Michigan Basketball: Defense Still Awful In Win Over Nebraska

As Michigan basketball continues to struggle in its search for defense, the Wolverines did pick up a needed win over Nebraska on Saturday.

If you’re just a casual fan of basketball, and you love seeing high-scoring games, you might want to consider keeping track of when Michigan basketball plays. For the fifth straight Big Ten game, the Wolverines’ defense was nowhere to be found, while its offense surged.

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Mind you, Michigan won this one. It didn’t feel like it, but that’s what happened.

There has been one theme for Michigan in the opening portion of the conference slate: Both teams basically shoot the lights out, but the woes of Michigan’s defense eventually overtake whatever it does on offense.

On Saturday afternoon, though, against a Nebraska team that started 3-1 in the Big Ten with wins over Indiana and Maryland, it was the Wolverines’ offense that finally prevailed in a 91-85 win.

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This happened for two main reasons, besides the obvious point of Michigan scoring a lot of points.

First, the Wolverines got to the free throw line often, and they converted most of those opportunities, especially late. Michigan finished the game 26 of 30 (86.7 percent) from the charity stripe.

Second, Nebraska turned the ball over 13 times. That’s 13 potential shots that the Huskers squandered. Assuming their conversion rate wouldn’t have shifted, that’s just over seven made baskets.

It felt so weird that Michigan could be playing so well on the offensive end and still somehow be locked in a tight battle. But Nebraska shot 56.2 percent from the field, including 50 percent from 3-point land. (The Wolverines have only held one Big Ten team under 50 percent from behind the arc.)

What’s even more troubling is that Nebraska was getting almost literally anything it wanted offensively. In the first half the obvious focus was getting the ball in the paint, mostly off the dribble. Then that changed a little in the second half, when the Huskers stepped outside and started knocking down 3’s.

Michigan couldn’t combat it until near the end, when it came up with a couple strings of stops.

Here’s an example of the mess that is the Michigan defense:

That’s such a troubling pattern in these games, and nothing has been shown to offer hope for the future. Michigan might need to have the same kind of offensive production it had Saturday afternoon in every game going forward if it wants to keep pace with the rest of the Big Ten.

Starting Tuesday, the Wolverines are entering a meat grinder. They’ll meet Wisconsin on the road to open up a month-long gauntlet that could very well shake Michigan down to near nothing.

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For now, though, getting this win was important to stop a two-game skid. How they won is troubling, but the Wolverines are at least back to one game under .500 in the conference.