stop asking to become forever storylines?
Why even schedule App State? I'm sure they thought Beilein would be the coach when they did, but he always starts seasons rough....why book a team for the first game that would be doubly motivated to create an upset? Even if M wins that game by 30, we're still going to get reminded of The Horror 10 different times by announcers throughout.
Why do we continue to add huge bumps to the football schedule by scheduling service academies? Who likes those games anyway? Is there some blue-hair, "down in front" contingent that gets some kind of nostalgic kick out of it? It is not worth the one to two weeks of separate preparation for an odd system, or the potential loss to that system, not even a little bit. Has any one of these games ever been anything but a grinding war of attrition M is hanging on by their fingernails and trying not to make the one or two mistakes that will lose it? These games are all downside, even if you win by a ton of points it is a "so what?" accomplishment to the polls, whereas a loss is a huge strike against you.
I think this is too recent to blame on Mister Brandon.......is Ward too emo?
November 6th, 2019 at 10:51 AM ^
It was a win rather than a bad loss. As we are probably aware, it's more important to avoid bad losses in order to stay on the right side of the bubble.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
I didn't see the game, but one thing that stands out from the box score was App State's 35 FG% in the 1st half compared to 53% in the 2nd half. It looks like we just got complacent in the 2nd half and took our foot off the gas.
November 6th, 2019 at 11:58 AM ^
Juwan has brought a different offense, far less point guard penetration and cutting and more perimeter passing. M scored in bunches when App State played zone D. That is when Eli made a lot of his 3's in left corner. The won't see zone in BgT and Eli won't get those open looks. Hopefully he/they will find diff opportunities to score.
When App State ramped up the pressure in second half M did not match the intensity. I had hoped to see Juwan light a fire in those guys but Mr Nice guy stayed Mr Nice Guy. I hope his assistant coaches coach up Juwan to let him know he needs to be the ignitor late in games to get the guys to player at a level greater than they would play on their own.
Good to see so many guys get a chance!
Go Blue!
November 7th, 2019 at 4:42 PM ^
It's more important for Brooks to be able to run the offense in Z's inevitable absences. These will likely increase simply because no guard can t be on the court as much if they are running an up-tempo offense instead of Belien's one. The good news is that more highly rated players are likely to come to a high tempo offense instead of Beilein's. It's fun for them as well as the fans, assuming victories come as often.
November 6th, 2019 at 12:38 PM ^
Not worried. repeat: not worried. This is ONE game. The FIRST game. Not only of the season, but of the JH era (Howard not Harbaugh). EVERYTHING, was NEW NEW NEW. As a coach of high level travel teams, this game is the equivalent of a pre-season scrimmage in the mind of the coach. Testing systems, testing line ups, seeing who performs how under circumstance. Changes you might make later in season during competitive games you let ride to see how they play out. Much of this stuff FANS would never be privy to. (trust me, I have parents who thing they know it all and demand why I do things). While ‘yes’ M/Howard certainly wanted a win, you can’t know all that was going on.
Ie (just devils advocate here) some of those turnovers while not pretty may have been happening because JH wanted them trying (read force) certain things, even though they weren’t working, wanted to force the team keep on trying (read working on it) them in game conditions to see if they ‘can get it’ to work. In a serious game, mid-season, after time working things, if you have something that doesn’t work you immediately ‘fix/change’, this may have been working like a practice where something doesn’t work and you keep repeating to try and get it.
Not saying this ‘is’ what was happening, but to me as a coach, this absolutely had the look and feel “hey, we’re up 30, with a lot of cushion for error, let’s tinker” Now, that said, no way he would have expected those multiple bricks at the line. So he dismissed that and was more concerned with game play.
All this to say, none of us know what JH was saying on the sidelines nor what he was trying to ultimately accomplish, check back in January when we have a few more data points.
November 6th, 2019 at 2:31 PM ^
Livers had 2 rebounds? C'mon man!!!
November 6th, 2019 at 3:58 PM ^
If Michigan ever schedules Appalachian State in any sport, the AD needs to be immediately fired! This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever witnessed. What upside is there to scheduling Appalachian State?
Do you realize that if we were to stumble and lose early on to a clearly inferior opponent (remember NJIT), this would be local news. If we would have lost to App St last night, it would have been worldwide news. It would be the first item on the bottom of the ESPN scroll. The lead story on Sportscenter. Probably make the Today Show, CNN Headline News, etc.
This is AD stupidity at its best!! Stop the moronic scheduling!!
November 6th, 2019 at 4:12 PM ^
I like some hings that Howard emphasizes that Beilein wouldn't, but those same things could burn this team in trying to hold onto leads. I think Howard is a positive for the bigs, but I think John Beilein's impact will continue to be felt on guard play, turnovers and recently with the loss of Yaklich on defense. I think Zavier has peaked unfortunately, and I would be happy to be wrong. There is a wing sized void crying for Wagner, although creating offense individually outside of the post will probably be a season long struggle. Hopefully they improve like the last few team's did.
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