Michigan Takes Down Minnesota 71-63 on the Road

By Sean · Saturday, February 13, 2010 · 3:14 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

Michigan put up what I believe was its best performance of the season from start to finish at Minnesota on Thursday.  Finally playing up to its potential for a change, Michigan took care of the ball, played exceptional defense, and shot the ball extremely well both from three-point land and in general.  This solid performance propelled Michigan to a 71-63 win, giving Minnesota only its second home loss of the season (the other was a 1-point loss to Michigan State).

In the first half, Michigan seemed to control play early on before Minnesota tightened things up and nearly took a lead into halftime.  A foul with less than a second left put Manny Harris on the free throw line, however, and he nailed both shots to give Michigan a 27-26 lead at the half.

Michigan went on a run about eight minutes into the second half to build its lead up to 10 points and there was no looking back.  Minnesota did manage to cut the lead down to 6 points during a stretch where Michigan seemingly couldn’t go a defensive possession without committing a foul, but the Wolverines didn’t let up and eventually led by as many as 11 points before eventually winning by 8.

Michigan’s excellent performance was led by DeShawn Sims, who scored 27 points and grabbed 7 rebounds after being briefly benched early on in the game.  Manny Harris scored 20 points and dished out 7 assists and in general played much better than he had in recent games.  Zack Gibson came off the bench for Sims and scored 8 points in 9 minutes (he was 2-2 from three-point land and 3-3 from the field) to record the third-most points for Michigan in this game.

After that, the only other scorers were Zack Novak, who had 6 points, and Stu Douglass and Darius Morris, who each had 5 points.  Douglass and Morris really played a great game and contributed in ways other than scoring.  Morris looked very comfortable out there as the point guard and ran the offense very well.  Douglass played a great game defensively, coming up with 5 steals.  He also had 4 assists on the offensive side of the ball and actually went to the hole for a change on one play instead of dishing the ball outside.  He not only made the layup, but he was also fouled, though he missed the free throw.

As a team, Michigan shot 50% from the field and 50% from behind the arc.  In the second half Michigan was on fire and shot 68% from the field and 60% from three-point land.  The one thing I liked the most about the flow of the offense was that Michigan showed great patience on nearly every possession.  Not only that, but Michigan handled Minnesota’s full-court press tremendously well.  I can only remember a single turnover that was the direct result of the press.  Michigan’s effectiveness against the press ended up producing easy baskets, especially in the second half.  Michigan would quickly get the ball past half court and more often than not Manny Harris dished a pass to DeShawn Sims for a layup.  It was definitely a treat to watch Michigan excel in all areas of the game for a change, especially against a team like Minnesota.

Michigan is off until Tuesday night, which is when it heads to Iowa to play the Hawkeyes.  That game is set to tip off at 9 p.m. ET on the Big Ten Network.