What Just Happened?
It was a tale of two halves. Michigan lead by 13 at the break, pushed it out to 17 early in the second half and then completely crumbled, losing to Indiana, 74-69. Here's the two main reasons why...
1. Hunter Dickinson got owned by Trayce Jackson-Davis...
...when it mattered most. In the first half, Indiana's star big man Trayce Jackson-Davis looked asleep. He had just five points, wasn't overly involved on defense and frankly, just looked lost. Dickinson, on the other hand, scored 13, was playing with a lot of intensity and helped U-M get up big early. After the break, everything flipped. Dickinson scored just two points, while Jackson-Davis came alive scoring 19 in the second half and on defense, blocked four shots.
2. Weird rotations
I'm not going to go as far as saying that Phil Martelli did a better job with minutes and rotations while Juwan Howard was serving his five-game suspension, but Juwan's first game back left a lot to be desired in that area. Terrance Williams II played nine minutes, Frankie Collins played seven and Kobe Bufkin — goose egg. Williams and Collins in particular played a huge role in U-M's win over Ohio State just four days ago, and Bufkin came in cold and knocked down a massive three against the Buckeyes. Today, it's almost like they weren't on the roster. The trio only scored two points — a circus layup by Collins. Caleb Houstan, on the other hand, barely came off the court even when he was pretty much a non-factor. He did knock down three, three-pointers during a hot sequence for him, but that was it for his entire 32 minutes. When Michigan was up big, it seemed like everything was working, but Howard seemed slow to switch things up when the wheels started to come off.
There were obviously more issues. Howard referenced poor defensive possessions and untimely turnovers. The Wolverines also shot just 30% from three-point range, which has been an issue in virtually every loss this season.
As disappointing as today's loss is, it's now just time to turn the page. Michigan is going to get into the tournament, but after seeing this team all year, I don't expect the postseason run to be very long.
