GBMWolverine
Fansided

Gut reactions to frustrating Michigan basketball loss to Memphis

By Chris Peterson

Nov 22, 2023; Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; Michigan Wolverines forward Olivier Nkamhoua (13) drives to the basket as Memphis Tigers forward Nick Jourdain (2) defends during the first half at Imperial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 22, 2023; Paradise Island, BAHAMAS; Michigan Wolverines forward Olivier Nkamhoua (13) drives to the basket as Memphis Tigers forward Nick Jourdain (2) defends during the first half at Imperial Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Michigan basketball suffered another frustrating loss on Wednesday night to Memphis and here are the gut reactions. 

If you can’t do the simple things, you aren’t going to win basketball games and the easy stuff is what cost Michigan basketball in a 71-67 loss to Memphis on Wednesday night.

From turnovers, to defensive lapses to missed free throws, Michigan didn’t put together a solid performance, and against a top-40 team in the Kenpom rankings, that won’t cut it.

The Wolverines blew a chance to notch a quadrant-1 win simply because they didn’t execute. Dug McDaniel missed three free throws in what would have been a tie game.

Michigan basketball cut the lead to one, missed two shot attempts, and allowed a wide-open 3-pointer (one of many) that pushed the lead back to four.

The Wolverines struggled to hit shots throughout the game, especially from 3-point range outside of Nimari Burnett. They started to attack the basket and got the free-throw line in the second half. The defense wasn’t bad at times, either, but the rotations in the 2-3 zone weren’t good.

Juwan Howard spent the game on the sidelines and it feels like this team really needs him back as the head coach. There are too many breakdowns and too many simple things going wrong.

Michigan will play the loser of Stanford-Arkansas tomorrow night at 7:30 PM EST on ESPNU. Here are the gut reactions to the Wolveriners loss to Memphis.

Gut reactions to Michigan basketball loss

  • Can’t win with 18 turnovers.
  • Too many missed free throws down the stretch.
  • Michigan really struggled with the length of Memphis.
  • Outside of Nimari Burnett, U-M was 4-of-18 from deep.
  • Michigan won’t win many games with Dug and Olivier Nkamhoua shooting 11-of-31 from the field or 2-of-11 from three.
  • Memphis shot a better percentage from the 3-point line, the free throw line, and on 2-point attempts — you can’t win that way.
  • This is still a hard team to figure out.
  • Michigan really needs to win on Thursday. Time to respond to adversity.
  • Go Blue!
Home/Michigan Basketball