Michigan comeback falls short, Duke advances
by apy5000 on Mar 20, 2011 8:08 PM CDT
in Game Recaps
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Wow. We've seen Michigan make comebacks before, but this one would have been the best yet. You know, if it had actually happened. Against Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, the Wolverines were down 9 points with nine minutes to play, and they stormed back to win. At Happy Valley on February 6, Michigan trailed by 10 with eight minutes left and magically pulled out a victory. This time the Maize and Blue were looking at a 15-point deficit with just under 11 minutes left and came within one field goal of forcing overtime.
The problem is, they never should have been trying to force OT. After Nolan Smith missed his second free throw with under 9 seconds to go, Darius Morris raced down the court and threw up a floater in the lane that rimmed out to end the game. It's curious why a team that loves to shoot 3-pointers as much as Michigan would opt to give a #1 seed five more minutes to figure things out instead of just going for the win right there. Zach Novak was 4/9 from beyond the arc for the game and was on the court for the final seconds. If I'm John Beilein, he's the guy I want taking the last shot.
That said, it took an outstanding effort from Michigan just to get within one shot of the tie. Duke only led by 4 points at the half due to Mason Plumlee turnovers and missed three pointers from Seth Curry and company. At the start of the 2nd, Nolan Smith began taking over the game, hitting a couple of gorgeous step-back jumpers followed by a drive to the rim that got two points plus the foul. The Devils eventually got the lead up to 15, but Michigan used a 1-3-1 zone down the stretch to get enough Duke misses and turnovers to sneak back into the game. Darius Morris had 8 points and 4 assists during the last 11 minutes of the game and Tim Hardaway Jr. hit on three straight jumpers to bring Michigan with a point, but that was the closest they would get.
Jordan Morgan recovered from a forgettable first half that included 2 personal fouls to be a major factor in the second half. He scored 10 points included 4 on a pair of fast break dunks that helped the Wolverines get back into the game.
Evan Smotrycz was incredible with 11 points in the first half. He canned a couple of three pointers and blew past Miles Plumlee for a bucket plus the foul. Unfortunately in the 2nd half, Smotrycz could barely stay on the floor and eventually fouled out because of the trouble he had defending Kyle Singler and Duke's other big men.
For Duke, Nolan Smith was his usual awesome self with 24 points on 8/13 shooting. Reserve forward Ryan Kelly pitched in with a very efficient 11 points on 5/6 shooting in only 23 minutes, while Kyrie Irving scored 9 of his 11 points from the free throw line. The freshman point guard didn't record a field goal make until he hit a clutch jumper to put Duke up 3 with 33 seconds remaining in the game.
I thought the Plumlee brothers would be more involved in the offense given Michigan's lack of height, but Miles and Mason only played for 15 and 18 minutes, respectively and finished with 4 points a piece. They did combined for 5 offensive rebounds and 2 blocks, so there was an impact there, but mostly it was Singler, Smith and Irving getting Michigan in foul trouble.
Michigan just barely missed out on what would have been a huge win for them, while Duke heads to the Sweet Sixteen yet again. This time they'll find the Arizona Wildcats waiting for them.
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I like Morris taking that shot
He makes that shot nine times out of ten, and yeah, maybe we don’t win in overtime, but a pass back to Novak or Douglass would be a mistake imo. Darius was just thinking “score” and he saw a lane open up. Duke had been closing well on our shooters all day long, and I think that Darius needed to just take it.
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
There was only 1 dish I would have been comfortable with there
and that was Hardaway Jr. on the wing. He was covered so the next best option was the floater in the lane, since taking it all the way to the basket would have been a charge.
Yeah, it was a tough shot over Kelly
but a kick would have added a lot more complexity to the play than Michigan could afford, especially with such little time left. Maybe Hardaway was open, and Morris has been great at finding open shooters when the defense is in “fire drill” mode, but Duke’s as good as anyone at closing out.
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
I disagree
You’re right about Morris hitting that runner in the lane. That is a shot he’s comfortable with and it was a good shot for him, but I was under the impression that Michigan was very fortunate just to be in the position to tie. I think it was only a matter of time before Duke figure out the 1-3-1 zone and that Michigan should have gone for the win there.
Of course, Morris had a better chance of making his shot than of any 3-pointer opportunity that could have arisen, but when you combine it with the chances of Michigan hanging with Duke in OT, the 3-pointer is more appealing to me.
