Simpson now 7/14 from three on the season.
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Well, we know Duncan CAN hit them, and has done so in big games. We know theyāre (often) getting him wide open. From these you kinda have to deduce that buckets will follow.
Id remark on how itās likely related to how completely wide-open they all are, but Duncan, MAAR, and Mo are missing equally flipping wide-open shots. Regardless, good on Z.
Yep, the offense has struggled in terms of end product, but I think itās mostly due to just plain missed opportunities. 9 layups missed in the second half against OSU, open threes missed a lot today and against OSU (plus FTs). Just actually put the ball in the bucket like the players are capable of and the results will come.
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Z should absolutely positively only be taking wide open 3s.
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Definitely. Just commenting on how the offense is generating a ton of wide-open looks, and itās funny that Z is the only one connecting at a clip that should be expected for wide-open looks.
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Him being ready and willing to take that shot is everything in terms of our offense being able to function with him on the court and not functioning.
Matthews FT shooting definitely makes you want to pull your hair out. Even Wagner is struggling from the line this year at only 66%. Wish Rahk would get to the line more as heās 16/16 but 1.5 attempts a game isnāt enough.
Have to believe Duncan will start making 3ās again at some point. Heās in a terrible slump but he didnāt all of the sudden become a bad shooter.
As bad as Matthews FT shooting was, he played great down the stretch. Made some big baskets and some great passes. Heās a really good passer. I would definitely say the best one on the team.
Moe made some huge 3ās to bring us back. He has some great offensive moves around the basket. His post defense is abysmal though. He really canāt guard anyone down low with a pulse.
Simpson definitely was the difference maker. Holiday has scored 11 straight and then Simpson came in for the final four minutes and shut him down. He has super quick hands and does a good job staying in front of guys. Nice to see him make some buckets too.
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If you want to take the glass half full on Duncan, his slump has only cost Michigan one game so far (OSU).
As most have mentioned, heāll start hitting his threes. My hope is it starts in Austin and heās on fire. Itās going to be a tough matchup for him the way they play two bigger guys.
Otherwise, donāt want to waste his hot streak on the late December stretch of games. Although itād be nice to get his confidence back heading back into Big Ten play.
Just for accuracyās sake, Holiday buried that 3 right over Z. Z really kicked it up a notch on defense down the stretch, but Holiday firing in an end of the shot clock 3 was against Z.
Yes but I wouldnāt say that was poor defense, would you? More of a made prayer by a really good basketball player
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Defense was probably fine, although iirc it wasnāt Zās best (with the shot clock nearing zero he could have gotten into him a little more). It actually wasnāt a prayer - Holiday just raised up over him, which is always going to be tough for Z.
I was talking about the final 4:23. Thatās when Zavier came back in when we were down 60-55. After that, Holiday scored 1 2 pt basket in OT and that was it. He also had 3 TOās during that time. Holiday did have some success on Simpson earlier in the game but it was pretty clear Brooks was going to have a hard time keeping Holiday in front on him so thatās why Beilein went back to Simpson to close out the game.
If the 3 Iām thinking of was slightly earlier than that, fair enough. It was actually that much more impressive that Z was able to kick it up and suddenly challenge and frustrate Holiday in light of how easy it looked for Holiday to get his shot off on the play Iām referring to.
We got our first 12,000 attendance game today too.
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Zavierās offense wasnāt that dynamic - his defense got him a layup, he had the lucky prayer running hook, and he got two threes and a layup (the cut off the Matthews pass) by virtue of the defense ignoring him and the ball coming to him. But there have been times where he was so passive he wouldnāt take those opportunities - tonight he did. Thatās mostly what we need from him - to make the plays the defense is going to hand him on a golden platter, not pass out of them.
Matthews FT shooting is obviously a problem, but he won this game for the team - he came in and poured in 8 points in short order when the rest of the team was on the mat. If he doesnāt do that, I donāt think we wake up.
And he probably would have hit that shot against ANY PG under about 6ā2! Z played very good defense on that sequence and the kid just hit a GREAT shot. The kid is an outstanding offensive player but I donāt think he could hit that shot in the way it played out more than a couple of times out of ten. Respectfully, that was not on Z.
Everywhere else: basket games are good for football recruiting
Michigan: football recruiting is good for basketball games
Letās hope Shea comes here, and that he is a huge basketball fan with immaculate attendance 
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Looking at Beleinās rings and the banners hanging in Crisler are as close as a Michigan football player has gotten to a conference title in 14 years.
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