Tuesday Quick Hits: Michigan Matches Last Season’s Win Total

By Sean · Tuesday, December 30, 2008 · 2:44 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

• Last season, the Michigan basketball team won only 10 games. This season, with Big Ten play about to begin, Michigan has already won 10 games. The Wolverines got win #10 last night with a 77-57 victory over North Carolina Central. It was another ugly game against a terrible team, but all that matters is that they won. Obviously it would have been nice if Michigan pulled away much quicker than they did, had a higher shooting percentage, and played better all-around, but again, they won and that’s all that matters.
• Manny Harris was the biggest reason why Michigan won. He was flat out sick last night. He scored 29 points, had a career-high 16 rebounds, and had 7 assists as well. The rebounding stat sticks out the most to me because Harris is a guard/wing, yet he managed to scoop up 16 boards. That is truly remarkable.
• DeShawn Sims scored 17 points and had 9 rebounds, coming just short of another double-double.
• Laval Lucas-Perry ended up with 10 points off the bench. He made three 3-pointers and added a free throw to get to double digits.
• The attendance for the game was 10,390, which is pretty surprising considering the students are on break and the game was on a Monday night. That is a great sign, as interest obviously is rising. Hopefully there will be an even better crowd for Michigan’s Big Ten opener against Wisconsin on Wednesday (New Year’s Eve). The game starts at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
• The basketball team moved up to #23 in the AP Poll this week and is now ranked #24 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll. Michigan was unranked last week, so it’s good to see they are now in the top 25 in both polls.
• DeShawn Sims was named the co-Big Ten Player of the Week for his 20-20 performance against Florida Gulf Coast.
• Michigan hockey players received three of the CCHA’s four weekly honors.
• USC football players are pretty dumb. (HT: Bruins Nation)