Well, that was infuriating.
In a game that wasn’t even televised, Michigan lost 63-61 to Central Michigan.
Nor is the CMU supposed to be some sort of juggernaut with the MAC. Coming into the game with a 4-8 record put Chippewas at the bottom of his MAC. It was CMU’s first road win of the season. They played against his two schools, which Michigan beat early in the year, with Minnesota losing him eight and Purdue Northwest losing him seven.
Michigan needs to take a hard look in the mirror after this stinking performance. The Wolverines lacked urgency, failed to score at all, had a lethargic defense, and failed to figure out how to beat the most common zone in the sport of basketball.
Here are a few takeaways from what has to be the most embarrassing loss of Juwan Howard’s tenure.
Michigan wins and loses the competition
This is a very strange basketball team, and it suffers from what many young teams struggle with.
They’ve lost a close game, so they’ll have no trouble getting up for the big game. Virginia, kentucky When UNC Beginning of the year. At the same time, they never seem to play with energy when facing opponents they are supposed to blow away.
we saw it against Ohiowe objected lip comb, and saw it again tonight. The team adapts and plays competitively, which makes for a frustrating experience for Michigan fans. They play lethargic, have too many scoreless stretches, and play with the opposite of intensity on defense.
Simply put, the Wolverines can’t afford to look this lethargic on both ends of the floor, and Big Ten play picks up next week.
Wolverines have to rebound more
Michigan went 44-32 with double-digit outbound rebounds. No sugar coating it, it’s disgusting.
Being an out-rebound should never happen on a team with an All-American center, but they’ve had problems with their boards all year. It is inexcusable.
Thanks to Kobe Buffkin
Buffkin was honestly the only player in Michigan who could say he played well offensively in this game. He led the Wolverines with 16 points and continued to fight making many tough shots in the second half.
Without Buffkin, Michigan might have lost by 10 points. He has improved dramatically as a scorer this year, but the team as a whole has been inconsistent when it comes to attack.
zone game
This applies not only to the players, but also to the coaching staff. Central Michigan had him playing in the 2-3 zone (the most basic zone in the sport) for most of the game, and the Wolverines had no solution for it.
It never stifled the Wolverines, but they tried to shoot themselves out of the zone, forcing a lot of deep threes and doing exactly what Chippewa wanted them to do. Too much, and the Wolverines missed 3 points.
Inconsistent college basketball teams are the difference between life and death in threes, and this Michigan team with 6 of 22 wins (27.3%) is just as inconsistent.
The Wolverines needed to be more creative with creating attacks. They settled with too many deep threes and needed more players to cut and move the ball.
They put a good passer like Dickinson in the middle of the zone and didn’t open up. They didn’t move the ball much. They had just jacked up a three, and in the second half he made only two of twelve attempts.
High school teams with competent point guards can beat the 2-3 zone, but Michigan somehow couldn’t. This is a coaching issue and the Wolverines can’t win the Zone again.
what’s next
It doesn’t get easier for Wolverine from here. In his next ten days, they went to Maryland (January 1), Pennsylvania State University (January 4), Michigan (January 7).
If Michigan played like it did in the first half, they could lose handling all three of those games. Something needs to change now. Otherwise, a long season will begin.
