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 3:50 PM ^
I was mostly with you til you said they need to get thing corrected or they'll get humiliated in EL.
MSU needs to get things corrected or they'll get humiliated by most the big ten.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:06 PM ^
Michigan lost by 9 at #37 Illinois. If Michigan combines their sloppy play at home with their awful shooting on the road at Breslin, they’re going to get pasted by #4 MSU.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:10 PM ^
Yeah don’t really see Simpson doing much against Cassius. Z got schooled 3 games in a row last year. Prolly not going to change that trend.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:28 PM ^
Cassius was great last year with McQuaid and Goins spacing the floor. He's still a great player but this MSU isn't built to his strengths unless some guys really step it up
December 14th, 2019 at 4:16 PM ^
MSU is only 4 because of preseason predictions.
MSU lost to kenpom #72 by 5 on a neutral court.
MSU struggled with #66 on a neutral court.
Both those games were with Watts
December 14th, 2019 at 5:00 PM ^
Illinois is better than #37. They should have beat Maryland and could have beat Miami; they came up 1 and 2 points short in those games. They have a new coach and a new system so they are still getting it down. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Illini in the top 20 come tournament time, they have some good pieces.
December 14th, 2019 at 5:27 PM ^
There we go. The classic M response - every team we lose to is great. Meanwhile, Army is 5-7 and about to be 5-8.
December 14th, 2019 at 10:15 PM ^
Michigan didn't lose to Army.
The wins? Notre Dame is 10-2, likely to be 11-2. Iowa is 9-3, likely to be 10-3. Indiana is a pick em to be 9-4. Michigan ended the year a much different team than when they played Army.
OSU is undefeated, PSU and Wisconsin are in NY6 bowls. So yes every team Michigan lost to this year is great.
December 14th, 2019 at 5:46 PM ^
Nothing in sync. 3 missed dunks in 3 straight possessions. Brooks was off his game. Coaching decisions were off. Perfect storm or in Michigan's case Imperfect Storm is the only reason Michigan lost this game. Negative Nathan is over blowing this loss.
December 14th, 2019 at 7:02 PM ^
Why did Michigan need to win this game? They're fine. Unless you're unrealistically expecting a national championship team.
December 14th, 2019 at 9:07 PM ^
They desperately needed a win because this is their last chance to get any confidence (and add a top-15 win to their resume) before they resume B1G play with back-to-back games against top-6 (as of now) teams, including at #4 MSU, and 4 games against top-10 teams/6 games against top-25 teams in the first 5 weeks. Then they play 3 games on the road at top-10 teams *after* that stretch. If they continue to play like they have for the past 12 days, they'll be lucky to go 11-7 the rest of B1G play. That would give them only 21 wins on the season before the conference tournament. That's not a recipe for a good seed or to get out of the first weekend, which I was expecting before this year.
December 14th, 2019 at 9:48 PM ^
I guess I am looking at it this way. If they actually are the team we thought they may be for a minute, they will do far better than that in the BIG and be a legit contender and this will just be an irritating blip. Their non-conference in 04 was a disaster and they ended up with a 2 seed in the tourney. This was, on balance, a pretty damn solid non-con performance.
But if they do really skid here the reason will be that we are just not that good and Atlantis was largely a result of other teams just not performing well early in the season.
One concerning thing about today is on top of the loss, our rotation is now in serious doubt right when it needs to be hammered out pretty good. This is complicated for Howard because I think Michigan’s true real potential is in their young core, but reliance on experience is a lot more comfortable and predictable. His calculus may be that as a first year coach, he just needs to hold serve, get into the tourney somewhere and get his feet wet. Today hurt though, no question. It was setting up to be a pretty easy going season but today did bring the dreaded “bubble” into view if we struggle in BIG play. Probably bubble-in but still.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^
I’m with you in most of this but they will be above .500 in B1G play.
Howard definitely needed to adjust the defense on Pritchard. Simpson has ZERO chance of guarding him. And if a Z hook and tip was the play call then why not have Teske in to help with the tip?
December 15th, 2019 at 9:23 AM ^
I’m with you in most of this but they will be above .500 in B1G play.
Howard definitely needed to adjust the defense on Pritchard. Simpson has ZERO chance of guarding him. And if a Z hook and tip was the play call then why not have Teske in to help with the tip?
December 14th, 2019 at 3:31 PM ^
I love Johns’s energy. I know the game dictated his extra minutes, but boy, did he earn them.
Today’s game was a tough loss, and it showed off our vulnerabilities: over-reliance on Z to set up shots (which has made shooters less likely to pull the trigger with open looks), new coach not putting in his 7-1 senior on the final play that was bound to finish at the rim, a stupefying propensity for cold shooting (which just happens sometimes), and late-game perimeter D fatigue.
