Marquette upsets Michigan basketball team in semifinals of the Old Spice Classic
Marquette forward Lazar Hayward, center, puts up a shot in front of Michigan's Zack Novak (0) as DeShawn Sims, left, and Laval Lucas-Perry, right, watch during the second half Friday in the Old Spice Classic tournament. Marquette won 79-65. (Photo: Associated Press)
It’d give them a chance to grow and a chance to learn, he said. Whether he intended or not, Marquette’s drilling of No. 15 Michigan, 79-65, on Friday in the tournament semifinals gave the coach a lot to be critical about.
Nothing worked for the Wolverines on Friday. Now they’ll play Alabama at 5 p.m. Sunday.
Michigan’s offense stagnated from the three-point line and couldn’t establish an inside presence. The defense was befuddled as Beilein tried variations of man-to-man, the 1-3-1 zone and a 2-3 zone on Marquette.
“We dialed up everything we could do,” Beilein said. “But they are just super-quick. We’ll see that again at different times but you don’t see the skill, usually if they are really quick in the backcourt you can help off (Darius) Butler or (Lazar) Hayward and give help, but you can’t help off those two because for their size they are extremely crafty and quick.”
The combination of Hayward and Butler did the most damage - Hayward with 22 points and 9 rebounds, Butler with 17 points and 9 rebounds - but more than anything, Michigan (3-1) hurt itself.
Michigan guard Manny Harris, left, dunks over Marquette's Darius Johnson-Odom and Jimmy Butler, right, during the first half on Friday. (Photo: Associated Press)
The shooting struggles rendered Novak and Douglass useless, and while Harris had 22 points, he couldn’t will his team back into a game like he did Thursday against Creighton.
The misses spread. Fast.
“It’s definitely contagious,” Michigan senior forward DeShawn Sims said. “Whether someone is making or missing. You couldn’t see a lot of balls going in today, and that could have been a problem that affected some of our three-point shots, but for the most part, they did a great job defending.”
Part of that had to do with Sims, who was ineffective even when Marquette took away Michigan’s outside game and forced the Wolverines inside. Sims was 3-of-10 from the field with 8 points.
Defensively, Michigan wasn’t much better. Marquette (6-0) was too fast for the Wolverines when they played man-to-man. Using what Marquette coach Buzz Williams calls “side-top-side,” which is essentially swinging the ball from one side of the court to the other and then tossing the ball into the post, the Golden Eagles picked apart Michigan’s 1-3-1 zone.
Eventually, Michigan switched to a 2-3, but that was equally ineffective and Marquette looked more like a team merely following what Wesley Matthews, Dominic James and Jerel McNeal started than a team rebuilding from their departure.
“I didn’t think that we had a distinct advantage,” Williams said. “Maybe he thought that we did. But I thought we did a good job on missed shots and attacking and secondary.
“For the most part, except at the beginning of the second half, I thought we did a good job at handling their changing defenses.”
Michigan’s defense and offense showed life once Friday - at the beginning of the second half. The Wolverines used a 10-0 run to cut Marquette’s lead to one, 48-47, with 16 minutes left.
Marquette then had a 10-point run of its own that essentially put the game away.
“It would be a great payoff for winning that game," Beilein said after Michigan won Thursday. "But just for our own psyche right now, losing isn't the worst thing in the world, you grow from it, but I think our kids feel good about themselves right now."
A day and a loss later, Beilein stuck with his early-loss mantra but his players weren't quite as enthusiastic.
"We have to keep and stay focused," Sims said. "And remember, it is only four games into the season."
Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.
Comments
KeepingItReal
Sat, Nov 28, 2009 : 11:43 a.m.
Sorry folk. M ranked 15th?! I don;t know who does the ranking and what influence them but M is not a 15th ranked team as was revealed yesterday and will be even more so in January. 3 point shots are ok, but if M expects this to be there salvation you can forget it. Other teams will figure out your 3 point option and will close it down. 3 point plays should be part of your offense not your offense itself.
scout007
Fri, Nov 27, 2009 : 8:47 p.m.
They were out-coached. That is all. Manny could either score or get fouled every single time that he went to the basket. MU was also leaving the backdoor open almost all game. Even Morris was able to drive it - although he only tried once and missed his shot. The coach needed to tell those guys to drive. It was easy. MU couldn't stop them when they did. If they had continued to do that after Manny's several times in a row success, they would have won. Instead, they went back to the 3 that they couldn't hit. That put them back in the hole. With more back door (which they only did once), and constant attack, they would have forced MU to pull back from the arch and would have opened up more opportunity for the shooters too. Bad coaching. MU has no inside game. They just outsmarted UofM.
wersch213
Fri, Nov 27, 2009 : 4:34 p.m.
The running theme this year is going to be rebounding and defending the paint. Michigan is weak in those repects. Other than that, they just need to work on the FT's and hitting the open shots. They are a good team, but a little rusty out of the gate. Once they hit their stride they will be in the top 1/3 of the Big Ten and bound for the sweet 16. They are still young and developing.
81wolverine
Fri, Nov 27, 2009 : 3:35 p.m.
If Michigan wants to be a Top 20 team, they have to figure out that other teams are ALWAYS going to be gunning for them. So, playing with little intensity and mediocre defense will result in losses like this. Marquette is probably a better team than the so-called experts think. But even then, Michigan should be able to win games like this. Hopefully, the shooting will warm up soon and the team will start to figure out how to play defense. We still have two holes on this team: 1) a true point guard that plays most of the time, and 2) no inside intimidating player who can block shots and consistently pull down rebounds. Hopefully, Darius Morris will get better and play more minutes, and someone like Ben Cronin will be able to play more. Deshawn Sims is still and up and down player. Sometimes he makes a huge impact in games, other times you almost don't know he's out there. For this team to be really successful, both Sims and Harris must play well almost all the time.
bigchris81
Fri, Nov 27, 2009 : 3:01 p.m.
I disagree Jaxon. I really don't think it was Beilien being on the search committee that did them in today. Michigan hasn't been able to make a open bucket(including their free throws) the last 2 games. That was the main reason it was close against Creighton and also the main reason that Marquette won. I'm sorry but that is not on the coach. It might be because they have only played 2 games in 2 weeks, and then they play 2 tough games with less then 24 hours rest. Michigan will be fine. This team does live by the 3 and die by the 3. If they hit even 3 or 4 more of those 3 point shots it would have been at least a close game if not a whole new scenerio. Plus I think Marquette is underrated this year. I watched them against Xavier (also a good team) and Marquette shreaded through them easily also.
Jaxon5
Fri, Nov 27, 2009 : 2:19 p.m.
Beilien needs to forget the search committee for the new AD and focus on this team. There is a lot of work to do before anyone can say they should be in the top 25. They did not look sharp against Creighton. And, Marquette beat them soundly.