8 — Friday, February 28, 2020
Sports
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
WITH BROOKS OUT,
D’MITRIK TRICE
TORCHES MICHIGAN’S
DEFENSE AS BADGERS
TOP WOLVERINES, 81-74
KEEMYA ESMAEL / Daily
TRICE
COLD
Comeback falls short as Wisconsin
beats Wolverines, 81-74, at Crisler
There are a lot of adjectives
that describe Thursday night’s
matchup between Michigan and
Wisconsin.
Gritty. Streaky. Roller coaster.
And at the end of it all, the
Wolverines (18-10 overall, 9-8
Big Ten) fell to Wisconsin (18-10,
11-6), 81-74, after an inconsistent
offensive performance and an
onslaught of drained 3-pointers
by the Badgers.
Despite the spotty offense,
the Wolverines embarked on
plenty of electric scoring runs.
But it was on defense where they
struggled most.
Wisconsin
shoots
more
3-pointers
than
anyone
else in the Big Ten, and the
Wolverines fell behind when
those shots started hitting. At
times, Wisconsin’s lead seemed
an
uncrossable
chasm,
and
Michigan seemed ill-equipped
to stop it from growing.
“We did a very bad job of
defending on the perimeter,”
Michigan coach Juwan Howard
said. “Overall, our defense did
not get enough stops. … Huge let
down. On the entire team, as far
as how we’re defending. And a
poor job from me on preparing
our guys, so I’ll take the blame
on it. I didn’t prepare them very
well.”
The Wolverines got off to a
slow start on both ends of the
court without junior guard
Eli Brooks, who was sidelined
after sustaining a nose injury
against Purdue last Saturday.
After settling into the game,
the offense seemed to find its
rhythm after making some quick
shots, but it was a rhythm they
fell in and out of throughout the
course of the game. Michigan
paid for that inconsistency late
in the game.
“We made a couple runs
in the second half, and then
they made some tough shots,”
freshman wing Franz Wagner
said. “I don’t think we lost the
game in the second half. I think
we just didn’t play like we have
to in the first half. They got into
a rhythm, and they made us pay
at the end.”
But, as Wisconsin slowed
down,
Michigan
gradually
made its way back into the
game, fighting back from a
14-point deficit to draw even
with 15 minutes remaining in
regulation. But again, the game
slipped out of its hands.
With 10 minutes left, the
game was again within reach
for the Wolverines. But even
when the game was close, or
felt close, Michigan just could
not do enough to control the
game the way it needed. The
Wolverines couldn’t get shots
to fall when they needed them
most. And they couldn’t stop
Wisconsin from sinking dagger
after dagger.
“We always talk about getting
stops and getting out for wide
open
dunks,
layups,
threes
and getting to the free throw
line,” sophomore guard David
DeJulius said. “We didn’t get an
opportunity to play pace-and-
space.”
The pieces are there. The
offensive power Michigan put
on against Michigan State and
Indiana. The gritty defense
the Wolverines played against
Rutgers
and
Northwestern.
When Michigan is able to put
those things together, it has
a chance at beating any team
in
college
basketball.
The
Wolverines proved that in the
Bahamas, and over the five-
game winning streak that just
ended.
But against Wisconsin on
Thursday night, Michigan just
couldn’t piece together enough
to win.
It was, more than anything
else, a matter of consistency.
And the Wolverines couldn’t
seem to find it.
Without Brooks, defense struggles
When Juwan Howard was
asked about Eli Brooks’s nose on
Wednesday, he leaned back in
his podium chair and laughed.
During the Michigan men’s
basketball
team’s
win
over
Purdue last Saturday, the junior
guard found himself at the
wrong place at the wrong time
during a Boilermaker baseline
inbounds pass. As he trailed
his defensive assignment, the
shoulder of a Purdue screener
caught him square in the face.
The collison fractured his nose.
For
a
while,
Howard’s
laughter didn’t stop. If there’s
anyone familiar enough with
the injury to chuckle, it’s the
Wolverines’ first-year coach,
who broke his nose three times
during his 19-year NBA career.
But when Howard took a
seat at the same podium a mere
30 hours later, there was no
laughter. As Brooks watched
from
the
bench
in
street
clothes, his nose swallowed by a
bandage, Michigan’s perimeter
defense — his personal calling
card — proved to be its pitfall in
an 81-74 loss to Wisconsin.
“(Brooks) is our anchor,”
Howard said. “Yes, (senior point
guard) Zavier (Simpson) is a
John Wooden finalist for one
of the (top-10) best defensive
players
this
year,
but
I’m
surprised Eli is not mentioned
as one of the best defensive
players this season because
he has been the anchor of our
defense. Just his presence — we
saw how we missed his activity,
we missed his energy, being
able to guard guys and attention
to detail when it comes to the
scouting report.”
The
defeat
snapped
the
Wolverines’ five-game winning
streak
—
a
season-altering
stretch defined by a defensive
turnaround. Over the three
weeks leading up to Thursday,
Michigan’s
defense
allowed
opponents to score an average
of just 60.4 points on 37 percent
shooting.
For nearly a month, Brooks
had been at the forefront of that
revival.
Without
Brooks,
the
Wolverines
repeatedly
surrendered
uncontested
looks, opening the door for
the Badgers to
cruise
to
81
points
on
a
54-percent
shooting
clip.
It
was
the
highest
field
goal percentage
Michigan
has
allowed at home
this season.
“Eli
is
the
best
defender
on our team,” freshman wing
Franz Wagner said. “He brings
it every night. So we missed
him, definitely. … We didn’t
communicate well enough and
our energy, especially in the
first half, it was horrible.”
The
impact
of
Brooks’s
absence was apparent from the
start. Wisconsin canned its first
three attempts from beyond the
arc, opening up a double-digit
lead just five minutes into the
game.
The Badgers, who entered
the night with the conference’s
second-best
3-point
clip,
eventually used their success
from beyond the arc to create
pump-fake opportunities and
driving lanes. The approach
kept Michigan on its heels for
much of the first half, and by the
final buzzer, Wisconsin guard
D’Mitrik Trice’s 28 points were
enough to leave Crisler Center
with a win.
Without
Brooks,
the
Wolverines
allowed
Trice
to enjoy a 10-for-16 shooting
mark. Simpson, Wagner and
sophomore
guard
David
DeJulius all tried their hands at
stopping him on the perimeter,
only to see him post a 5-of-6
performance from deep that
impacted
more than just
Michigan’s
defense.
“We didn’t get
an opportunity
to
play
pace-
and-space,”
DeJulius
said.
“The gameplan
(was)
to
run
them
off
the
3-point line. We
understand the great assets
they have from beyond the
line.”
When the Wolverines did
find ways to put a hand in
Trice’s face, they were plagued
by
miscommunications
that
left other Wisconsin shooters
open behind the 3-point line.
They ultimately surrendered a
season-worst 11 3-pointers.
To DeJulius, the root of the
problem cut deeper than the
surface.
“It’s not really about X’s and
O’s,” he said. “It’s about effort
and what’s inside your heart.”
ABBY SNYDER
Daily Sports Writer
I think we just
didn’t play (the
way) we have
to in the first
half, they got
into a rhythm
... made us pay.
DANIEL DASH
Daily Sports Writer
(Eli Brooks)
has been the
anchor of our
defense.