6A — Thursday, January 12, 2017
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Michigan’s defensive problems 

start in the post

C

HAMPAIGN — The 
emergence of Moritz 
Wagner and DJ Wilson 

has given the Michigan men’s 
basketball 
team an 
offensive 
dimension it 
hasn’t seen 
in the John 
Beilein era.

The forwards, who both have 

two years of eligibility remaining, 
have shown flashes of upside in 
their respective scoring abilities. 
Just over a week ago, Wilson 
hung 28 points on an Iowa team 
that couldn’t find an answer for 
stopping the 6-foot-10 redshirt 
sophomore. Wagner, too, had 
a solid 17-point performance 
against Penn State seven days 
ago.

But while much of the 

attention around the two 
forwards was centered around 
what the pair can add offensively, 
the defensive liabilities of 
Wagner and Wilson were 
severely underestimated.

The cracks have always been 

there, but have especially begun 
to show themselves since the 
start of Big Ten play.

Against the Hawkeyes, the 

Wolverines were a possession 
away from stealing a conference 
road win. But an offensive 
rebound and putback could have 
been prevented, or at least made 
more difficult, by having a big 
box-out below the hoop allowed 
Iowa to tie the game and send it 
to overtime.

Penn State and Maryland saw 

the defensive flaws the Hawkeyes 
had managed to unearth and 
built game plans around them. 
Nittany Lion forward Lamar 
Simmons and Terrapin forward 
Demonte Dodd were both key to 
their teams building substantial 
leads against the Wolverines in 
their own building.

With those performances 

in the past week, it wasn’t 
hard for Illinois to come up 
with the blueprint to expose 
the Michigan defense, but the 
degree to which the Fighting 

Illini dominated the interior is 
the most concerning.

Illinois attacked the 

Wolverines at the post early and 
often. Fighting Illini forwards 
Maverick Morgan and Leron 
Black scored Illinois’ first 10 
points jumpers and hook shots 
that Wolverine defenders allowed 
too much space on. Morgan, who 
entered Wednesday averaging 
9.4 points per game, finished the 
first half with 12 points on 6-for-7 
shooting.

Morgan simply outsmarted 

Michigan’s post defenders. He 
varied his shot selection, passed 
the ball out when he needed 
to and used 
his experience 
to outplay the 
defense.

“Everything 

they were doing 
out there we saw 
on film,” Wilson 
said. “They hit 
a lot of short 
rolls, 15-footers. 
(Morgan) in 
general, he was 
8-for-9 from the 
field and it felt 
like he didn’t 
miss one of those. We scouted it. 
We watched a lot of film. They 
just executed well.”

Physicality has also been 

an element of the Wolverines’ 
struggles down low, especially 
in the case of Wagner and 
senior forward Mark Donnal. 
Wagner has been timid in using 
his body and frame to box out 
and take on opponents crashing 
the boards, while, at 6-foot-9, 
Donnal is undersized at the 
position.

Michigan’s pair playing the ‘5’ 

had no rebounds in the first half 
and as a team the Wolverines had 
given up just as many offensive 
rebounds as defensive rebounds 
they grabbed themselves.

Those are the stats that will 

make winning any game in the 
Big Ten just about impossible.

Much has been made of 

Michigan’s struggles defending 
the perimeter the past couple 

games. The Wolverines are last 
in the conference in 3-point 
defense and had another 
concerning outing, allowing 
Illinois to shoot 64-percent from 
behind the arc.

But much of the Fighting 

Illini’s success shooting the ball 
from deep on Wednesday came 
from their plays in the paint.

Illinois forwards were 

drawing Wolverine perimeter 
defenders inside to play help 
defense, leaving guards open on 
the outside to make shots.

Morgan, again, was the one 

making this happen, and earned 
four assists on the night.

It’s hard 

to completely 
put the blame 
of Michigan’s 
defensive 
struggles solely 
on its post 
players, because, 
as tonight 
showed, they 
just don’t have 
the experience 
to matchup with 
mature Big Ten 
forwards.

Wagner and 

Wilson both started just their 
fourth Big Ten game Wednesday, 
and multiple times every game 
they seem to have forgotten 
their fundamental defensive 
principals.

That’s what’s been holding 

back the Wolverines’ defense the 
most.

And now it’s solely up to John 

Beilein and his assistants to solve 
a problem that is so simple to 
identify yet so hard to fix in the 
middle of a conference season.

“Our worst defensive teams 

were not like this,” Beilein said. 
“I don’t think schematically it’s 
anything to do with anything. 
We get there. We know where we 
are. But we don’t get there and 
guard people and effect people’s 
shots. It’s that simple.”

