1. Coaching matters. Underwood kept riding the hot hand in Ayo. Michigan had 5-foot-11 Zavier Simpson checking 6-foot-5 Ayo Dosunmu on the last play. You can't give a team a mismatch on the last shot of the game to win it and let a guy shoot over the top of the defense.
2. Michigan lost the game at the free throw line where they went 12-21 (57.1). You don't want to see key players get in foul trouble, but the Illinois fouling actually helped, especially down the stretch when Simpson and Wagner missed big FT's.
3. Giorgi couldn't check Teske because of his bulk, but Michigan rarely took advantage of that mismatch. Teske shot 4-14, and often Zavier Simpson would dribble the air out of the ball instead of looking for the entry pass.
4. With the bench shorter because of the suspension of Griffin, Andres Feliz came up huge. He's so physical and he can power dribble into the lane and create problems for the defense. 15 points, 7 rebounds, and just 1 turnover.
5. Michigan had just 5 assists as a team. Simpson got to the basket a few times off the dribble, but Illinois took away the drive and kick, which is how Simpson typically racks up assists. He leads the Big Ten in assists with 8.3 apg. 3 today.
6. Michigan leads the Big Ten in field goal percent (.468), but shot just 25-59, including 4-17 from 3-point range. Illinois is speeding teams up with their half-court defense. It's not that they're just getting lucky and teams are having off games shooting the basketball. They make teams rush their shots.
7. The Wolverines had 10 offensive rebounds, but they couldn't really take advantage. I haven't seen the second-chance points yet, but I don't expect it was a big advantage for Michigan. A lot of those ORB were long rebounds off of bad misses. Edit: Just 5 second-chance points for Michigan.
8. Da'Monte Williams was scoreless again, but this was actually his best game in a while. He had a key steal, grabbed 4 rebounds, and was a lock-down defender.
2. Michigan lost the game at the free throw line where they went 12-21 (57.1). You don't want to see key players get in foul trouble, but the Illinois fouling actually helped, especially down the stretch when Simpson and Wagner missed big FT's.
3. Giorgi couldn't check Teske because of his bulk, but Michigan rarely took advantage of that mismatch. Teske shot 4-14, and often Zavier Simpson would dribble the air out of the ball instead of looking for the entry pass.
4. With the bench shorter because of the suspension of Griffin, Andres Feliz came up huge. He's so physical and he can power dribble into the lane and create problems for the defense. 15 points, 7 rebounds, and just 1 turnover.
5. Michigan had just 5 assists as a team. Simpson got to the basket a few times off the dribble, but Illinois took away the drive and kick, which is how Simpson typically racks up assists. He leads the Big Ten in assists with 8.3 apg. 3 today.
6. Michigan leads the Big Ten in field goal percent (.468), but shot just 25-59, including 4-17 from 3-point range. Illinois is speeding teams up with their half-court defense. It's not that they're just getting lucky and teams are having off games shooting the basketball. They make teams rush their shots.
7. The Wolverines had 10 offensive rebounds, but they couldn't really take advantage. I haven't seen the second-chance points yet, but I don't expect it was a big advantage for Michigan. A lot of those ORB were long rebounds off of bad misses. Edit: Just 5 second-chance points for Michigan.
8. Da'Monte Williams was scoreless again, but this was actually his best game in a while. He had a key steal, grabbed 4 rebounds, and was a lock-down defender.