Aaron
BT Powerhouse contributor
Let's go Mets, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, PSU
I just don't think a pass would have been the best move there
just my opinion I guess. This could be discussed ad nauseum. If he’d have kicked it out and Douglass bricked a three, we’d be talking about how he should’ve just taken it himself.
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
1-3-1 Zone
Yo Tiger. Just read your recap on MCG. It’s pretty strange that Michigan didn’t run that 1-3-1 more often this season, especially with their lack of size. Did Beilein give a reason why he waited so long to unleash it in this game?
Aaron
BT Powerhouse contributor
Let's go Mets, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, PSU
Well,
Michigan had one of the best performances against Duke of anyone this year. Only St. Johns shot the ball better, and Duke’s offense stagnated in a big way against Michigan. Kyrie Irving’s return has been overblown, but I don’t know that Arizona can beat Duke with how the Cats are playing, along with the fact that Duke overcame one of their worst games all season to win.
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
I'll take a stab at it:
1.) He said at the beginning of the season that Michigan was really not able to run it very well. Inexperience definitely played a factor, and he said something along the lines of “we haven’t been able to get good enough at running it in practice, so we aren’t going to run it too often in the games.” It showed big time too, Michigan was able to go on stretches where they scored a few buckets in a row, and then after a make they showed the 1-3-1 and the other team was able to get a dunk or layup or uncontested three with good passing about 90% of the time.
2.) Michigan rebounded much better when playing man-to-man than when they ran the 1-3-1. they tried it sporadically against Duke before Coach K went into Lloyd Carr mode and bled the clock, at which point Michigan ran it exclusively, but the few times that Michigan ran it before the final sequence Duke got great looks inside, or easy rebounds. It’s too hard to keep teams off of the glass when you have your only big man standing at the free throw line.
Michigan made the choice to sacrifice forcing turnovers for getting defensive rebounds by playing man defense for the majority of the season, and besides, it was much easier on a young team to run man when they probably couldn’t grasp all of the intricacies of the 1-3-1. It was most effective this season when Kansas and Duke were trying to kill the clock, other times, it was a sieve.
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
Was it just me
or was the entire tone of this piece spiteful and almost mocking?
For a team picked to finish 11th out of 11 in the league to go out and give 3 teams that ended up being #1 seeds all they could handle for 20(+ in one case) minutes on 5 different occasions is the kind of quality season that can change an entire program.
Michigan came within a shot of Duke not by luck but by solidly defending on one end of the floor and making shots on the other. If this was a one time occurrence with this Michigan team I could understand the idea that they were lucky, but they’ve been making runs like the one at the end of the Duke game all season, and most recently, in the previous round’s game against Tennessee two days earlier. The previous game against Ohio State, they cut a 15 point lead to 4 in just over two minutes.
To chalk up this comeback to luck instead of the natural ebb and flow of college basketball, and especially basketball games involving teams that can get hot from behind the arc, seems disingenuous at best.
I think the best part of this game was that, given this team’s projected ceiling at the beginning of the year, I wasn’t just happy to have them there with a chance to tie; Instead, I expected that shot to fall. And that, in and of itself, bodes well for the future of the program as a whole.
Wow. We’ve seen Michigan make comebacks before, but this one would have been the best yet. You know, if it had actually happened.
This seemed like a shot at the Michigan fans who claimed a moral victory with this game.
It is a PSU writer, I’d take it with a grain of salt. I probably wouldn’t be singing the Nittany Lions’ praises if they were in the same position.
That said, it took an outstanding effort from Michigan just to get within one shot of the tie.
Sounds good to me!
Maize-Colored Glasses: Recap: Duke 73, Michigan 71
I hope it was just you
I don’t think I brought luck into the equation… or at least I tried not to. I cited two prior examples of Michigan coming back to win games earlier this season. I also said the comeback was caused by the 1-3-1 zone as well as outstanding performances down the stretch from Morris and Hardaway. There was little luck or magic invovled.
Yes, I am critical of the decision to go for the tie. I think thewhitetiger and I agreed to disagree on that point. And yes, while you should be happy to have it be a close game (and it was quite a thrilling game), the end result was a loss. I think going for the moral victory angle would be patronizing to Michigan fans who were so close to the Sweet Sixteen.
I do appreciate your opinion, especially coming from a different perspective than mine. Varying viewpoints are always appreciated.
Aaron
BT Powerhouse contributor
Let's go Mets, Giants, Knicks, Rangers, PSU
