Michigan basketball wins its sixth straight game, beating Oakland 69-51
Michigan guard Darius Morris lays in a fast break during the Wolverines' 69-51 win over Oakland Saturday at Crisler Arena. Morris scored a team-high 18 points, but the team's defense was the key to victory.
Angela J. Cesere | AnnArbor.com
Updated 3:32 p.m.
Hidden in the back of Evan Smotrycz’s locker hung a grey T-shirt. The blue lettering framed a picture of Crisler Arena with three simple words: “Guard Your Yard.”
Winning at home has been a theme for Michigan basketball this season. In the Wolverines’ 69-51 win over Oakland on Saturday afternoon, they did that against their best interior opponent to date.
Facing future NBA draft pick Keith Benson, Michigan forced the fifth-year senior into his worst game of the season. While doing so, the Wolverines learned something about themselves.
They are a pretty good defensive team.
“They are very much like a Big Ten team, big perimeter, big bigs, tough down low and shooting from the outside," Michigan junior guard Stu Douglass said of Oakland. “We did a good job helping, recovering and just playing good man-to-man defense.”
Benson consistently saw double-teams as part of a gameplan drawn up by assistant coach Jeff Meyer. Whenever Benson touched the ball, Smotrycz — or whoever played the four position — sagged down behind the 6-foot-11 post player and forced him to either pass out of the post or put up a contested shot.
Michigan held Benson to 11 points and seven rebounds while rotating forwards Jordan Morgan, Jon Horford and Blake McLimans on him.
That made Michigan turn Oakland into a 3-point shooting team and the Grizzlies failed. They made just 6 of 31 shots from 3-point range and the only Oakland player to make one was guard Reggie Hamilton, who scored 23 points.
The effort also showed Michigan (9-2) that it might be able to hang with some of the better teams in the Big Ten.
Michigan did something Purdue, Michigan State, Illinois and Tennessee couldn’t do to Oakland (6-6). The Wolverines built a 20-point lead on them early in the second half after a Tim Hardaway Jr. 3-pointer from the baseline made it 44-24.
“I think we just solidified what we already knew,” junior guard Zack Novak said. “We’re hanging our hat on the defensive end. We can really guard some people.”
It is that defense, too, that carries Michigan on offense.
The Wolverines didn’t fast break much and scored only 11 points off turnovers, but they beat Oakland in transition. It kept the Grizzlies always watching for cuts and the pick-and-roll.
Michigan coach John Beilein preached before the season that if the Wolverines were going to win, it was going to be due to their defense — not their offense.
“We haven’t given them much of a choice,” Beilein said Saturday.
But in some ways, Beilein did. They could not play defense, something the Wolverines did at times last year, and lose. Or they could believe in the defense and really learn man-to-man instead of switching in-and-out of man and myriad zones. Doing so gave Michigan what it craved.
A chance to win.
The defense led to the offense, which was led by 18 points from sophomore guard Darius Morris and a double-double of 13 points and 12 rebounds from Novak. Every Michigan player that played more than five minutes had at least four points.
“It really showed that we’re emphasizing defense, defense, defense,” Morris said. “A lot of coaches, teams, think we’re offense-oriented.
“But our defense is our offense.”
Michael Rothstein covers 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.
Comments
ChelseaBob
Sun, Dec 19, 2010 : 8:49 a.m.
Michigan is playing better basketball with less talent. That means team basketball and that comes from coaching. I don't how far they'll go, but this will be a fun season. Hardaway hasn't started to show what he can do. Once he hits his groove, we could be scary good. Nice job coach Beilein. In addition to being a good coach, he's a good human being who cares about his kids.
rensational
Sun, Dec 19, 2010 : 5:19 a.m.
I know it's premature, but you can't help but think ahead--I kept wondering throughout the game what this means for Michigan and Michigan State. Michigan State struggled a lot with Oakland, really could have lost that game...it came down to the end. Oakland comes back after that loss and beats Tennessee, top 10 team (certainly overrated, I know)...and then Michigan blows Oakland out, essentially. And Oakland DOES remind me of a Big Ten team. I also keep seeing people say "this is not Michigan's year" and "Michigan might be a NIT team" and such...wondered about that throughout the game, too. Michigan's season so far, more and more, reminds me of the 2008-2009 season when everyone thought Michigan was just going to the NIT, too. I'm not saying Michigan is NCAA Tournament-caliber; I'm saying I sometimes find myself feeling as if I'm watching a team that is really overachieving, which was how Michigan was 08-09. And then I keep looking around at how overrated the top-half Big Ten teams seem so far, and I am not sure I would rule out Michigan getting enough nice upsets in the conference to make the NCAA Tournament. I don't think, at least right now, Michigan State, Illinois, Purdue, Wisconsin are unbeatable, especially in Ann Arbor. Almost every Big Ten team we play in Ann Arbor I see as beatable there, judging from what they've done so far. We get Iowa twice, Indiana twice, Penn State twice, Northwestern at home. We also get Kansas at our house, and that's a big opportunity for Michigan against a team that also has looked a little vulnerable. I will say, though, that I think Michigan's D is getting too much credit in this game. I saw a lot of open shots Oakland had, good shots, where the ball just didn't go down. It wasn't Oakland's day, their schedule is insane and they were off and tired...probably too emotional a game for them, too. Like one of the commentators said, this was not a good time to get Michigan. They probably could have been way more competitive with Michigan earlier on in their schedule.
Radz5221
Sun, Dec 19, 2010 : 12:02 a.m.
Well Michigan pretty much just mugged Benson all game long in the post, which was pretty effective. But the real killer was Wright just never got going.
Engineer
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 5:02 p.m.
Truly suprising given how poor JBs teams have been. I do not know if we can truly say they are Big Ten caliber until we see how we do night in and night out in the big ten. The last decade has been brutal for big blue in the big ten. Last year was a down right embarassment. Nice job today but lets keep it up. Gaurd your yard against Purdue, MSU, and Illinois and I will truly be impressed! Go Blue!
daddyo
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 5 p.m.
Very encouraging game today. This team looks very much more balanced than it did last year with Manny and DeShawn. At times, however I have seen Darius 'dribble around' a lot. I know it's his team but I don't want to see it turn into a one man show. Great game, keep it up boys!! Go Blue!!!!!!!
A2D2
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 4:15 p.m.
This may not be UM's year, but it's certainly a glimpse of things to come. A talented, disciplined, improving team! Keep it up!
Marshall Applewhite
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 2:35 p.m.
Darius Morris is really good. Great win today.
MikeB
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 2:30 p.m.
Good game, a key for me was the ability to come back after Oakland staged the second half rally and got within 10, and had the very real possibility of getting to a single digit deficit. Michigan came back, kept its poise and rebuilt its lead. Nice to see a team play well together. This (in my opinion) is still not their year but they are playing better than I expected before the season started. The best I see for them is mid-pack in the strong Big 10 but maybe an NCAA berth instead of the NIT? Kudos all around. They may have a team award named for Novak when he is gone, a real gritty player!
cnorman
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 2:26 p.m.
zack novak 6'3 tall and 6'2 of it is heart. a very very promising effort---
azwolverine
Sat, Dec 18, 2010 : 2:14 p.m.
Go Blue! Nice win considering what Oakland did to Tennessee.