Monday, January 30, 2012

UM at Ohio State

As the Big Ten moves into the second half of the season it appears Michigan is falling back into the pack.



It wasn’t especially a ‘break out’ day for Ohio State yesterday but they did everything that was required to dominate the Wolverines 64-49. And it would be fair to say, Ohio State demonstrated why they are one of the top teams in the Big Ten while Michigan demonstrated why they are likely to fall back into the pack. Short story: the Wolverines failed to demonstrate an appetite for taking the ball into the paint which means they were simply comfortable ‘jump shooting’ from the outside…and ‘jump shooting’ becomes a fickle friend against a team like Ohio State.



The Wolverines shot a meager 8 of 25 (32%) beyond the arc…and 19 of 53 (36%) from the Field. Moreover, due to their reluctance to take the ball to the glass, the Wolverines only got to the stripe 4 times…and that’s not a good recipe for winning Basketball games in the Big Ten considering that Ohio State was 15 of 18 (83%) at the stripe.



On the other hand, the Wolverines didn’t help themselves on the Defensive end either. Yesterday, I highlighted Michigan’s problematic’ defensive stats and it becomes clear that a savvy team like Ohio State doesn’t need a remedial lesson in Offense to understand how to exploit the Wolverine defensive shortcomings. Based upon National Rankings (see below), Michigan is amongst the ‘weakest’ in the country in critical defensive stats and those stats make it easy to understand why Ohio State controlled the game for all but the first 10 minutes.



Michigan (National Rankings)

·         #121 Rebound Margin                   2.3

·         #140 in Defensive FG%                  42%

·         #282 Blocks per game                    2.4

·         #314 Steals per game                     4.9



In summary, as the Big Ten moves into the second half of the season…the Wolverines need to dramatically improve their appetite for Defense otherwise, they will simply fall back into the pack. They get another opportunity next Sunday when they play the Spartans in East Lansing. Are Michigan Defensive stats an aberration?



We’ll see!


Team
1
2
Score
Michigan
21
28
49
Ohio State
24
40
64


Officials: Ted Valentine, John Higgins, Tim Clougherty
Attendance: 18809
Michigan
MIN
FG
FGA
3P
3PA
FT
FTA
OR
DR
TOT
A
PF
ST
TO
BL
PTS
Jordan Morgan
23
4
7
0
0
0
0
2
3
5
0
4
1
1
0
8
Zack Novak
33
0
4
0
1
0
0
2
2
4
0
4
0
1
0
0
Stu Douglass
31
3
9
1
5
0
0
0
2
2
1
1
1
3
0
7
Trey Burke
39
5
11
3
6
0
0
0
1
1
5
1
2
5
0
13
Tim Hardaway Jr
38
5
12
2
7
3
4
1
4
5
3
1
1
2
1
15
Matt Vogrich
6
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
Blake McLimans
8
1
2
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
3
Evan Smotrycz
18
1
6
1
4
0
0
0
1
1
1
4
0
1
0
3
Colton Christian
4
0
2
0
0
0
0
1
1
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
TEAM
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
4
3
7
0
0
0
0
0
0
TEAM TOTALS
200
19
53
8
25
3
4
10
19
29
10
16
5
13
1
49
PERCENTAGES
FG: 35.8%
3PT: 32%
FT: 75%
TOTAL TO: 13
Ohio State
MIN
FG
FGA
3P
3PA
FT
FTA
OR
DR
TOT
A
PF
ST
TO
BL
PTS
Jared Sullinger
28
5
11
0
1
3
3
1
4
5
1
4
1
1
1
13
Deshaun Thomas
35
4
9
1
5
3
4
2
3
5
1
3
0
1
0
12
Aaron Craft
36
3
4
1
1
0
1
0
2
2
4
2
2
2
1
7
Lenzelle Smith Jr.
33
6
12
0
2
5
5
8
4
12
1
2
0
0
0
17
William Buford
39
5
13
1
5
1
1
1
4
5
2
1
1
6
0
12
Shannon Scott
4
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
2
0
0
0
Sam Thompson
9
0
2
0
1
0
0
0
2
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
J.D. Weatherspoon
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
Evan Ravenel
14
0
2
0
0
3
4
2
2
4
0
1
0
0
0
3
TEAM
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
0
0
TEAM TOTALS
200
23
54
3
15
15
18
14
24
38
10
13
6
11
2
64
PERCENTAGES
FG: 42.6%
3PT: 20%
FT: 83.3%
TOTAL TO: 11