That said, this team shouldn’t even have been here - not 8-3, not in it after that abysmal first half. We saw Johns, Wagner and DDJ take some big developmental steps today, and that bodes well for the conference season and beyond.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
Too many missed opportunities and mistakes to come out with the win in this one. Really should have had this game at home although Oregon is a good team.
Need to win the body bag games and then let the chips fall as they may at Breslin. Tough way to resume Big Ten play.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:33 PM ^
I record all games and Do something productive during the game. Check the score at the conclusion...if it’s a win, watch the game and fast forward the commercials. If it’s a loss, press the delete button. I recommend it. Works well for football too.
December 15th, 2019 at 1:24 AM ^
Been doing this for probably 20 years. Might as well get stuff done around the house and end up pissed off than not get anything done and still be pissed off.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:28 AM ^
I do it for football on occasion. For hoops I still have enough hope and optimism that I watch any game I can.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:47 AM ^
I guess it depends on how much you care about the sport, or are just using it for an ego/dopamine boost.
I find you generally learn much more about a team from a loss (or a close win) than a win, especially a blowout win.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:37 PM ^
Not a "great game" - this was a sloppy game that Michigan should have won. This team needs to learn how to adapt to a press defense or else this is going to be a rough season.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:52 PM ^
Yeah Ace is going out his way to avoid the obvious.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:02 PM ^
? THIS. Your team not winning b/c of blunders and miscues and coaching fails is not a great game. It’s certainly not entertaining. Michigan as a team is much, much better than Oregon and they did all they could to neutralize that advantage. It’s one thing for that to happen on the road, but at home...Just expect more sound play than that in this environment. Bodes very poorly for B1G play.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:14 PM ^
I get that you're worked up about the game, but it absolutely had to be entertaining to any nonpartisan viewer. After we made our comeback, the last 15 minutes or so of the game (including OT) were back and forth, played within a tiny 1-2 possession window. It just sucks to be on the losing end of it.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:31 AM ^
I was at the game and while it had some great moments it was excruciating to watch live.
The endless tv timeouts and ref reviews just dragged out a very wobbly performance by the team in a very winnable game they seemed bound to lose in disappointing fashion.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:41 PM ^
It was a great game - it was entertaining and came down to the wire. And it was hard-fought and the crowd was into it.
BUT- you're right. Michigan left points on the floor and dropped a home game they should've had. It makes me nervous for how erratic and inconsistent they could be going into B1G play. After a hot start they've dropped 3 of the last 4.
I turned it on with about 5 minutes left in the first half - right when Michigan missed 3 straight dunks. I was impressed with how hard Michigan kept playing despite the mistakes and bad luck. They kept on fighting. It seemed like they were the better team from that point on but couldn't break away. There was a period when they cut it to 5 numerous times but couldn't get closer because they'd commit a dumb turnover, give up a bad bucket or miss an opportunity to score. And then I was shocked that they didn't do anything to help SImpson or switch someone else onto Pritchard when he got hot down the stretch. Simpson was lunging and reaching and you could tell he was tired. Michigan needed to make an adjustment there. And Teske should've been in there at the end.
In a way losing on that buzzer beater would've been more fitting.
All those little mistakes add up. They have to eliminate those if they want to compete for a conference championship.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:38 PM ^
Not sure I can agree with you that simpson was a positive in this game.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
He didn't shoot well, but 11 assists against 4 turnovers is pretty good.
He also held Pritchard in check most of the game, until he seemed to wear down at the end.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:48 PM ^
Him not shooting well may as well be considered turnovers. He turned down open shooters to take contested 2s and he missed almost all of them. He also played terrible defensively
December 14th, 2019 at 3:55 PM ^
It's hard to complain about him overlooking his teammates when he had 11 assists. How many assists are you realistically going to expect him to get?
Defensively, he was there for about 35 minutes and then really dropped off at the end, don't know if it was just fatigue or what.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:01 PM ^
When I'm visibly seeing him miss Wagner and Livers on a consistent basis in order to take contested 2s that he shot 3-11 on, then I'm going to have an issue with it
December 14th, 2019 at 6:09 PM ^
Simpson's averaging almost 9 assists a game, which will be a school record if it holds up. He's going to occasionally miss an open guy because everyone does. But that's not really the part of his game we need to worry about.
He needs to shoot sometimes. If he's never looking for his own shot, defenses will never collapse on him.
December 14th, 2019 at 7:35 PM ^
He needs to find his shot, but passing up wide open shooters to shoot contested hook shots / layups over 2 6'8" guys isn't the way to do it
December 16th, 2019 at 11:32 AM ^
But in general that hook shot has been a pretty high percentage for him. It was just off this game.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:49 PM ^
I’d argue fouls kept Pritchard in check in the first half, he had 19 second half points and drove at will for about 15 minutes straight. It isn’t just that simpson shot poorly, it’s that a lot of his shots were bad decisions and forced while it seemed like he was trying to match Pritchard as the alpha dog. I think he made a lot of poor decisions on top of being a poor defender in this game.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:48 PM ^
I can't agree with this take about Z. Pritchard was in foul trouble in the first half, and he went OFF in the second half. Z got worked quite a bit, and not just at the end.
