Oregon 71, Michigan 70 (OT)
Zavier Simpson's right-handed scoop caught the front iron and bounced into a mass of bodies. Brandon Johns, like he'd done much of the afternoon, got his hand up for a second chance, but his tip-in attempt came up short. With that, Michigan's steady comeback from a 16-point deficit to force overtime wasn't ultimately completed with a win, and the Wolverines will have to live with moral victories from a hard-fought game against a good opponent.
The first half could hardly have been uglier. Michigan made 7-of-29 shots, including a 3-for-13 mark from beyond the arc, and they spent an alarming portion of the half with more turnovers than field goals. Oregon hit half their shots both inside and outside the three-point line, meanwhile. Only a huge shift by David DeJulius, who had 12 of Michigan's 23 points at the break, kept the Wolverines in touch. They were fortunate to trail by eight at halftime.
David DeJulius kept Michigan in the game early. [Campredon]
Isaiah Livers, scoreless on six first-half shots, came out of the break on fire, scoring 11 points on four shots in the first four minutes. The team followed suit. With Brandon Johns having a breakout performance with a surprise twist—replacing Jon Teske at center for most of the latter stages of the game—Michigan clawed back into the game. Johns allowed Michigan to hedge pick-and-rolls, an adjustment that stifled Oregon's pick-and-roll attack and forced them to play iso-ball, and he was remarkably active on the offensive glass.
Simpson and Johns made play after play at the end of regulation. Johns forced a shot clock violation by spiking a layup attempt behind the baseline. On the next possession, he found Franz Wagner for a three-pointer. Teske took a quick shift and scored four points off great feeds from Simpson. Going back and forth with Oregon guard Payton Pritchard, Simpson hit a ludicrous hook at the shot clock buzzer. Johns finished off a drive from the perimeter after keeping a possession alive with an offensive rebound. Finally, Simpson fed Johns a wraparound pass to knot the game with 25 seconds left.
Brandon Johns pulled down four offensive boards in a breakout game. [Campredon]
Oregon appeared to have the win in regulation on a broken play. After Simpson shut down a Pritchard drive and knocked the ball into the air, Anthony Mathis hit a deep three, but upon review he was a couple tenths of a second late getting the shot off.
While Michigan got off to a strong start in the extra session, they couldn't stop Pritchard, who finished with a game-high 23 points—19 of them coming after halftime. Pritchard repeatedly beat Simpson in isolation situations, something we've rarely seen happen to Michigan's captain. A running hook by Ducks center Francis Okoro and a Pritchard finish over Simpson gave Oregon a three-point lead.
DeJulius put Michigan in position to win, hitting a baseline floater and knocking the subsequent inbounds pass out of bounds off Pritchard's hand. Simpson and Johns couldn't finish one last play, however, dropping Michigan to 8-3 and likely ending their two-week run in the AP top five. In a great game, Michigan came up inches short.
[Hit THE JUMP for the box score.]
December 14th, 2019 at 3:17 PM ^
I have come to the conclusion that Michigan sports exist solely as an alien experiment to test the limits of human disappointment.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:21 PM ^
Jesus H. Christ, yes to this! OSU is meanwhile in the playoff and on their way to being the #1 in college basketball. Whatever we did to deserve this special hell, I assure you, we really are sorry.
One dong hit after another.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:24 PM ^
The Michigan fan base should be making their bookie pay. Break the curse or get rich trying thats what I say. OSU moneyline til the day we die.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:27 PM ^
"In a great game, Michigan came up inches short."
Hmm...
Softball x1, Hockey x2, Baseball x1, Basketball x2 and Football x9
Fun.
I guess I'll be glad the U is good enough across so many sports to be in the position to be heart-broken year after year at least.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
Basketball 2??? There were 2 against Purdue in 2017 alone...
December 16th, 2019 at 2:13 PM ^
Michigan owes its two final fours this decade to two relative miracles though (The comeback v Kansas and the shot v Houston) so it's hard to complain about some regular season games that didn't go their way.
Michigan basketball has arguably been on the fortunate side of things recently.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:18 PM ^
The thing that is maddening is that it seems like Michigan teams (in multiple sports) have a knack for winning blowouts and losing close. Somehow the "classic games" don't go our way.
(OK, maybe some NCAA Tournament games have...)
December 15th, 2019 at 7:37 AM ^
The football team has done quite the inverse of your first statement.
December 15th, 2019 at 10:47 AM ^
Take another look at our average margin of victory/defeat under Harbaugh.
