Michigan Loses Heartbreaker in Final Seconds to Michigan State

By Sean · Thursday, January 28, 2010 · 10:51 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

It’s tough to put into words just how heartbreaking Tuesday night’s loss was to Michigan State.  That’s part of why it took me this long to even write a recap; it was that disappointing.  Michigan either led or was only down by a few points all game long and was in great position to pull off the upset in the final minutes.  Michigan State did go on a run at one point in the second half, but that only put Michigan behind by 5 points.  It was that close of a game, and the way it ended reflected that.  Kalin Lucas nailed a midrange jumper with 3.5 seconds left to put MSU up 57-56.  Following an MSU foul, Michigan had 1.5 seconds left to find a way to score, and DeShawn Sims got open enough on an alley oop type of play that he had a shot at a mid-air layup.  The ball rolled off the rim, though, keeping the score at 57-56 in favor of the Spartans as time expired.

This was the type of game where you knew every possession greatly mattered and every little thing could alter the ending of the game.  There were two points when it looked like each team was on the verge of pulling away, but both times the other team fought back and quickly evened things back up.  For Michigan, it went on a run in the first half and took a 7-point lead.  It was no surprise that that didn’t hold up for long, as the Spartans whittled away at it to cut the deficit down to 2 at halftime.  For Michigan State, it went on a run in the second half following an injury to Draymond Green.  That run looked like it was going to turn this game into a double-digit victory for the Spartans considering they were scoring on alley oops and dunks that made Michigan’s defense look nonexistent.  Michigan thankfully fought back and never let MSU get ahead by more than 5 points.  Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims then proceeded to bring Michigan back and put the Wolverines ahead by 3 points with two minutes left on the clock.

Michigan had two golden opportunities to potentially put the game away but failed to even come close to scoring either time.  The first chance came after Raymar Morgan turned the ball over.  Michigan ran off the shot clock but was unable to get in position for a good shot.  With the shot clock on the verge of running out, Stu Douglass was forced to put up a low-percentage shot that really didn’t come close to going in.  Morgan bounced back from his turnover on MSU’s previous possession by scoring to make it a 1-point game.  Once again, Michigan ran off the shot clock, but this time it got about as good of a look as possible.  Douglass drove to the hoop but kicked the ball out to Sims when Draymond Green got in position to make a play in the lane.  Sims was wide open and let the moment get to him, as he completely over-shot the three-pointer, resulting in an air-ball.  What happened next was a sequence of events that neither Michigan nor MSU fans will ever forget.

Kalin Lucas was fouled by Manny Harris with around 20 seconds left after Harris inadvertently kicked him in the face.  (Manny jumped up and put his leg out to block a potential pass and caught Lucas in the face by accident.)  MSU came out of the stoppage and initially appeared to be unable to find the look it wanted.  Michigan was playing great defense, but not great enough to stop Kalin Lucas, who may very well be the most clutch player in the country.  Just days after hitting a clutch three against Minnesota to propel MSU to victory on Saturday, Lucas struck again, this time with a pull-up jumper from about 15 feet away.  The shot put MSU up 1 with 3.5 seconds left to play.

The Spartans had a foul to give and used it with 1.5 seconds left, forcing Michigan to draw up an inbounds play from right next to its bench.  The inbounds play was an alley oop to DeShawn Sims, and it was executed extremely well.  The problem for Michigan was that it simply wasn’t finished well.  Sims caught the ball in an awkward position and basically threw it up at the rim while fading away in mid air.  The end result was the ball clanking off the rim and everybody in green and white inside Crisler Arena erupting.

Looking at some stats, it’s easy to see why this game was so even.  Michigan only shot 32.8% from the field, whereas MSU shot 49.0%.  But from three-point land Michigan shot 24.1% (7-29), whereas MSU went 16.7% from behind the arc (2-12).  Other than that the stats that really stuck out were rebounds, steals, and turnovers.  As usual, Michigan was dominated on the boards, getting outrebounded 38-22.  In steals and turnovers, however, Michigan was worlds better than Michigan State.  Michigan only turned the ball over 4 times during the game and had 9 steals.  MSU, on the other hand, turned the ball over 18 times and only managed 2 steals.

Scoring-wise for Michigan, it was again mainly all DeShawn Sims and Manny Harris.  Sims ended up with 19 points (thanks in part to 3 threes) and Manny had 16 coming off the bench.  After that, the next-best scorers were Stu Douglass and Zack Novak, who each had 7 points.  Anthony Wright had 3 points on a single three-pointer, and Zack Gibson and Darius Morris each had 2 points.  Laval Lucas-Perry was again held scoreless, as was Matt Vogrich, although he only played 1 minute compared to LLP’s 26.

Even if Michigan had won this game, it still would have had a tough road ahead to make the NCAA tournament.  Because it lost, though, Michigan’s path to the NCAA tournament essentially has only one route: the Big Ten tournament.  With a record of 10-10, Michigan would have to pull off the run of all runs to even be a bubble team, and it just doesn’t seem like this team has it in them.

Regardless, Michigan will look to get things headed back in a positive direction on Saturday when Iowa comes to Crisler Arena (4:30 p.m. on the BTN).  The Hawkeyes are only one game back of Michigan in the Big Ten and have shown some fight lately, overcoming a big deficit in East Lansing to take MSU to the wire and blowing out Indiana in Bloomington.  Also, last night Iowa led Ohio State up until there were four minutes left in the game, at which point the Buckeyes came back and pulled away to win the game.  Basically what I’m trying to say is that although the Hawkeyes have struggled immensely this season, they do seem to be improving.  Besides, if Michigan has taught us anything this season it’s that although they get up for games against teams like Ohio State, UConn, and Michigan State, they also tend to come out somewhat lackadaisical against the bottom of the Big Ten.  Let’s hope they bring an effort similar to what we saw on Tuesday against Iowa.