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8A - Wednesday, November 30, 2011
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
Stingy Virginia defense hands 'M' road loss
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By NEAL ROTHSCHILD
Daily Sports Editor
Charlottesville, Va. - Last
night's Big Ten/ACC Challenge
duel against Virginia had the signs
of a letdown game for the No. 15
Michigan basketball team.
The Wol- MICHIGAN 58
verines (5-2) VIRGINIA 70
were com-
ing off a suc-
cessful trip to Hawaii at the Maui
Invitational and were playing in
their first true road contest of the
season. They had been playing
beyond expectations and were
bound to fall back to Earth.
And unfortunately for Michi-
gan, the signs held true.
The Wolverines had trouble
stringing together effective
offensive possessions, and they
had no answer for a second-
half Cavalier run and a stingy
defense, in a 70-58 loss.
"They're one of the better
defensive teams we'll play all
year," said senior guard Zack
Novak. "They did a good job. At
the end of the day though, we just
got some shots we had to make.
In the first half we missed a cou-
ple bunnies and in the second
half ... we pushed things a little
bit but couldn't geta bucket."
The early going of the game
marked a departure from what
the Wolverines were used to last
week.
At the Maui Invitational,
Michigan put up a lot of points
to keep up with the pace of Mem-
phis, Duke and UCLA. But things
slowed back down when the
Wolverines touched down in the
mainland. Long possessions, few
fast breaks and staunch defense
kept the score low, as neither
team found much rhythm on
offense early.
The Wolverines led 19-14 with
less than three minutes left in the
first half when Cavalier guard
Joe Harris injected some life
into the game. He knocked down
a 3-pointer, forced a steal and
knocked down two free throws
to send Virginia (6-1) on an 10-4
run. The Cavaliers went into the
locker room leading, 24-23.
"That was really big," Novak
said of the run. "It looks like
we're going to go in with a bit of a
lead, we're on the line, but you've
just got to work through those
After the break, the scoring
picked up. The Cavaliers and
the Wolverines traded leads, but
neither team could separate itself
until the middle of the half. That's
when Virginia pounced with a
15-0 run, and Michigan couldn't
respond. The crowd at John Paul
Jones Arena grew louder and the
Wolverines had trouble finding
any semblance of an offensive
rhythm. Beilein called two time-
outs during the Cavalier streak,
but neither helped.
"We wanted to make sure they
calmed down and got a good
shot," Beilein said. "At that time,
you don't give them a big plan.
There's not a big change other
than 'Alright, settle down. You're
alright. And we've got to guard at
one end and execute at the other.'
You give them two plays."
The Wolverines didn't find suc-
cess with either one.
Michigan missed 10-straight
shots until sophomore guard Tim
Hardaway Jr. finally hit a jump
shot to end the suffering. At that
point, Virginia was up 53-43.
"As long as (Tony Bennett) is
coaching this team, (the defense)
is always goingto be good," Beilein
said. "Theydo atremendous job....
They're tough to get easy baskets
and when you get them, you can't
miss them, and we had several of
those in the game."
Harris and forward Mike Scott
had the hot hands for the Cava-
liers, scoring 18 points apiece as
Virginiasent Michiganhome with
few positives. The Cavalier scor-
ing was limited to just five players,
but it was enough.
Virginia evened up its all-time
series with Michigan at 2-2;
Hardaway Jr. spent much of the
first half on the bench after pick-
ing up his second foul minutes into
the game. He didn't score his first
points until that run-ending bas-
ket midway through the second
half, finishing with a season-low
five points.
Novak, freshman point guard
Trey Burke and sophomore for-
ward Evan Smotrycz took the
burden of the scoring in the
game, but it was far too little to
give Michigan a chance to win.
"We just have to learn from
our mistakes and come back Sat-
urday (against Iowa State) with a
different mentality," Hardaway
Jr. said.
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ANDREW SHURTLEFF/AP
Sophomore gaurd Tim Hardaway Jr. was held in check by Virginia's defense. He
finished with a season-low five points.
things. You're playing on the
road, teams are going to make a
run."