December 16th, 2019 at 2:32 PM ^
Only the last two games against OSU plus 2015, the 2017 game against PSU and the 2019 UW game have been blowout losses (and the bowl game last year but meh, who cares about that). I realize that's 4 of the last 14 games so there's recency bias but before that, most of M's losses were close:
2015 MSU
2016 Iowa
2016 OSU
2017 MSU
2017 OSU
2018 ND
December 17th, 2019 at 12:03 AM ^
BUT BUT BUT they were close games. RECENCY BIAS. Only a Michigan Man would say that.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:23 PM ^
I have to think Dejulius needs to be getting starter minutes going forward. Johns and Dejulius need to log some serious minutes. Play Livers at the 2 and Wagner at the 3 if need be at times. Hope our fan base came out of the “Wagner is a bum” camp after his 4 misses the other night. Anyone else tired of career games vs us. Oregon is dumb for not letting Mathis get a touch every series. That guy shouldve had 25 shots. 19 points on 10 attempts. Damn. And of course he will go off for 9 points next week vs USC.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:26 PM ^
So keep Wagner at the 3 and move Livers all the way from 4 to 2? That makes sense
December 14th, 2019 at 3:45 PM ^
Wagner cant defend a 2 Livers can. Its about the defensive ability.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
I don't think we want either of them defending opposing 2's.
Also, that lineup would be begging opponents to press us. Simpson can't be the only ballhandler on the floor.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:50 PM ^
Wagner could defend any 2 that Livers could. Neither of them could contain an explosive athlete at the 2. They would both be iffy defenders at the 2 overall. Just not enough quickness.
Wagner seems a bit better as a ball handler, but both would be far below average for the 2.
At the end of the day, Michigan really doesn't benefit from playing either at the 2 unless the match up dictates going with a huge lineup. Johns' is already stealing minutes from Castleton and Dejulius should steal minutes from both Simpson and Brooks.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:27 PM ^
Not only that but now this is the second time in 4 years we’ve lost to Oregon on a missed buzzer shot by our PG. Awesome.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
You can't play Livers at the 2. He's not enough of a ballhandler and can't be expected to guard little guys.
That wasn't a fluke performance from Mathis. He is an elite shooter (51% from 3 entering today's game). He just had trouble in that weird Atlantis ballroom.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
ya, try breaking the press with that lineup
December 14th, 2019 at 5:50 PM ^
Not a lot of teams systemically press like that. Nobody really wants to say it, but DeJulius needs to play the point. I have no problem if Simpson needs to be the nominal starter, but DDJ needs to be the primary point guard and run the high screen and roll as the default offense.
By and large, Z is a disaster right now. He cannot shoot off the bounce, and the hook is a gimmick, not a sustainable threat. His offensive limitations not only leave us with an offensive liability in his hands for nearly the whole game, but he almost renders Teske useless on the pick and roll because teams don’t have to respect anything with Simpson. Howard had to literally choose between him and Teske today because we could not have two positions not threatening to score the ball.
He is also a walking turnover, and has not guarded particularly well this season. Pritchard abused him today. He didn’t do anything defensively that DDJ couldn’t do.
Simpson has been a really fun player and has earned the right to be a big part of the rotation, but an offense that runs through him has a Sweet 16 ceiling. Maybe that is fine this year, it certainly wouldn’t be an outright failure. But it is my belief that Howard should use this upcoming two games make a move to DDJ as a feature guard.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:55 PM ^
Michigan played its best ball while Z was on the bench against UNC. DDJ was running the show and did just fine.
I love Z but his limitations are too glaring in these kinds of games.
December 16th, 2019 at 11:15 AM ^
Absolutely. UM basketball reminds me of a football team that can't run the football. There offense (Z in particular) is very one dimensional and predictable. He played well with greater talent on the floor, but this team is too young for him to succeed. He just isn't talented enough. He is a great ball handler, and a phenomenal leader, but that is only a small part of the game. You also have to be a great shooter. I really don't even care if his defense struggles. He just has to shoot better.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:59 PM ^
I said this at the end of last year and got negged severely. A point guard who is not a threat to score is a huge liability. In the Illinois game they get it to 62-66 with a minute plus to go and Z throws up a three that misses badly, game over. In today’s game he’s 3-10 and takes the last shot to finish 3-11. Wagner was 8-13, Dejulius 5-9 and Livers was on fire in second half. Drive in and kick it out to one of them.
December 14th, 2019 at 8:17 PM ^
Simpson missing the final shot was only the final nail in his very poorly played game and last possession-he had plenty of other "nails" during the course of the game. That on this play he basically walked the ball up the floor from the backcourt-when time was of the essence. This declares that this young man has a very poor understanding of what his role and value is. The coaching staff cannot continue to allow this young man to dribble down the shot clock then stick some poor soul with the task of finding a shot with only seconds left. Otherwise, it would be interesting to know how many TOs X really had-his dad must keep the stats...I know he had 3 consecutive ones in the first half.