Carney can be reached at 

@becarney@umich.edu and 

on Twitter @br_carney

Wolverines blown out by Illinois in Champaign

CHAMPAIGN — After Illinois 

guard Te’Jon Lucas nailed a wide 
open floater — made possible by 
three Wolverines all guarding 
one man — 
to put the 
Fighting 
Illini 
up 

by 20 with 8:57 left in the game, 
Michigan men’s basketball coach 
John Beilein buried his head into 
his hands on the bench.

The play was indicative of a 

defensive effort that gave too 
much room for Illinois’ offense 
to operate as Michigan lost, 
85-69, on Wednesday night at 
the State Farm Center.

With both teams giving up 

over 78 points per game in Big 
Ten play, a high-scoring game 
was expected.

From the get-go, the two 

teams traded buckets, as both 
the Wolverines (1-3 Big Ten, 
11-6 overall) and the Fighting 
Illini amassed 1.3 points per 
possession in the first half.

Just like last Saturday against 

Maryland, 
Michigan 
couldn’t 

handle the opposing team’s big 
men. Illinois (2-2, 12-5) forward 
Maverick Morgan, who averages 
9.4 points per 
game, 
put 
up 

12 points in the 
first 
half 
on 

6-of-7 shooting. 
Morgan finished 
the game with 16 
points.

“Morgan’s 

really 
improved 
his 

game,” Beilein 
said. “I love the 
way they’ve developed him over 
time. Frankly, he hasn’t been 
a factor every time we played 
them in the past. ... The hook 
shots early hurt us, and that 
15-foot jumper; I don’t recall 
him making those in the past. 
We were playing off him, and 
he was great.”

The 
Fighting 
Illini 
also 

dominated the glass, grabbing 
16 rebounds (six offensive) to 
Michigan’s six (zero offensive).

“I did not like that our two 

biggest guys did not have 
a defensive rebound or an 
offensive rebound at halftime,” 

Beilein said. “And 
(Illinois forward 
Kipper Nichols), 
who barely made 
our 
scouting 

report, had four. 
The 
(defensive 

rebounding) was 
more troubling to 
me.”

Much has been 

said 
about 
the 

Wolverines’ weak 

perimeter 
defense 
through 

their first three conference 
games, and it wasn’t much 
better against Illinois. The 
Fighting Illini made 9-of-14 
from beyond the arc and shot 63 
percent overall.

Illinois 
stayed 
strong 

throughout the first half while 
Michigan 
faltered, 
and 
the 

Fighting Illini closed the break 
on a 17-2 run after senior guard 
Derrick Walton Jr. was given a 
technical foul to give the home 
team a 49-36 lead heading into 
halftime.

“I’ve coached Derrick for a 

long time,” Beilein said. “When 
I saw him do that, I couldn’t 
believe what I was seeing. He’s 
never done that, not in practice. 
I don’t think he can explain why 
he did that.”

Added Walton: “It’s inexcusable 

to kind of react like that. I 
understood the call, but it was 
costly to our team and I apologized 
to the ref and my teammates.”

Junior guard Muhammad-

Ali Abdur-Rakhman led the 
team with 12 points in the first 
half, but ended the game with 
just 14. Redshirt sophomore 
forward DJ Wilson was right 
behind him with 10 points in 
the first half, but unlike Abdur-
Rakhman, 
Wilson 
finished 

strong with a game-high 19 
points.

The second half didn’t start 

much better for the Wolverines, 
as Illinois scored on five of its 
first seven possessions while 
Michigan’s 
offense 
waned. 

The Wolverines shot just 37.5 
percent in the final stanza after 
finishing the first half shooting 
63.6 percent.

After 
Beilein 
said 
the 

Wolverines spent much of the 
week working on defensive 
fundamentals, he had hoped 
Michigan would answer against 
a team ranked 80th in the 
NCAA in scoring offense.

Instead, the Wolverines will 

travel home to Ann Arbor with 
many 
more 
questions 
than 

answers.

“People find a way to get 

open,” Beilein said. “When Lucas 
is 2-for-5 (from beyond the arc 
this season), and he banks one 
in, we’re not even surprised 
anymore. Kipper has not made 
a three yet. When he put it in, 
we’re not surprised anymore.

“The ball is just small and the 

basket’s real big when you’re 
playing Michigan right now.”

MINH DOAN

Daily Sports Editor

AMELIA CACCHIONE/Daily

Michigan coach John Beilein’s wWolverineswere outrebounded 

The ball is just 

small and the 

basket’s real big

MICHIGAN
ILLINOIS

69
85

MICHIGAN
ILLINOIS

Field Goal Percentage

3-Point Field Goal Percentage

Points Off Turnovers

Offensive Rebounds

Defensive Rebounds

Turnovers

Bench Points

Time Leading

53

50

18

4

13

8

9

1:39

64

Final
69
85

64

17

8

22

11

28

32:37

Our worst 

defensive teams 

were not like 

this

BRANDON 
CARNEY

On Basketball