Added Michigan coach John
Beilein: "We got ourselves in
foul trouble a little bit and that
certainly hurt our first-half per-
formance. I felt we missed some
easy ones in the first half. We had
foul trouble in the first half (and)
probably could have got out on
them a little bit, but I don't know
if it helps us win the game the
way they played the second half."
Comprehending how this one slipped away
Charlottesville, Va. -
Deciphering Michigan's
70-58 road loss to Vir-
ginia
last night is a
game of elimi-
nation.
So let's play. a
Did
Michigan lose
because of
poor shoot-
ing? No. The LUCAS
Wolverines PASCH
shot 44 per-
cent from the
field and a blistering 45.5 per-
cent from behind the arc. Their
10 3-pointers were actually the
most the team has hit in a game
all season.
Some of those points came off
desperation 3-pointers toward
the end of the game, but it was
still encouraging for Michigan
coach John Beilein to see play-
ers not named Tim Hardaway Jr.
knocking down shots.
Was Virginia's unique pack-
line defense too much to handle?
Maybe in the first half, but
Michigan still finished with an
acceptable 58 points. The Cava-
liers entered the game second
in the nation in scoring defense,
allowing just 45.3 points per
game.
Beilein said after the game
that he thought his team was
poised on the offensive end.
"I'm not crazy about scoring
58 points," Beilein said. "But not
a lot of teams may score 58 points
against them. Thank goodness
we made some threes to be able
to do that, but they're tough to
get easy baskets (against)."
Did point guard Trey Burke
cave under the pressure of play-
ing in the first truly hostile envi-
ronment of his career? Not so
much. The freshman didn't shoot
as well as he usually does, but he
still finished with 11 points and
made some dazzling drives to
the rim.
In fact, the offense stagnated
when Beilein decided to give
Burke a couple minutes of rest
midway through the second half.
That may not be the only reason
Virginia went on a 15-0 run, but
it does seem that the Michigan
offense presents a more poised
attack when Burke runs the
point.
And outside of one play early
in the first half when Virginia's
Jontel Evans crossed up Burke
on a highlight-worthy drive to
the hoop, Burke's on-ball defense
was solid.
Was the loss due to a lack of
post presence? Not really. For-
wards Jordan Morgan and Jon
Horford didn't play particu-
larly well, but they didn't get
a whole lot of minutes, either.
Beilein's offensive game plan
consisted of guards shoot-
ing from the perimeter and
cutting into the lane, partly
because Cavalier forward
Mike Scott and center Assane
Sene are great at limiting
opposing big men.
Did Hardaway Jr.'s lack of
production hurt Michigan?
Sure, but it wasn't the key factor
in Michigan's loss. It definitely
hurt when Hardaway Jr. took
the bench because of foul trouble
just five minutes into the contest,
but the Wolverines were still
shooting the ball at a prolific
rate.
And when Hardaway Jr. was
in the game, his drives to the
basket were sloppy and resulted
in a couple of turnovers.
Did Michigan lose because
of Virginia's domination of the
glass?
Yes - an emphatic yes.
The Cavaliers finished the
game with 36 rebounds, com-
pared to just 26 for the Wolver-
ines. Worse yet, 10 of Virginia's
boards came on the offensive
end. On a couple of possessions,
the Cavaliers would get second
and third chances before scoring.
And when Michigan shot the
ball, it was hard to count how
many times there were only
white and orange jerseys crash-
ing the boards, without even a
hint of maize in the scrum. It
was as if Beilein had all five guys
retreating to play transition
defense on every possession. And
because of it, the Wolverines
snatched just three offensive
rebounds.
Sure, the reboundingtrouble
was partly because Michigan's
bigs didn't see the floor the whole
night. But there almost seemed to
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Freshman gaurd Trey Burke scored 11 points and shot 4-of-10 from the field.
be a total lack of effort.
At least the team realized it.
Everyone from the young Burke
to senior co-captain Zack Novak,
was quick to note the rebound
disparity in the locker room after
the game.
"I think the big thing is
rebounding," Novak said. "I'm
goingto guess we had fewer pos-
sessions (than usual) this game."
Novak guessed right - and
for the Wolverines, that spelled
a loss.
-Pasch can be reached
at lpasch@umich.edu or on
Twitter @LucasPasch.
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