GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball -- Michigan at Michigan State -- Sparties Go Thump

Posted at 4:00pm — 1/28/2011

GBMWolverine: Michigan Basketball — Michigan at Michigan State — Sparties Go Thump

The biggest question after the game tonight, and tomorrow, will be did Michigan thump Michigan State last night, or did the Sparties thump themselves?

A case could be made for both of the above scenarios, or the ever-popular answer C- both of the above.

Michigan State continued with turnover problems, but more than anything else poor shooting took its toll. As mentioned in the preview, Michigan’s defense needed to play like irritating flies and the mission was accomplished. Still, Michigan State missed easy shots, enough to swing the game. And the poor foul shooting by the Spartans in the first half helped to put the Wolverines up, but not in clear command. But on the other hand, in the second half Michigan did return the favor and commit passive turnovers and miss foul shots that could have closed the game out earlier. Maybe that was actually a blessing in disguise, since if the score would have demanded a series of quick fouls; the Wolverine foul shooting may have won the game for the Spartans. But MSU stayed close enough that the gangplank to the foul line was not necessary.

In the preview it was stated that the Wolverines needed to hit the threes big time, and they did. Combined with the Spartans turnovers, the threes allowed Michigan some breathing room.

Further as mentioned, Michigan needed to control the Spartan transition game, and for the most part this objective was met. Early in the game, the Sparties hit a beauty and made some lay-ups as the Michigan defense stood around long enough to give the faster Spartans some layups as Michigan could not recover fast enough.

Congratulations to Michigan, this is a big program win, but honesty needs to be applied; Michigan State appears to be in trouble, maybe big trouble. The mental side of the game did not match the usual physical toughness. The toughness was still there, but the mental part of the game prevented Michigan State from taking advantage of better athletes at home.

It was stated here a month ago that Michigan State always comes around. It looks like that almost certain call is going amiss, although things can change and the Spartans can go on a big roll. But looking into the eyes of the players and the expressions of Izzo, his team does not have any answers yet to jump back on the big boy bandwagon. Losing to the Wolverines at home will not provide any medicine as well. If MSU plays like this against OSU it will be a 20+-point game.

Some bounces went Michigan’s way as the Spartan shots took weird, cruelly weird, deflection angles. Even Lucas missed easy shots. Michigan could not jump to the rebounds, but at least the guys sealed off pretty well and the ball many times fell into the hands of flat-footed Wolverines.

But Michigan stepped up enough to not allow a cheap, close victory by the Spartans. Morris played well except for some of the occasions he was trapped inside. But there was little help when he was trapped. The threes that Morris hit may have been the ultimate difference maker. Novak and Hardaway played well, well enough to neutralize any Spartie advantage. Douglass hit yet another knife at a big time moment. And collectively, the defense did not let the Michigan State inside game run wild.

The inside game went bust for the Spartans, unless one considers Lucas as the inside game. The expected advantage never materialized, due to many factors, probably foremost poor shooting, but also only two guys touched the ball most of the time for the Spartans. Foul trouble on Roe and Green did not help any, but the fouls did not mask the part about how poorly Michigan State played the power game.

Coach Beilein stated that the Wolverines went back to some basics in practice, a good idea indeed, and coach appeared to have a nice game plan on both sides of the court. Still there are clearly many things that Michigan did, ever though on the winning side, that show either too much patience by a coach or not enough growth by the players. Michigan still looses almost every 50-50 ball. These guys are really sophomores by now and need to scrap and hold on to a loose ball now and then. There is still a tendency to stand around on offense, especially at crunch time, and the players are still doing a poor job of going to the pass, standing flatfooted and getting the ball knocked loose. Free throws are like bunts; you must have them to win. The Wolverines have been hot lately at the line, so maybe a little regression toward the mean, but more likely the players were seized by the moment

But, what the heck, the most important number of the night is that the Sparties and ESPN can retire the 1181 days without a victory mantra. The season ending game in Ann Arbor will require even more toughness from the young Wolverines. The Sparties may not have been sharp tonight, but Izzo will have some strong reminders as the game nears.

This is why they play the game. Strange deal indeed, get blown out by Indiana and beat MSU, sports are a head-scratcher somedays.

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Written by GBMWolverine Staff

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