Michigan basketball defense continues to look leaky in win over Nebraska
Michigan trailed by as many as 10 points in an 85-79 win over Nebraska, looking bad at times in the process. The Wolverines gave up points in droves, allowing the Cornhuskers to shoot 50.8 percent, 38.9 percent from long range.
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That included 54.8 percent from the floor in the first half, 57.1 from three-point range in falling behind 44-37. The Wolverines rallied each time they fell behind. When they did, however, they allowed the Cornhuskers to come back, including from 10 down in the second half.
On a positive note, Michigan came out with more intensity in the second stanza, responding each time the ‘Huskers made a run.
“Yes I was [encouraged],” Howard said of his team’s second-half communication defensively. “First half we had some defensive breakdowns where there were some blow-bys. We didn’t do a good job of containing the dribble. Guys were making direct drives to the paint, creating scoring opportunities for themselves.
“… We’ve got to do a better job containing the dribble. We did a much better job after we talked about it at halftime.”
And with center Hunter Dickinson on the floor. Dickinson played sparingly in the first half, and the Michigan defense struggled without him.
“Hunter was out of the game in the first [half], only played five minutes in the first half,” Howard continued. “If we had Hunter out there where he wasn’t in foul trouble, I think it would have been a different sort of — our energy would be a lot different, disposition will be a lot different.
“It’s very challenging to have your best player sitting over there for 15 minutes — a long, extended 15 minutes. But give credit to our guys. They were clawing, competing. Yeah, there were times when the ball didn’t go in the basket for us or we didn’t get the stop we needed. But I respect and I really appreciate how our guys really worked despite having our best playing sitting on the bench.”
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It’s about to get much tougher. Michigan plays at Purdue Saturday before traveling to Penn State. The Wolverines then get a rematch with the Boilermakers Thursday before hosting Ohio State Feb. 12.
After that it’s at Iowa, at Wisconsin, completing a six-game stretch that will likely determine whether or not Michigan is still in NCAA Tournament contention.
“Our guys understand what we’re dealing with. They understand that this is a very competitive conference and you got to go out there and compete every game. There’s no easy matchups. You have well-coached teams in this league, coaches that prepared their players to know that. The conference is athletic, tough, physical, have bigs, have shooting. Some of our guys are learning that, especially the new guys.”
If they’re going to get there, they’ll need to tighten it up dramatically on defense. They’ll need more shots to fall, as well. They made only two of 15 from long range, days after going only three for 19 in a loss at Michigan State.
As much as anything, though, it’s about intensity from start to finish, something this team still hasn’t figured out on a regular basis.
