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