Michigan basketball team suffers from lack of leadership

Michigan basketball coach John Beilein is searching for more leadership on his team. (Photo: Melanie Maxwell | AnnArbor.com)

Of Michigan’s many flaws - no reliable third scoring option, no big man to bang down low, an allergic reaction to rebounding - the most terminal in this hard-to-watch basketball season is a glaring lack of on-court leadership.

“When things are going south, the leadership has to come from more than just me,” Michigan coach John Beilein said after the Wolverines snapped a 2-game Big Ten winning streak with a 68-62 loss to Northwestern. “That’s the thing we’re working out. … It comes from some people, it’s got to come from more.”

In a game Michigan had to have for its fading NCAA tournament hopes, Beilein said his team “got distracted” by its offensive struggles after Northwestern tightened its 1-3-1 zone defense.

He saw players panic after turnovers, pout after missed calls and let their minds wander when they were passed over for open shots.

By the 7-minute mark of the second half, Michigan’s 17-point first-half lead had turned into a 10-point deficit, and though the Wolverines went ahead briefly in the final minutes, bad decision-making did them in in the end.

“That’s my guess,” Beilein said. “There’s some reason why you would have good attention to detail in the first half and when things are not going well, all of a sudden you don’t have attention in the second half and you just lose it.”

Youth is one explanation, and the fact that Michigan is playing without a true point guard. Pseudo-ball handler Stu Douglass had a costly turnover against full-court pressure with a minute to play that started Northwestern’s game-closing 7-0 run.

Another is the makeup of Michigan’s team.

Manny Harris is a Big Ten Player of the Year candidate, the Wolverines’ leading scorer and rebounder, but he’s not a get-in-your-face guy. DeShawn Sims has been a drifter most of his career, and Zack Novak, a player any Big Ten coach would want on his team, is a year away from taking that mantle.

Beilein acknowledged again Sunday that Michigan misses guards C.J. Lee and David Merritt, walk-ons who helped will the overachieving Wolverines to the tournament last year.

“Every time down the court one of them would have been clapping and yelling at everybody saying, ‘This stop. We can do this. We can do this,’” Beilein said. “That hasn’t grown as much. I think Manny and Zack do a real good job at that. Others got to continue to do that. It’s not everybody.

“Ideally, you see some of the good teams, they have 5 guys out there all ready to go, all hitting the floor ready to play. So we got to continue to do that.”

Players haven’t given up on making a repeat trip to the tournament yet, nor should they. But at 8-7 overall and 2-2 in conference, they know what kind of hole they’re sitting in.

Indiana comes to town for a must-win game Thursday and No. 13 UConn visits next weekend in Michigan’s final chance for a signature non-conference win. The UConn game starts the most daunting 4-game stretch on Michigan’s schedule, with road trips to Wisconsin and Purdue up next, followed by a home date with Michigan State.

By then, the Wolverines will know exactly where they stand.

"We still believe we can make it to the tournament," Harris said. “It’s not early anymore, but we still got chances and everyone wants to go to the tournament so we’re still going to work hard."

That's reassuring, but at this point in the season, chances are it’s not enough.

Dave Birkett covers University of Michigan football for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached by phone at 734-623-2552 or by e-mail at davidbirkett@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.