Howard and staff have three weeks until serious B1G play begins. They have done an outstanding job of developing-everyone really. However, now it is time to put your best five on the floor and win some games. The next several months are going to be a severe test of this team-both players and coaches. The conference teams know how to hedge Simpson into poor play (see second half of last year) and at this times things look pretty foreboding.
December 15th, 2019 at 8:05 AM ^
December 15th, 2019 at 9:19 AM ^
With two high level upperclassmen future NBA players and a shooting guard responsible for most one on one shot creation, yes. Not as a feature guard.
December 15th, 2019 at 2:53 PM ^
You're takes on Z are the worst and demonstrate zero basketball IQ. Do you really think that both Beilein and Howard are missing something your catching? Or Izzo, Williams and Few, who all drool over Simpson? And DeJulius will never be the player Simpson is.
December 16th, 2019 at 7:54 AM ^
Simpson is only a good ball handler. That is it. He can't shoot, and even his passing has regressed this year. Great kid, but not a great player. Just because a player is a great handler, doesn't mean he is meant to start. He did have an awesome supporting group around him last year and in 2017. That is the only reason he is on the floor right now.
December 16th, 2019 at 8:36 AM ^
Z had so few turnovers and so many great assists plus he defended well.... that's enough to make up for his liability as a scorer...
He has been way to sloppy with the ball in several games this year.
That final possession, there was Zero doubt in my mind he was going to try driving and putting up his hook shot. Probably not one of our better options. There's got to be a better play drawn up in that situation. It even looked like the inbound pass was going to him and him only, which caused the pass to have to go deep in the back court, costing 2 or 3 of the remaining 10 seconds.
GRRR.... coughed up a very winnable game.
December 16th, 2019 at 8:48 AM ^
You are not able to separate what you are being told from what you are seeing on the floor. It will occur to you as the season goes on and you see Howard go with DDJ more. Simpson is a good energy player, largely a plus defensive player and a good passer, though he turns the ball over way to much largely by way of just being too “fancy.” He is a good player, not a great player. DDJ will definitely be a better player.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
It's the Michigan Difference. Again.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:24 PM ^
For neutrals, this must have been a really entertaining game, at least from the second half on.
For us, that stretch in the last five minutes of the first half when we kept missing from point-blank range really stung. That was a big missed opportunity. It could have easily been a tie game at half. Ugh.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:26 PM ^
Again, I think the Bahamas games led people to believe this was an elite team as opposed to a good team figuring itself out with a new coaching staff. If you told me coming into the year UM would be a solid top-25 team with a new HC and having to replace a bunch of talent from last year I'd be pretty happy.
They can't afford to get into big holes like they did in the first half, especially if they'll wind up missing dunks and layups as well. But this is still a pretty good team and one with room to grow.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
I think you nailed it here! The games in Atlantis threw off everyone’s expectations, our fans included. My guess is this team is a good but not great team and likely a 5-6 seed in the tournament.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:35 PM ^
That’s a fair take. UNC is no good. And how much can you really learn on the third game in 3 days? The Gonzaga win is still a great one, but they also were missing some pieces. Oregon is a good, but flawed team, needed to win that at home.
I think a 3 or 4 seed is still realistic.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:39 PM ^
The problem with this is that the reason Michigan lost today at home to a team it’s much better than was not b/c they’re “figuring [themselves] out.” It came down to blunders, by players and by Howard. Brooks’s careless turnover at half court that led to a 3. Franz with his foot on the line on what should have been a 3. Johns missing 2 free throws in OT down 1. Missed dunks. Howard not making an adjustment to prevent Pritchard from scoring 15 in the final 9 minutes. Livers, their leading scorer and best shooter who shot 5/6 in the 2nd half, not shooting a single shot for the final 12 minutes of the game. They should have won today. But they did everything they had to to lose. And that doesn’t leave me hopeful for B1G play if they’re going to play this rattled at home in a close game against a team with a pulse.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
Let's give Oregon some credit; they were a big part of the reason Isaiah didn't get any shots in the second half. Pritchard is GOOD. Better than Z in a lot of ways, and that's not a shot at Z. The missed dunks, that's damn peculiar! THAT could have been the difference in the game right there. An adjustment should have been made against Pritchard; hindsight is 20/20 but he pretty much beat us late. The inbounds to Z...again, hindsight is 20/20 but Pritchard was guarding him and he was going to be on him like the proverbial white on rice. Not a good call there.
We're going to get better as a team. This game we saw Johns improve. Wagner improved. This isn't a team that got lucky to win it all in the Bahamas, we had improvements to make then and we still do.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:24 PM ^
Pritchard is GOOD.
This is the flip side of the "white guys are all gritty lunchpail coach's sons" stereotype. He's one of the best PGs in the country but a lot of people are going to assume he's just a "scrappy" role player.
December 14th, 2019 at 7:52 PM ^
I don't think Brooks saw the Oregon defender. His change of direction, around-the-back dribble bounced off of the foot of the Oregon defender that I think he didn't realize was there.
December 14th, 2019 at 8:36 PM ^
You list all that and choose not to include that the major contributor to Michigan's demise was the black hole that Simpson was/is and forever shall be on offense and that defensively he is pretty much just another guy-who, today, got scored upon at will. X had 11 of Michigan's 14 credited assists...and this actually tells a very bad story about this team-his play. Thank goodness he shot 27% from the field.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:31 AM ^
Yeah, pretty much everything that could go wrong did, and they still lost by 1 to a top ten team in overtime. Lots and lots of correctable mistakes. They'll get fixed. I have faith this loss (more specifically learning from it) will help in the long run.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:28 PM ^
Thought pulling Teske right when the pick and roll game started to work was odd. Definitely thought we could have used him toward the end of reg and OT when Pritchard was abusing us.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:37 PM ^
Teske was -11 today. He didn't look comfortable out there today for whatever reason.
Johns was +10. He didn't protect the rim but gave us a lot in other areas.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:40 PM ^
Johns helped turn the game around, which explains that. Oregon got their lead on 3s.
But they were scoring in the paint at will late in the game, wouldn't you agree?
And would you agree the pick and roll game was just started to click with Teske when he sat?
Johns played a good game, but we did not adapt to Pritchard.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
He could have given us more rim protection, for sure. But I don't know if we score at much at the other end with him in there. He didn't seem too active offensively today and was impatient on some post touches when he had a small guy on him. Meanwhile Johns was really asserting himself. If he just makes that tip at the buzzer, it's academic.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:37 PM ^
Johns out played Teske and Castleton combined. He should have gotten even more playing time.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:54 PM ^
Johns got a couple orebs, but that was his main contribution on offense. Also missed two key free throws.
Johns vs. Teske aside, Pritchard was killing us and there was no adjustment personnel or otherwise.
December 14th, 2019 at 7:59 PM ^
4 offensive rebounds, 5 defensive rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal
December 14th, 2019 at 8:39 PM ^
Everyone is saying that Prichard was killing us-who was his primary defender?
December 14th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
So fucking frustrating to win the final 28:30 minutes of the game by 15 and still lose. Michigan was the better team. They *needed* this win so badly after the last week+ and they did everything they could to lose. There are no moral victories from this one.
1) Maybe show some life before you fall behind by 16? Just listless at the beginning.
2) Pritchard scored 15 points in the final 4:14 of the second half + overtime. Simpson is supposed to be a lockdown performer and he got absolutely demolished. Huge mistake by Howard to not make an adjustment. Cost them the game.
3) Meanwhile, Livers, who shot 5/6 in the 2nd half, didn’t shoot a single shot in the final 6:53 of the 2nd half + overtime. Simpson shot 6 times during this span, making one (going 0-4 in OT). Another hard-to-understand blunder from Howard.
4) Why Simpson 3 different times in OT thought Michigan’s best offense is him dribbling out the clock before running at the rim LEROY JENKINS-style is beyond me. None of them ever had a chance. Howard had an elongated TO before that last play. Is that really what he drew up? And if it was, why wasn’t Teske in the game to tip-in the miss? (Why wasn’t Teske in the game at all? A 7’ 1” guy can come in handy on any miss in end-of-game situations.) If X isn’t contributing defensively, he needs to be out of the game in winning time. Too limited on offense and he apparently is unaware of this.
5) I don’t know about Brooks. He played very well at the beginning of the year and just mucked it up today. Several miscues out of him that were very costly. Reminded me of last year when he struggled after a good start.
6) Missed dunks, missed free throws, feet on lines, inexcusably-bad middle-school turnovers, etc. throughout the game, but especially late. This was Michigan’s first close game of the year and they choked.
Howard better get a whole bunch of stuff corrected by the time B1G play resumes or 1) They’re going to get humiliated in East Lansing on 1/5, and 2) They’ll be lucky to finish .500 in B1G play. The team is much better than the way they’ve played 3 of their last 4 games. Extremely disappointed, to say the least.
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