2/6/2006 – Week #14– That Was A Fun Week In The Top-25

The Week In Review

This past week, the (#20) University of Michigan men's basketball team played two games on the road, and they won the first and lost the second.  Now, any win on the road in the Big Ten is a big deal, and any loss on the road is understandable, so these results are not too surprising.  However, the way UM lost was a little disquieting.  On Wednesday (02/01/2006), they beat Penn State in State College 71-65, then on Saturday (02/04/2006), they lost to (#23) Iowa 94-66, in Iowa City.  It's hard to sugarcoat a 28 point loss.  Sure, it only counts as one loss, but it does show just how poorly Michigan is still capable of playing, on any given day.

The win and the loss leave UM's season record at 16-4, 6-3 in the Big Ten.  That's a fine record, and a huge improvement over the last few years, but it's still not as good as it should be.  I'm afraid that when the polls come out today, Michigan will be out of the Top 25, after only one week as a ranked team.

I've been writing these columns since December 1999, and this week was the first week that Michigan has been ranked in that whole time.  I've been dying to write about UM's ranking, and who's ranked ahead of them, and to put that magic "(#XX)" in front of their name in my columns, and now it might all be over, after just one week.  Sigh.

Game Statistics

Let's look at the shooting statistics from the Penn State game:

There's your whole game story right there: Michigan hit 7 more 3-pointers than Penn State did.  They also shot a better percentage across the board, which helps a lot.

Now, let's look at the non-shooting statistics from the Penn State game:

It was a close game, and these stats show it.  Michigan barely won the rebounding and assists battle, but even the huge advantage that Penn State had in Turnovers and Steals wasn't enough to win the game for them.  It was the 3-point shooting that won it for Michigan.

Moving on to the Iowa game, let's look at the shooting statistics:

These stats are dismal for Michigan.  The Wolverines have been shooting in the 75% range from the free-throw line this year, but not on Saturday.  And, look at the 3-point shooting percentage for Iowa: almost 70%!  That's incredible.

Finally, let's look at the non-shooting statistics from the Iowa game:

The game was a blowout, and you can see it in these stats.  UM got hammered on the boards, and Iowa's 27 assists is amazing, no matter who's playing.

Individual Statistics

Once again, Lester Abram was not able to start, so Coach Amaker couldn't use his regular starting lineup in either game.  Instead, he started Ron Coleman in place of Abram.  The rest of the regular starting lineup (Graham Brown, Dion Harris, Daniel Horton, and Courtney Sims) was intact.  Here's how they did:

There are some lousy numbers lurking in these stats, especially in the Iowa game.  25% shooting from 3-point range, and 58.3% shooting from the free-throw line: terrible.

Individually, the guards did OK, but the rest of the team had an off week.  Horton and Harris both hit double figures in both games, and Harris was the star of the Penn State game, with seven 3-pointers.  Sims hit double figures against Iowa, but he all but disappeared against Penn State, with 2 points in 12 minutes.  Brown did his best, as always.  The real problem in the Iowa game was Coleman.  He did fine against Penn State, but he single-handedly cost UM the Iowa game.  I know that it seems hard to believe that one player could be responsible for a 28-point loss, but it's true.  I don't know that I've ever blamed a loss on one player, but I am this time.  Sure, his 1-for-11 shooting hurt, and his 0-for-2 free-throw shooting didn't help, but that's not the real story.  Basketball is a game of momentum, and when a team is playing in a hostile arena against a ranked team, momentum can be huge.  Midway through the 1^st half, UM was leading 25-20, and they had the momentum going their way.  They were controlling the pace of the game, and they had been leading the whole way.  Iowa missed a 3-pointer, and Coleman got the rebound.  He looked for a guard to pass the ball to, and he spotted Horton, but he didn't notice an Iowa player hanging back.  Coleman tried to throw the ball to Horton, but it went straight to the Iowa player.  OK, it was a dumb pass, and those things happen, but what happened next just made things worse.  The Iowa player took the ball straight to the basket, made the basket, and he was fouled by, you guessed it, Coleman.  The good news is that the Iowa player missed the free throw; the bad news is that no one boxed out the shooter, and he got the rebound, and Iowa made another basket, and got fouled.  They made that free throw, to complete the 5-point play, and tie the game up.  In one trip down the floor, Coleman cost Michigan all the momentum, and the game.  Even though UM managed to get one more lead, 29-28, they had lost the momentum, and once Iowa smelled blood in the water, they went wild.  Maybe if Coleman hadn't made that dumb pass, and followed it up with an even dumber foul, someone else would have made an equally dumb move a minute later, but maybe not.  When you're playing on the road against a ranked team, for 1^st place in the conference, you need to play sharp for 40 minutes.  You can't make even one dumb pass.

The other bad news from the Iowa game was that Horton finally missed a free throw, ending his perfect season.  His streak made it to 42 before he missed one.  He is now 48-for-49 for the season, which is still very impressive.

Here's how the bench players did this week:

The bench chipped in some points in both games this week, but they weren't a big factor.  As usual, it was mostly Hunter and Petway, with a few points from some of the other players.  Abram played 2 minutes in the PSU game, and he scored 2 points, but he came out right away since his ankle still didn't feel right.  He didn't play at all in the Iowa game, which definitely hurt Michigan's chances.  The other injury that was a factor this week was to Smith, who suffered a concussion in the Penn State game, and didn't make the trip to Iowa.  His minutes were taken by Grooms and Harrell.

The Big Picture

The game at Iowa was for 1^st place in the Big Ten, and since UM lost it, they're now in 2^nd place.  It's not the end of the world.  There's still a lot of basketball left to be played, and Michigan stands as good a chance as anyone, except maybe Iowa, to win the Big Ten title.  And, while the Big Ten title would be very nice, Michigan's primary goal this season is to make it to the NCAA Tournament.  With 16 wins, and at least 8 more games to play, they should be able to get to 20 wins, which would get them into the Big Dance.

Here's Michigan's schedule and results