| For more on Michigan football and Michigan basketball, or for more from Sean, check out SB Nation Detroit. |
Wednesday Quick Hits: Michigan Gets Shut Down in 54-42 Loss to MSU
Share
5 Comments- After a pathetic first half that produced only 15 points, Michigan decided to show up for the final twenty minutes of Tuesday’s game and still couldn’t take down Michigan State. Michigan dug itself a somewhat big hole in the first half by failing to produce any offense. On the brightside, Michigan only trailed by 8 despite scoring 15 points, but MSU’s defense was simply suffocating them. Add that to the fact that Michigan wasn’t shooting the ball well and it was a devastating combination.
In the second half, Michigan played much, much better and slowly cut the lead down. The problem was that every time Michigan got a little closer, Michigan State answered back with a small run of its own. Michigan would get within 5 or so points only to have the lead go back up near double digits just minutes later, for example. Even so, Michigan kept fighting back and eventually made it a 4-point game.
Manny Harris had a chance to get Michigan within 1 but missed a three-pointer. Kalin Lucas then hit a three-pointer for MSU, and Stu Douglass followed it up with a pair of free throws to make it a 5-point game. A steal by Harris gave Michigan its best chance to cut the lead down to one possession, but he turned it over on the proceeding fast break. A Draymond Green layup on the next MSU possession basically put the nail in Michigan’s coffin. The Wolverines tried to make it close at the end of the game but simply couldn’t stop Michigan State when they had to and couldn’t make the shots necessary for a quick comeback. As a result, MSU left Crisler Arena with a 54-42 victory.
- DeShawn Sims basically carried Michigan offensively. He scored 18 points and had his way in the paint for much of the game. Had it not been for Sims, MSU would have been up by double digits well before the final minute or so of this game.
- Manny Harris only scored 7 points and went 2-10 from the field. It was definitely not a very good game for Harris, which probably can be attributed to the defense played by Travis Walton.
- The officiating in this game was pretty awful in my opinion. It wasn’t that MSU was getting the calls or anything like that. I just am sick and tired of how inconsistent the officials are with their calls. This has always been the case with Big 10 referees, but it just seems like the officiating has become even more inconsistent than usual this season.
- If you are a student and sold your ticket to a Michigan State fan, please never buy season tickets again. There were two annoying MSU fans a couple rows behind me and another right at center court. The one at center court was supposedly a Michigan student, though, so that is a whole different issue. If you are a student at Michigan and openly root for Michigan State then you have problems. I understand there are some scenarios where students will be fans of other teams, but please, don’t ever come to a sporting event rooting for the other team.
- On a somewhat related note, I would really like to see the athletic department do a better job of stopping such a large number of MSU fans from attending the game next year. I know they try to sell the tickets to the MSU game privately and only occasionally sell them to the public, but that strategy obviously isn’t good enough. In the future they should never sell tickets to the MSU game to the public, as MSU fans are able to snatch them up. Most MSU fans probably acquired tickets from other sources anyways, but still, everything humanely possible should be done to stop them from taking over Crisler.
- Looking ahead at the rest of Michigan’s schedule, they really have to go 4-2 down the stretch to make the NCAA tournament. A deep run in the Big 10 tourney might allow them to sneak in with an 8-10 conference record, but if Michigan were to go 9-9 they would likely make the Big Dance for sure.
Michigan plays at Northwestern on Sunday (3 p.m. on the BTN) and returns home a week from Thursday to play Minnesota. After that, Michigan heads to Iowa on February 22 before closing out the season with a home game against Purdue and road games against Wisconsin and Minnesota. I don’t really see four wins on the rest of the schedule, but really it is important to just take it one game at a time. A loss to Northwestern on Sunday would make all of this conversation moot, as that would probably kill Michigan’s tournament chances. A win, however, would get them one step closer to the Big Dance.
- Erin Andrews was at last night’s game, and I have to say, she exceeded my expectations. It’s too bad that broadcast crew doesn’t do more of Michigan’s home games.
- The Hoover Street Rag did its own version of hockey bracketology and laid out the different scenarios that Michigan could be a part of in the postseason.
- Maize n Brew has the Big Ten Network’s baseball and softball TV schedule for Michigan.
have to take offense with your “please don’t come to a sporting event and root for the other team” comment. You grow up rooting for one team, it gets in your blood, you WILL root for them wherever you may end up….like me, coming out to Madison for grad school. The two times MIchigan’s played football, the 13-15 other Michigan events I’ve been to since I got here, I went in wearing Michigan gear, and I took the abuse from the kids at the football games, and the mascot at the women’s basketball game, and I’ll keep on doing it.
Your circumstances might change, you may find yourself in ‘enemy’ territory, but you root for your team. And if you happen to go to the enemies school, for scholarship purposes, or for educational purposes, or whatever, it doesn’t matter, you stick to your guns as far as who you’re rooting for.
I say Kudos to the UM student who was rooting for State, if that’s his true rooting interest, he went into hostile territory, took his lumps, and will be back wearing maize the next game. But he stuck to his roots, and you gotta give him credit for that…
We obviously disagree greatly, but all I will say is that it’s absolutely disgusting to see a fan of another team in the student section at all. When it’s people that bought tickets, that’s one thing. When it’s an actual student, though, that’s just ridiculous in my opinion. (Plus being a Michigan fan at Wisconsin is completely different than being an MSU fan at Michigan.)
You gotta stand up for what you believe in.
I agree…the rivalry thing does kick it up a notch….but there’s a bright line between selling a ticket to an enemy and having that person invade your student section, versus someone whose life circumstances have put him at at odds with his rooting interests.
put it this way, at age 27, having graduated from Michigan, lived in Ypsi/Ann Arbor my whole life, save for a couple years in Detroit, having worked at the University for 4 years, and taking full advantage of the fact that UM staff could get into all the non-revenue sports for free at the time, I had to seriously think about going to Ohio State for grad school. They had a couple of profs I would have loved to work with, and they had competitive stipends for grad students…
and had I gone down there, you better ‘effin believe I would have been wearing the Maize and Blue to games and stuff…as it was, Michigan was playing hockey down there the weekend I went down for grad school recruiting…a fact I wasn’t unaware of when I scheduled it…I
couldn’t sneak into the student section, though, they were watching me and my michigan hat…
the difference at Wisconsin is that when the Wolverines aren’t here, I can cheer for the Badgers, no problem….that would have been really tough in Columbus….
i had a chance to get a picture with erin andrews yesterday.
I blew it and am living the rest of my life in endless regret.