Michigan Basketball: Michigan vs. UNC Charlotte — Finals — Recap
Posted at 5:30am — 11/26/2013
Michigan Basketball: Michigan vs. UNC Charlotte — Finals — Recap
Michigan Loses To UNCC — The Shots Did Not Fall
Around the country pundits are calling the Michigan loss a major upset. This writer does not agree with that sentiment. Charlotte is big and balanced as mentioned in the pregame article. The 49’ers are well coached, played better defense, and hit the offensive boards, like most of Michigan’s opponents.
Nov 17, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Michigan Wolverines guard Nik Stauskas (11) dunks the basketball against the Iowa State Cyclones at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State beat Michigan 77-70. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY SportsListening to Dakich again shows this guy is rough but accurate. Like Speilman in football, he can brutally hit the nail on the head. It seemed quite a task for him to bite his lip and not be too critical going down the stretch now that he has some investment with a son on the team.
There is much to work on before this team can be a top five Big Ten team. Right now, MSU, OSU, Indiana, and Wisconsin are clearly better, but things change. The biggest disappointment yesterday was the poor amount of patience Michigan showed in running an offense, if one can call pass and shoot as quick as possible an offense. Time after time the shot did not fall, and as a result the 49’ers led most of the game.
Michigan apparently will never run a true post offense more than one or two options a game. Horford gives it everything he has but even at close range his shots simply do not go in. Beilein needs to wake up Morgan and get him to play a little on the mad side, yet smart, if that is possible.
Nov 17, 2013; Ames, IA, USA; Iowa State Cyclone forward Georges Niang (31) defends Michigan Wolverine forward Jon Horford (15) at James H. Hilton Coliseum. Iowa State beat Michigan 77-70. Mandatory Credit: Reese Strickland-USA TODAY SportsThe only good thing about Michigan’s soft defense is that the Wolverine’s make obvious efforts not to foul. The new rules regarding touch fouls that may help Michigan’s cause. Still, it is ridiculously easy to get the ball inside against the Wolverine defense. Time after time, Charlotte penetrated and either hit a ten foot (or less) runner or an inside jump hook.
McGary can rebound, no one else on the team can claim consistent game long rebounding ability. Once in a while Robinson and Stauskas are in the right place and pull down an impressive rebound. McGary is just a rebounder, plain and simple, he did not learn this craft at Michigan, he came with that ability. Michigan continuously disregards basic rebounding technique of find a guy and seal him off, old school style but still this is how rebounding is down. The failure to block out and leave a man wide open at the end of the game was the difference.
At times, Michigan looked like the YMCA team of shoot, shoot, and shoot with no evident discipline. Irvin was stone-cold and up the shots went. There is a point where this can hurt a team. LeVert was a mixed bag, but threw up Michigan’s last real chance to take charge of the game and came up empty. Irvin still needs to settle in but playing at home may help.
Coach Beielein will have a choice as to how to mix discipline at running the offense with letting this team run and fire threes.
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Written by GBMWolverine Staff
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