When the Michigan basketball team hit the hardwood today against Maryland-Baltimore
County, a bit of a recurring theme limited their effectiveness during the early
portion of the game. Turnovers helped keep the visitors within striking distance
for much of the first half. The Wolverines were tossing the ball everywhere
except to their teammates, resulting in 11 turnovers before the break. That
keyed the offensive production for UMBC, as they turned those miscues into
20 points.
Much of the Michigan's ineffectiveness stemmed from the zone UMBC employed
for the majority of the game. The home team was getting plenty of scoring
opportunities, some of which were just two feet away from the bucket, but they
just wouldn’t fall. Fortunately for the Maize & Blue, the interior
duo of Courtney Sims and Brent Petway continued their strong early season play. Sims'
seven points and six rebounds combined with Petway’s eight points and
four rebounds helped the home team cling to a 26-24 lead despite shooting just
9/24(37.5%) in the first half.
The Wolverines came out with better passing and less turnovers in the second
half to take control of the game. Not only did they continue to punch it down
low, they also began to convert many of the easy opportunities that they were
missing before the break. Michigan had 14 points off of offensive rebounds,
as there size and energy inside continued to be a plus. It also helped
that they began getting to the free throw line.
"I thought we certainly needed a stronger, smarter and positive second
half," Tommy Amaker said after the game. "I challenged them
at halftime about being smarter and we were able to get the ball down the court
a little faster and beat the zone down the floor. We had better touches and
better movement. We were positive on our shots; we took them with aggression
in a positive way. My pet peeve about basketball and I can't shake it from
our team as well, is that teams and players play if they're scoring. I thought
we played better in the second half because we shot it and scored, which helped
us play better defense as well."
As has been the case for many games in this young season, when key players
struggle, there are others there to pick up the slack. Lester Abram and Dion Harris didn’t score their averages, but Ronnie Coleman and Jerret Smith
chipped in to help. Michigan’s interior defense continued to impress
as well, as UMBC found it difficult to score down low. The play of Petway and
Sims has carried the team on both ends of the court in many games this season,
and it certainly did this afternoon in the Wolverines 66-54 victory over UMBC. Sims
finished the contest with his second double-double of the season, noticing
18 points and 12 rebounds. Petway chimed in with 14 points and five boards
respectively.
"It's nice that we've developed an importance emphasis on playing inside
out and those guys (Sims and Petway) have delivered for us," said Amaker. "We've
gotten it in there (in the post) and they've been strong around the bucket
and finishing around the goal. It's a nice luxury to be able to feed the ball
to our post guys."
For more on the game, click the following links: Boxscore, Notes,
and Quotes.
The biggest test this season comes Monday when Michigan travels to North Carolina State to play in the ACC- Big Ten challenge. This will be there first road
game and it will be interesting to see how they handle the environment and
well as the game itself. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 PM and will be broadcast
live on ESPN2.