NOTEBOOK: Michigan struggles for the second straight game from the free-throw line

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. - If there is one thing that has been baffling about Michigan’s play at the Old Spice Classic, it is the way the Wolverines have shot at the free-throw line.

A team of talented shooters from mid-to-long range, Michigan has struggled shooting free throws in its win Thursday over Creighton and again on Friday against Marquette.

Michigan missed six free throws Friday, including two each from guards Manny Harris and Laval Lucas-Perry.

This a day after the Wolverines missed 10 free throws, including five from Harris and two from Lucas-Perry.

“I don’t know,” Harris said after Thursday’s game. “It was probably the screen that was behind (the basket). I kept looking at myself on the screen.

“I don’t know what it was. I just got to keep practicing and stay focused.”

Harris shot 86.3 percent from the free-throw line last season. So far this year, he’s dropped to 69.4 percent. Lucas-Perry was a 78.2 percent shooter from the line last year. This year, he’s down to 57.1 percent.

But there hasn’t been an explanation for the sudden downturn in the shooting.

“Probably our focus,” Michigan forward DeShawn Sims said. “Marquette was hitting their free throws and we just have to do a little better job focusing and sticking with our rhythm and just knocking shots down.”

Not much rest for Manny Harris
Michigan, for the second straight game, tried to find some rest time for Harris. And for the second straight game, circumstances dictated the junior guard playing almost the entire time.

After playing nearly all 45 minutes on Thursday, Harris played 38 minutes Friday, in until the end when Michigan coach John Beilein pulled Harris for freshman Eso Akunne.

“I probably should have given Manny a rest in the first half, but we didn’t because we were down,” Beilein said. “If we were even it would have been a little different. I sensed that there were some guys who were tired.”

Beilein, though, wasn’t mixing-and-matching lineups because things weren’t working. He was just trying to keep fresh legs in the game.

He was hampered, too, because he felt he couldn’t go to the Wolverines’ big lineup due to the speed and slashing ability of Marquette’s big men.

“I was convinced it wasn’t the way you were going to beat them,” Beilein said. “To become even slower with how they were playing.”

Need a Disney Ticket?
Marquette coach Buzz Williams didn’t seem all that excited about the prospect of galavanting around with Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse and Goofy.

“They get to go, one of the gentlemen out there told us we get to go to the, uh, Disney World,” Williams said. “You want to go? You can have my ticket.”

Tickets for admittance to Disney World, by the way, are running close to $100. Same with Universal Studios Florida.

This and that
Both Michigan and Marquette will do the theme park shuffle on the teams’ off-day Saturday. The Wolverines, though, will work on some things in a walkthrough setting. … Michigan trailed for the majority of the game and led once, 2-0, at the 19:32 mark of the first half.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein.