Juwan Howard’s first season running the program at his alma mater has certainly been an interesting one. It has had some real highs, but also some thuds. There has been plenty of promise, plenty of adversity to overcome, and no doubt plenty of lessons learned by players and coaches alike.
Lately, there has been more winning, including on Sunday. The Wolverines blew out Indiana 89-64 in Ann Arbor, keeping the Hoosiers in a constant up-and-down state, while helping their own cause out and continuing to appear to be in a groove.
Michigan came back to earth in Big Ten play when it started in earnest. They had a 1-1 mark in December, then lost five of six, including four in a row, to sit at 2-6. The saving grace is that none of those losses came against Nebraska or Northwestern, and none of the losses on the year are bad. But to be sure, when they fell to 2-6 on a last-second shot by Ayo Dosunmu in Ann Arbor, things were not well. Isaiah Livers, in the midst of a nice breakout season, had missed over a month of action and was in his first game back.
Losing games for a stretch wasn’t all. Not long ago, team leader Zavier Simpson was in a car accident with a vehicle belonging to the family of athletic director Warde Manual, and got suspended after he initially was not honest about who he was. That ended a streak of 135 consecutive games played. To his credit, he has bounced back well, leading them to four more wins in five games after they won the game he had to sit.
In Sunday’s blowout, the Wolverines pulled away with a big second half. For the game, they shot over 57 percent from the field, including 9-17 from deep, and they out-rebounded the Hoosiers 37-21. They were also 18-22 at the free throw line, while Indiana only got to the line 12 times. Five Wolverines scored in double figures, all between 12 and 16 points, but five players also had at least five rebounds. Simpson had the game’s only double-double with 12 points and 11 assists against just one turnover; for the season, he has a 2.4 assist-to-turnover ratio. While impressive, it’s actually the third-best of his fine career.
The path to wins for this team was shown on Sunday: balanced scoring, Simpson making others better, and winning the battle of the boards. They allowed the Hoosiers to shoot almost 46 percent from the field, so it wasn’t exactly an ace defensive effort, but it was more than good enough on this afternoon.
When Michigan won the Battle 4 Atlantis in impressive fashion, including its win over Gonzaga in the championship game, the Wolverines gained much attention. Suddenly, they were highly ranked, and much was expected of them – and perhaps unfairly so. This is a nice team, but not the team of a couple of years ago that made a run all the way to the national title game. Beating Michigan State in a big rivalry game recently helped as well, and it was the third of their five wins in six games.
Naturally, it won’t get easier for Michigan the rest of the way. Four of their final six games are on the road, and one of the home games is against Nebraska, so all of the road ones are tough ones, including the last one at conference leader Maryland. In light of that, the way this team has emerged of late through all the challenges, from being ranked high and all that comes with it to the challenges of a losing stretch, is a more promising development than the bottom line will show. It means this team is ready for anything the final games, Big Ten Tournament and any postseason tournament will throw at them.
Side Dishes
Speaking of Michigan, reports emerged on Sunday that former Michigan head coach John Beilein is almost certain to not remain as head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers beyond this season. He could step down before then, but it seems he is on borrowed time and it’s only a question of when, not if, he moves on. While Beilein won at every level in college, the NBA has been a different beast, and plenty of others from the college ranks have found that out the hard way as well, though Beilein also went to a clear rebuilding situation. The question then becomes if he will be interested in returning to college, or will retire. He’s 67 years old and had a double bypass heart surgery a year and a half ago, so no one will blame him if he opts to call it a career, and a very successful one at that.
Also in the Big Ten, Iowa got past Minnesota 58-55 in Minneapolis, a damaging loss for the Golden Gophers as they fall to 6-8 in Big Ten play and miss a quality win opportunity.
San Diego State rolled over host Boise State 72-55 to move to 26-0 on the season, going up by 14 at halftime and handling the Broncos from there.
The leaders in the Horizon League were on different ends of blowouts on Sunday. Wright State is now up two games once again as the Raiders blew out IUPUI 106-66, while UIC shockingly went on the road and manhandled Northern Kentucky 73-43.
UConn edged Memphis 64-61 on Sunday afternoon, but the Huskies may have a bigger concern. Less than a minute into the game, forward Akok Akok injured his Achilles, and it didn’t look good. The young man returned to the bench to be with his teammates, and several were clearly touched by it – teammate Christian Vital supported him there, head coach Dan Hurley was clearly emotional about it, and Memphis forward Precious Achiuwa embraced him and shared a moment with him in the post-game handshake line. Hurley also tweeted about it after the game:
Bittersweet Day in Hartford for all of Husky Nation…Beyond proud of the Courage our Team displayed but heart broken for @akokrakok🙏..I do know this…he will be back and better than ever because he is a special guy with uncommon work ethic and an entire state behind him ! ⛰💙
— Dan Hurley (@dhurley15) February 17, 2020
Other results of note on Sunday: Villanova outscored Temple 50-26 in the second half to handle the Owls 76-56 behind 29 points from Collin Gillespie; Cincinnati needed overtime to just get past East Carolina 70-67; Loyola (Md.) led throughout in an 84-80 win over Patriot League leader Colgate; St. Peter’s took care of Fairfield 61-44 to stay on top of the MAAC, with Niagara helping them by taking out Monmouth 77-72 behind 26 points and 12 rebounds from Marcus Hammond and Siena coming in right behind them with a 65-52 win over Manhattan; Rider is also in the mix there at a full game back after taking care of Quinnipiac 79-63; Boston College handed NC State another damaging loss, holding off the Wolfpack 71-68 in Chestnut Hill; and in Pac-12 action, Arizona State edged Cal 80-75 and Oregon shot 57.7 percent from the field, including 12-24 on three-pointers, to take care of Utah 80-62.
Tonight’s Menu
It’s a typical light Monday night of action, as just over a dozen games are on tap, but there are a couple of big ones in the mid-major ranks among them.
- The Big East has a game on tap, and it’s the first of the evening as St. John’s hosts Xavier (6:30 p.m.)
- North Carolina now has to go on the road after another tough loss as they visit Notre Dame (7 p.m.)
- The MEAC has a full slate of action, starting with a big one as North Carolina A&T hosts NC Central (7 p.m.) before Florida A&M visits Maryland-Eastern Shore, Morgan State goes to South Carolina State and Delaware State hosts Bethune-Cookman at 7:30 p.m. and Norfolk State hosts Coppin State at 8 p.m.
- One Patriot League game is on tap with old rivals meeting as Holy Cross hosts Bucknell (7:05 p.m.)
- The action in the SWAC is highlighted by Grambling visiting Texas Southern, while Arkansas-Pine Bluff goes to Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State visits Southern, all at 8:30 p.m., before the showdown on TV later with Jackson State visiting Prairie View A&M (9 p.m.)
- The Big 12 matchup later on has Iowa State visiting Kansas (9 p.m.)
- The last game of the night is in the Big Sky as Idaho visits Portland State (10:05 p.m.)