On offense, Z did have 11 assists, which is awesome, but he played a lot of hero ball when he didn't have to, especially when other guys were making buckets with more regularity.
Pritchard is one of the best PGs in the country, and he's going to get his, but to say Z locked him down quite a bit is just, well, let's say "overly optimistic".
December 14th, 2019 at 9:22 PM ^
IMO, when a single player has 11 of a team's credited 14 assists there is a problem with the team/offense-in Michigan's case I know it is a problem. (I am positive this is not the offense Howard would choose to run but it is what he is stuck with while Simpson is on the floor.) All these assists Simpson is racking up says more about how teams are choosing to defend him and the rest of the team then anything else. If I were coaching against Michigan I would be I looking for a stat very much along this line.
If the coaching staff continues to have Simpson run the point of this offense I think the conference record, where strengths and weaknesses are very well known, is going to be ugly. I would be thrilled to be wrong here but this is my experience.
December 15th, 2019 at 9:32 AM ^
He got DESTROYED by Pritchard. He also could not shoot worth a damn. Cost them the game.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:45 PM ^
Problem is we really don't have anyone else that can create nearly as well.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:50 PM ^
I didn’t say we would be better off without him, just that he was a negative today.
i definitely would have had DeJulius get that ball if it was going to be an iso opportunity at the end of ot.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:50 PM ^
DDJ. It is time for the DeJulius era at the point.
December 14th, 2019 at 4:03 PM ^
Simpson was awful.
His role as a creator has its place, but Dejulius should definitely start. UNC hasn't been a great team, but that game was arguably the best UM has looked all year. Simpson played 17 minutes.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:11 PM ^
This is an absurd take, and I can't believe it has been upvoted multiple times. DeJulius and Eli aren't on the same level as Simpson on the offensive end and on the other end it's not close. If you think either of those two would have done better v. Pritchard, no.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:53 PM ^
Simpson does a lot of good things in the pick and roll and is definitely the best passer on the team.
But he's also really ball dominant and has no value off ball.
The offense seems to flow better with Dejulius and Brooks as the guards.
And there was really no way either could have done much worse against Pritchard down the stretch.
December 14th, 2019 at 6:54 PM ^
It’s not an absurd take, at all. I understand Simpson bias, he has been a big part of the program. Simpson got owned on defense down the stretch and pissed the game away with terrible offensive possessions at nearly every critical junction. He is becoming a net liability.
December 14th, 2019 at 9:46 PM ^
Your understanding of the game of basketball appears to be able to be summed up in one word "minimal". Here, for as much as Simpson has the ball in his hand and for as much as the offense is designed to accommodate his otherwise very minimal offensive skill-set he "creates" very little. There are reasons his assist numbers are so high-and it has little to nothing to do with his creativity. Most of his assists come more from the skill of his teammates than anything else. Here, it would be very interesting to know how often X is assisted-my guess is very, very seldom...and the reasons for this are/would be profoundly telling.
Many are attempting to defend the indefensible in this regard. He is a terrific young man who works very hard and truly does his best-what's not to love. I love your effort Zavier but you're playing big-time D1 basketball young man. You've got a big, brave heart but to play here you have to have the skill to match...and this is where I part ways with Zavier and his unrelenting fans. You have to be able to play both ends of the court.
December 16th, 2019 at 11:35 AM ^
Seriously, what the hell are you talking about?
Several of Simpsons assists come on passes that I doubt anyone else on the team could make. Yeah, his shot is not great. But how many times has he broken down the defense and gotten us either a layup/dunk or a wide-open 3?
Yes, our offense can survive without him, and we have shown that. But to discount what he brings to us offensively is just silly. He's one of the best passers we've had on the team in recent memory.
December 14th, 2019 at 3:43 PM ^
Ace, kudos on the write up; a professional job. Dwelt on facts and very little passionate opinions. With that, back to me...ugh...
December 14th, 2019 at 3:44 PM ^
Our guards played like crap. Took contested shots at the rim and missed open shooters. Franz and Livers were on fire and we still kept missing them. Also no one was giving Simpson any help defense on Pritchard. We played pretty well, but not good enough.
If there's any optimism here, it's that Michigan has had the hardest KenPom adjusted strength of schedule in the country of anyone in the KenPom top 150
December 14th, 2019 at 4:04 PM ^
Starting guards yes. Dejulius had a great game and should be starting
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