It wasn't the most impressive effort of the season by Tommy Amaker's Wolverines,
but the end result was the same as it had been it the five previous contests
this year. The seniors led the way for the Maize and Blue, and it was
Brent Petway that stepped to the fore with the most impressive performance
of all of the elder-statesmen. "Air Georgia" chimed in with
his second double-double of the season, notching 13 points and 10 rebounds. Amaker
singled out his senior forward's performance as the key to the game.
"Brent, in our opinion as a coaching staff, was the only bright spot
for us this evening," he said. "I was not pleased with our
performance in the last part of the second half and certainly the majority
of the first half. I was incredibly impressed and pleased with how Brent played.
I thought he was one of the reasons we were able to get a cushion in the first
half. We were able to balance and push things out, and he was right in the
middle of it. I thought he was the reason we were able to get a lead in the
first half. Then certainly push ahead with a big lead in the second half”.
Petway's work on the boards was invaluable as evidenced by Michigan's 10 points
off of offensive rebounds in the first half. The Wolverines went up by
as many as 13 points before heading into the half with a 35-23 lead.
Amaker's club came out more efficiently in the second half. They continued
to make it a point to go to Courtney Sims in the paint, and he responded with
18 points on the game. The Wolverines went on a 23-8 run to extend there
lead to a 58-31 lead at the 10:01 mark. The Wolverines seemed ready to cruise
to a comfortable double-digit victory, but sub par play from the bench allowed
the visitors to knife into the lead.
Michigan was outscored 21-6 down the stretch by Youngstown State. Amaker
had gone to his bench to pretty much finish the game. He left no more than
one or two starters in the game at a time despite the undesirable play he was
witnessing. The message to the bench players was clear; they have to
play with the same effort and intensity as the starters, and they too have
to be prepared to finish games.
“We are still experimenting and learning about ourselves," Amaker
said regarding his bench. That is a piece of the puzzle that is coming
to where things are getting fined tuned. Still those guys should have finished
the game much better then they did. I thought we played, in the later
stages, without a sense of urgency. I didn't like the way we were going about
it. It looked as if we thought we had the game won and we were just going to
try and play it out, as opposed to those kids (i.e. the younger players) trying
to earn more playing time by how they're playing when they hit the floor. If
you're going to put that uniform on, you're going to get out there to play.
It doesn't matter what the score is, you're supposed to play a certain way,
and I'm not pleased with the effort we gave in the last part of the second
half."
For more on the game, click the following links: Boxscore, Notes, and Quotes.
Turnovers have not hurt the Wolverines as of yet, but they'll need to protect
the ball better in the coming weeks. As the games become more competitive
(North Carolina State, UCLA and Georgetown), the focus and intensity will have
to get better.
The Wolverines will next hit the hardwood Saturday when they host Maryland-Baltimore
County. Tip-off is scheduled for 2PM EST at Crisler Arena.