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'Basketball gods' only partly to blame for embarrassing Michigan loss at PSU

Chris Balasby:Chris Balas•01/29/23•

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Michigan coach Juwan Howard looked to the Penn State bench and head coach Micah Shrewsberry with about 3 minutes remaining in the first half of an 83-61 loss at PSU. The Nittany Lions were in the midst of an 18-0 run that would end any suspense, making triple after triple, and all Howard could do was shake his head and laugh.

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“I’m like, ‘yo — this is what we’re in right now, huh?’” Howard said. “He knew it [too] … they just went on a run and never looked back.

… “When they made two 3s with the ball bouncing up [off the rim before going in] … I do believe in this — it’s the basketball gods.”

It’s true, PSU got some good fortune on a few of their 13 triples. On most of the others, however, they were a result of getting whatever looks they wanted against a Michigan defense that allowed the Nittany Lions to get way too comfortable. Other times Michigan defenders lost their men, had guys playing a different defense than everyone else …

And for the second game in a row, gave up an uncontested layup to one guy with two defenders back.

Fortune often favors those who work hardest, and that was certainly the case Saturday. Michigan hung for a while because Jett Howard, back from an ankle injury that cost him the Purdue game Thursday, was hitting from everywhere again. When the frosh wing is in that zone, the Wolverines will score points.

He still struggles on the other end, though, and so does Michigan. And when he finally slowed down a bit Sunday, drawing a bit more attention, there was nobody to pick up the slack when the Nittany Lions buried triple after triple. Junior center Hunter Dickinson was off, and he deferred too much rather than sticking with it.

The moment was too big for Michigan frosh point guard Dug McDaniel — he was 1-for-7 shooting — and that’s going to happen. He’ll have better days in the future. He and the rest of the shooters not named Jett Howard went 1-for-15 from long range.

But Dickinson scored only 6 points with 2 rebounds before Howard pulled him in the second half. There were times he looked resigned when the Nittany Lions splashed triple after triple.

“We will go back and look at the film,” Howard said. “I’ll show Hunter that there are ways that he’s being a little unselfish and that has to be a little bit more selfish when you catch it, especially in the paint.”

That’s been the standard answer in a number of the embarrassing Michigan performances this year, though, and minus a game or two — the Maryland game at home, for example — it hasn’t resulted in more urgency. The effort has been inconsistent at best too often, and without that, all the film study in the world won’t change it.

Shrewsberry, though, will have plenty to like about what he saw in his team’s blowout win, weeks after they lost to Michigan in Ann Arbor.

“We talked about our defense and how we wanted to guard people with more energy, but we [also] talked about our purpose offensively,” he said. “What are we looking for on every possession? I thought we did that, and I thought it got those guys better shots and better looks.”

With an assist to Michigan, which was too content to watch them do it. Though the Wolverines stayed close for much of the first half, it seemed it would be only a matter of time before … well, the basketball gods decided they really didn’t deserve this one.

That’s been the theme too often this year, and it’s a big reason — if not the biggest — Michigan now needs a miracle to make the NCAA Tournament in a year that started with such promise.

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