Zak Irvin's struggles... Got to get better

Since the beginning of last year, Irvin is 80 of 262 from three… good for 30.5%.

A 30.5% three point shooter shouldn’t be shooting 4 3pt FGs a game unless he is either on fire or only taking wide open looks. That isn’t the case. Irvin is still trying to “shoot himself hot” and it… more often than not… ends in a wasted possession.

I think that is what wolverheel is saying and frankly he’s right.

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You’re not going to play 4 on 5 on offense because Zak isn’t shooting well. I’d rather him at least shoot than be a total non-threat to shoot. I’m surprised people are campaigning for X when I was literally the only person preaching patience with him just a week ago. Irvin is still a better ball mover and defender than DR, too, though I could see him getting more than 13 minutes.

The bottom line is this team has just beaten two hated rivals by double digits in its last two contests.

In those two Ws Zak has played a combined 64+ minutes and contributed 2 made FGs, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

It’s fairly obvious that whatever he’s contributing at this time on the offensive end is fairly inconsequential. Whatever you believe he adds defensively is inevitably debatable.

Does he deserve to continue to get 32-35 minutes a game with this kind of production? Or is the team’s ceiling being held down by not giving more of those minutes to X or D Rob?

Whatever thought you prescribe to, this team no longer goes as Zak goes. They have progressed as he has regressed.

Are they better going forward if his usage rate goes back to what it was?

Conference play Offensive Ratings (not counting today’s game)
Donnal 139.7
Walton 135.3
Wilson 134.9
Robinson 124.1
MAAR 121.0
Wagner 115.4
Irvin 91.8
X 89.1

Conference EFG%
Donnal .647
Wilson .641
Robinson .636
Walton .610
Wagner .609
MAAR .579
Irvin .434
X .375

Conference FGA per game
Irvin 11.7
Walton 9.9
Wilson 8.7
Wagner 7.9
MAAR 6.4
Robinson 6.0
Donnal 1.5
X 1.5

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That’s scary.

Freakin Donnal always leading us in offensive rating…

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What is his B1G 3 point % after this game is included?

10 of 43… 23.3%

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Very disappointing for sure. And people were worried about MAAR.

Still not seeing any legitimate alternatives nor any convincing arguments that Zak, in his bad 4 game streak, is forcing the issue. He has clearly scaled the amount of shots he has taken back.

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Less possessions going through Irvin by design = Irvin taking a backseat.

Look, it’s obvious that Irvin is playing terrible offensively (he wasn’t close on most of his shots today), but this team has also made a dramatic shift to run everything through Walton instead of Irvin. It’s pretty rare to see something like that happen midseason.

As far as Duncan and X… X has been more involved than he has all season in the last two games and they’ve used a two guard look in both games to eat into more minutes than Walton’s.

Duncan usually plays more when Michigan is losing and searching for an offensive spark, so I think his 13 minutes today might have just been a safety thing (go with the better defender when you have a lead).

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Zak looks to me like a guy who has struggled with his role on this team for the entire course of his career and still hasn’t figured it out. For so long, he had to be the guy offensively on a team full of one-dimensional shooters (Walton included for much of his career). Even for the first half of this season, our offense would so often break down and Zak was the only true threat to create for himself or anyone.

Now that DJ and Mo have established some consistency and Walton has become a star that frankly idk if anyone thought he had in him 6 games ago, Zak again finds himself not knowing what his role is. To go from a guy who had to think “force the issue” for so long to now knowing he shouldn’t because there’s options playing better is tough…today it looked like he almost told himself “okay I’m gonna be a catch and shoot floor spacer” and so he rushed every open or not-open attempt he had.

I love Zak, I appreciate the way he has played the last 4 years and I am confident he will figure it out down the stretch. I’d like to see him try to get to the rim early in games more than put up a few quick threes. If he gets comfortable on the court again and the rest of the team keeps up the improved play, watch out.

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He had that first driving and-one and I thought it was going to help him click, then he missed the FT, drove again and missed both FT after getting fouled.

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Scaling back != not forcing the issue.

sure it is

It sure doesn’t

Tough to transition to being just a glue guy at this stage. But I personally believe that’s what’s best for this team’s immediate future. Let’s see what happens.

His three point % in conference is just abysmal. And like Dylan said, a lot of them aren’t even close.

you’re not changing my mind and i suspect you’ll be whining about Zak’s role for the rest of the season

He could take 4 shots all game and if 2 of them were bad, sure he scaled down, but that’s still forcing the issue when he does shoot it.

And here’s the guestavo we all know.

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