Friday Quick Hits: Michigan Shoots Its Way Past Minnesota

By Sean · Friday, February 20, 2009 · 8:18 AM |  Share | 7 Comments 

• Michigan had to win last night against Minnesota, and they didn’t disappoint. The Wolverines beat the Golden Gophers by a score of 74-62, and the score doesn’t really accurately reflect how one-sided this game became in the second half. Things were close for the first ten or so minutes of the game, but Michigan started to get hot from behind the three-point line and never looked back. The lead rose to as much as 22 at one point in the second half before Michigan started to slow things down a bit. In the end, Michigan won by a comfortable margin of 74-62.
• Four players scored in double digits for Michigan. Zack Novak got to double digits in what seemed like no time at all after connecting with 4 threes in the first eleven or so minutes of the game. He ended up hitting a couple more for a total of 18 points on the night. DeShawn Sims, Stu Douglass, and Kelvin Grady all had 12 points each. Sims and Douglass both made a pair of three-pointers and Grady actually went 3-3 from behind the arc.
• Grady played for 14 minutes in this game and did a great job. This was the most playing time he has received in quite a while, and he used it to show that he probably does deserve more minutes. I can’t tell you how his defense was since I wasn’t paying close enough attention to it, but I will say that Grady did an awesome job of pushing the ball up the court. This is his specialty, but last night it was especially on display when Minnesota switched to a full-court press. Grady got past defenders quickly and set up quite a few scoring plays for Michigan.
• Manny Harris surprisingly didn’t score in double digits, as he had only 8 points. His minutes were lower than usual due to foul trouble, but it was nice that Harris didn’t have to score a lot in order for Michigan to win. When your most talented player only scores 8 points and you still blow out your opponent, things are going well.
• With the win, Michigan is 17-10 overall and 7-7 in the Big Ten. Michigan is now tied for 7th in the conference with Minnesota, who is going in the wrong direction. The Golden Gophers have lost four out of their last five games, and their only win during that stretch was against Indiana. Minnesota’s poor play is great news for Michigan, as the two teams appear to be on the verge of swapping positions in regards to the NCAA tournament.

  Just a couple weeks ago Minnesota looked to be in solid position to make the Big Dance and Michigan was the team squarely on the bubble. Now things are a tad different, though Michigan is definitely still on the bubble right now. What has changed is that Michigan has slowly put itself in position to play its way into the tourney. Minnesota is playing itself out of a spot, and Michigan is only a couple wins away from locking up a bid in my opinion.

  For the longest time, the consensus has been that a 9-9 conference record will get Michigan a tournament bid. That hasn’t changed one bit, meaning Michigan needs only two more wins to be in great shape as far as the tournament goes. Obviously Michigan can’t collapse in the Big Ten Tournament and a win there would cement a tournament bid, but as far as the regular season goes, Michigan needs only two more wins to have a great shot at going dancing.

• One of those two victories Michigan needs has to come in its game at Iowa on Sunday (5 p.m. ET on the BTN). Michigan can’t afford to lose to the Hawkeyes, who are really the easiest opponent left on the regular season schedule. That’s not to say that the game won’t be tough, but Michigan has to win it. That way Michigan could go into the final three games of the regular season in position to make the tournament.
• A win over Purdue next Thursday on Senior Night in addition to a victory at Iowa would probably mean that Michigan would make the tournament barring an epic collapse to end the season. A loss against Purdue would be a setback, but with away games against Wisconsin and Minnesota to finish the season, Michigan will have its opportunities to prove to the selection committee that they deserve to be a part of March Madness.
• Referee Jim Burr is a douchebag. This became evident after he ejected Manny Harris from the Purdue game for an accidental elbow, but I got a first-hand look at how big of a douchebag he is at Crisler last night.

  During warm-ups, Burr was standing at center court and a few students were basically heckling him because he ejected Manny. The heckling was mostly a combination of yelling “Burr” over and over and throwing in some things about elbows and how he sucks. Nothing yelled at Burr was inappropriate, but he reacted to the heckling in a very strange way.

  I thought it was odd enough that Burr was actually paying attention to the heckling, as referees, players, and coaches usually ignore it. Burr certainly didn’t, though. After staring at the students heckling him, Burr slowly started to walk towards the Maize Rage and actually yelled out a question to one specific student about whether or not he wanted to stay at the game. Burr was insinuating that he would have the student ejected if the heckling continued, which is just hilarious considering it wasn’t even that bad. For a referee to let a few people get under his skin that much shows how big of a douchebag he is.

  On a positive note, his officiating wasn’t noticeably bad during this game, but I did notice that he had an angry scowl on his face all the time. Whether he was just standing around or making a call, Burr always looked pissed off. I guess that is just another example of how uptight he is.

• While on the topic of officiating, does Ed Hightower ever take a break? When I found out he was the ref for last night’s game, it occurred to me that I had seen him at a game for five or six straight days. As it turns out, Hightower has reffed a game six days in a row and seven of the last eight days. That alone is surprising, but wait until you hear where he has been since last Saturday when this streak started: Stillwater (OK), Evanston (IL), Hartford (CT), West Lafayette (IN), Louisville (KY), and Ann Arbor (MI). I’m guessing Hightower has quite a few frequent flyer miles.
• Things didn’t go quite as well for the women’s basketball team last night, as it lost to Michigan State by a score of 52-27. And I thought Illinois scoring only 33 points against Penn State was bad. Only 27 points is hard to fathom.
• SI.com’s “Cheerleader of the Week” is from the University of Michigan.
• Marlin Jackson won his countersuit against someone that sued him for $10 million in 2005 over a fight that happened in 2003. Jackson was actually awarded $225,000 as part of the ruling, as the jury found that his draft stock did indeed suffer as a result of the false accusations against him.
• If you sign up for some credit card, you can get a free mini helmet signed by Rich Rodriguez.