Right, but Z and DDJ played a bit in the first half too together. When McQuaid had the charge drawn on him by Dave. I thought they might turn to that instead. I agree Brooks played solid defense though.
Everyone was slow today. Sparty does certain things really well and they got to do those things very effectively today. We were able to execute virtually none of the things we do well. We could have game managed from up 6 and somehow brought this home, but the team completely seized up after that timeout.
Did State make one three in the second half?
The other thing that surprised me - where was the pick and pop with Teske? Did he shoot a 3?
No. Neither team did until Pooleās prayers started dropping with not enough clock left
1 Like
He was never really wide open, which he needs to be. We didnāt run our offense well enough to create those wide open shots for him. We were just unspeakably terrible on offense in the 2nd half.
2 Likes
Fair question. Teske looked very good 1st half but seemed to fade in the 2nd.
Simpson had his career scoring high today? Yet his counterpart dominated the game. Unbelievable.
2 Likes
MSU ran him ragged on screens. Several possessions where they re-screened 2-3 times.
Bardo put it well, Teske absent on offense. Only 5 shot attempts.
But in a game like this all five starters had to contribute, plus Livers.
Just still cant understand why Michigan couldnt defend better against the Spartans offense (regarldess of Winston). There were no counters at all. Beilein and Yaklich got hustled today.
2 Likes
Unless Iām mis-remembering, it seemed like State got next to nothing in transition. If I told you that, and that Winston would not hit a 3, how much would you guess we win by? Weird game.
4 Likes
I donāt think it was his career high. He had like 24 in another game.
1 Like
Man, I am the total opposite. When Michigan loses I completely avoid anything having to do with the sport until their next game.
5 Likes
Our offense has been maddeningly inconsistent all season- our āgoodā can be awesome, but weāve seen these 5-6 minute scoring droughts all season. I may be wrong but have we faced a better defense than MSU all season? I thought before the game that we would win if we simply won the turnover battle. But their defense affected us more than ours did them.
2 Likes
I canāt really think straight right now, but off the top of my head, no. Sadly, it was a ten minute drought. We were on our heels all game. Never seemed comfortable in our offense or confident in what we were doing.
It felt like 39 first half points won the game for MSU.
Statistically UM struggles to get north of 70. Michigan has become stuck in UVA, Wisconsin mode struggling for points against high octane teams.
1 Like
It simply could be that Michigan is exactly as good as everything is playing out. Great defense, but mercy, any lapse in offense and itās going to be touch-and-go whether they win against quality opponents. A 3 seed seems accurate in the big one, with potential to make a run within it. Would LOVE to have Matthews and Poole get out of their heads and simply enjoy playing.
2 Likes
The offense feels predictable. If Teske is taken away from the roll, it becomes more stagnant.
Iām really surprised Matthews didnāt guard Winston a lot more.
2 Likes
It certainly was today. A lot of that was just about everyone getting stymied when they got 1 on 1 matchups and even favorable ones.