- Ky Mckeon
My wife and I have a wedding this weekend up in Dearborn, MI, so what better thing to do with our time than see a Michigan Wolverines basketball game? The drive from Chicago went great, but we hit a snag when cash was required for parking. After an adventure to the ATM in the heart of campus, we returned to the $10 lot and left the Accord in good hands of the student volunteer.
I was greeted in the media room food line by Dylan Burkhardt (@UMHoops) from UMhoops.com and Brendan Quinn (@BFQuinn) from the Athletic. One of my favorite things about covering these games is getting to meet fellow college basketball diehards who we interact with behind screens all year. After chatting and wolfing down some chicken and rice, we headed up to the media seating in the Crisler Center. The first thing that hit me about the arena was how pristine it was – you could tell me the place was built last week and I’d believe it.
Everything looked brand new and the Final Four banners made for an impressive site. The arena was at a respectable capacity despite the competition (probably helped that Sparty football was in town as well) unlike a near-empty Galen Center at the USC game I attended on Tuesday.
Students were out in solid force, spanning the entire sideline behind the benches – and behind them sat my lovely wife, donning a white 3MW hat. I am a huge fan of the student section on the sideline – it’s the best seats in the house and gives opponents the feel of enemies being right on top of them.
The game itself was nothing special. Four straight turnovers to start the game foreshadowed the ugliness to come. At the first media timeout the score was 4-4 and Michigan and Elon had a combined 5 turnovers. Early on a theme emerged on Michigan’s offensive end that would prove to linger the entirety of the game. Nobody seemed to be looking for their shot. Coach Howard and David DeJulius mentioned in the post-game how important ball movement was to the offense, but it was few and far between throughout the evening. Guards were way too focused on forcing the ball into Jon Teske, a guy that Howard admitted to wanting to play through in the post-game presser. Teske is fantastic and the Wolverines would be smart to get him as many touches as possible, but there seemed to be no backup plan when he was well-guarded. Countless times a Michigan perimeter player had to heave up a prayer from downtown with one second left in the shot clock due to indecision and standing.
Elon led by three heading into the second media timeout and was down just four under the 8:00 minute mark, but the Phoenix were clearly outmatched. Only Marcus Sheffield, a Stanford transfer who head coach Mike Schrage recruited while he was in Palo Alto, could score the ball. Sheffield ended the game with 22 points on 9/16 shooting, feasting off mid-range pull-ups coming off ball screens. His teammates scored 28 points combined on 11/43 shooting.
Michigan started to pull away near the end of the first half, especially when playing a three-big lineup with Isaiah Livers at the 3. Howard started Adrian Nunez at the 3, but he saw just 17 minutes in favor of either a three-guard lineup featuring Zavier Simpson, Eli Brooks, and DeJulius or a three-big lineup with Teske, Brandon Johns, and Livers. The Wolverines were more fun to watch and played faster with the three-guard lineup, but Livers really only shined when he was playing the 3 and allowed to create off the bounce. DeJulius and Brooks both played well and appear to be the key for the Wolverines’ offensive improvement hopes. Both guards can shoot from deep and Brooks actually looks like he could become a creator later in the year. Simpson was great as usual creating for his teammates and driving to the hoop, but he still shoots the ball like a shotput.
At half, Michigan led Elon 31-22; the teams were a combined 20/57 from the field. I checked on my wife, she was doing good, especially with these bomb-ass seats:
Michigan started the second half with a bang and put the game away early. Three-balls started falling, Livers finally started asserting himself, and Teske was wearing down the tired Phoenix frontcourt. The Wolverines led 45-28 at the first media timeout and never looked back.
Sheffield gave Elon a little spark midway through the half but oddly sat the last five minutes of the game, a decision that probably sent Elon backers in a tizzy with the score approaching the 25-point spread. Without him on the floor, the Phoenix had no chance of scoring and in fact put the ball through the hoop just twice after the second media timeout.
Michigan finished the game with walk-on CJ Baird scoring a bucket on a hook shot and 4-star recruit Cole Bajema getting a courtesy one minute of action. Bajema’s frame explains why he hasn’t played until tonight and is likely the reason he’ll be more of a factor in year two or three as he builds strength and experience. When the buzzer sounded, Michigan led Elon 70-50, a not-too-stressful win for the home team, an easy cover for the away team. Elon was never outside the number.