In many ways the game Wednesday night was the polar opposite of several other games the Hawks have played recently:
Whereas Iowa shot a better percentage than Indiana and yet lost due to offensive rebounding, turnovers and free throws, against Minnesota, all four categories switched: Iowa shot a pretty miserable percentage from the field while Minnesota shot very well, especially from three. If it weren't for Iowa's 16 offensive rebounds, 11 steals and +12 margin in free throw attempts, the Hawks would have been hard-pressed to overcome their poor shooting. Zach McCabe, Aaron White and Melsahn Basabe deserve credit for their rebounding, grabbing three offensive rebounds each. White recorded a crucial (and awesome) play on an offensive rebound, throwing down a nasty dunk on 6'11" Elliott Eliason after sprinting down from the three point line to collect the board.
Whereas Minnesota struggled to make threes against Iowa's zone in their previous match-up, in this game, the shots were falling. The Gophers shot 10-19 from three, even though many of the shots were contested. They needed those threes, too, because they shot just 10-32 from two-point range. Julian Welch in particular seemed to give the Hawks fits, finding holes in the zone and going 3-5 from three.
Whereas Minnesota was the team that looked totally befuddled by the zone in their previous game, in this game it was Iowa that looked lost when the Gophers ran a zone. The Hawks spent long stretches of the game looking totally lost on offense. It's no exaggeration to say that on several possessions in the second half, the offense consisted of Devyn Marble or Matt Gatens or Bryce Cartwright pounding the ball into the ground at the three-point line while no one else on the team moved an inch.
The beginning and the end of the game was excellent, but there was an atrocious performance smuggled in there for about 25 minutes in between. Iowa surged out to a 15-3 lead in the first eight minutes, then relaxed, gave up a series of three-point plays and regular threes, and found themselves down 27-24 at half. The second half looked to be no better, as the no-movement offense set in. You can see how the Hawks' performance plateaued at the end of the first and beginning of the second half:
At one point it looked like Minnesota was on the verge of blowing Iowa out of the game, going up 10 points with 12 minutes left. To the Hawks' credit, they didn't fold and kept chipping away at the lead. Via free throws, two Gatens threes, a Gatens layup off his very heads-up steal, and a tough layup in the open court by Bryce Cartwright, the Hawks put themselves in striking distance, down five with three and a half minutes left. And then Devyn Marble finished the game with four straight excellent plays: he knocked down a three in transition to cut the lead to two, fought through a screen to contest a corner three, which Andre Hollins missed, then did this:
That tied the game, and after two free throws by Cartwright and a missed jumper by Welch, Marble ran the clock down to about 15 seconds, then drove to the basket, narrowly avoided a charge, and slipped the pass to Gatens for the clinching layup. Minnesota probably regrets allowing Iowa to run the clock down like they did. Ideally Iowa would have missed a shot and given Minnesota the ball with a chance to tie or win, but that was the only way things could have gone well for the Gophers. If they had chosen to foul, on the other hand, the number of ways the game could have ended in their favor would have increased significantly (especially considering Iowa's poor foul shooting).
All in all, it felt like a game that Iowa should have won, but normally would have lost through carelessness, but managed to win in the end anyway, if that makes sense. They looked like the stronger team for 10 minutes, fell asleep for 20 minutes, then went back to being the stronger team for the last 10 minutes, so a four-point win seems about right.
Stray observations:
Ross mentioned it last night, but Basabe really played well in his reserve role. He had eight points, seven rebounds, and two steals in 25 minutes of play. His highlights were a sweet spin move for a layup and a steal where he took it coast to coast and finished with a dunk.
No Eric May, who was out with a back injury. May has struggled on offense this year, but you notice his absence on the defensive end. Fran went off on McCabe and Cartwright on a couple of occasions for being slow to rotate on the perimeter and allowing three-pointers to go up. May is much better on that kind of thing.
Not surprisingly, May's absence meant that the freshmen had to step up and play more minutes. White and Oglesby have gone from seldom-used reserves to key parts of the rotation. Oglseby's excellent three-point touch seemed to abandon him in this game, but Minnesota also made sure to get in his face at the perimeter.
Carver went ultra-budget on the entertainment last night, with a pre-recorded national anthem and a flash-mob student line-dance as the half-time show. And it was okay! A to-the-point, non-warbly national anthem is actually pretty awesome, and the line dance was at least amusing. They also debuted a feature during one of the timeouts where they turned the cameras on people who were obliviously locked into their smart phones, which was funny.
The stadium wasn't sold out, but did seem to get very loud, especially toward the end of the game when the comeback started.
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Surprised more teams don't play zone...
against Iowa. McCabe is at 48% for the year from 3, Oglesby at 38%, and everyone else of note is under 35%.
Given Iowa’s desire to take the ball to the basket and draw fouls, zone seems like the way to go against Iowa.
Of course, we’ll get our fill of zone next against jNW.
Not only is it unnecessary outside of winter break when there are 8 people in the pep band, but they often leave the mic on during actual gameplay which results in some people’s yells getting picked up and broadcast. I mean, I’m all for students yelling “FUCK YOU, REF” or something, but that probably doesn’t need to go out over the PA.
Not to mention, it seems like they’re using a directional mic pointed straight at the out-of-tune trumpet. Just stop.
for that 20 minutes in the middle it was painful to watch. No one moving, it looked like there were 7 gophers out there on D, they could easily double team each of our guys. It appeared everyone was afraid to do anything, shoot most of all.
We look really good running, when we get a half court offense worked out we will be very dangerous.
That might not be until Gessell and Woodbury show up. But when they do, we’ll (hopefully) have a PG who can create and a big man we can always go through in the post whenever the offense bogs down.
Maybe it's because, when I played in my younger years, I didn't have a great shot, but worked my ass off to do everything else (assists, defense, screening)
but I don’t feel like McCabe is getting enough credit for what he accomplished on Dev’s Business Time play (the dunk).
McCabe was being hugged aggressively (to say the least), but he fought through it in order to make a sick pick. I’ve raved about his fire and mean-ish streak, and that play was a good example of Big Zach doing what needed to be done to get into position, and then making a difference.
It’s a nice feeling when, as you’re flashing to the basket, you’re defender just disappears and you’ve suddenly got space.
And that was just a fuck-you screen, too. But I was impressed that he seems to be learning and using his head more lately, because early in the season, after being bear hugged, he likely would have thrown his shoulder into the defender’s face just a bit more than necessary and gotten the offensive foul called. As it was, he Zapruder’d Hollins (back, and to the left). Not being hot-headed makes for a more dangerous Zach McCabe.
But I also loved the very brief look (like he was saying “foul me, it doesn’t matter”) that Dev gave to Sampson III after the dunk, but it was just for a second before Dev ran back on defense.
I love me some Zach McCabe. He’s so mean, it’s fantastic. Every team needs a guy who is not afraid to get his hands a little dirty, and I’m glad McCabe is filling that role. He just needs to work a bit on keeping position to cut down on the fouls.
That pick was awesome. McCabe’s shoulders seem to have impressive powers to knock people back, both on offense and defense. And he does seem to have managed to cut down on the number of offensive fouls he gets using them.
McCabe has really impressed me this year. If it weren’t for the huge stride Marble made from last year to this, McCabe would be the most improved player on the team.
I really like Michigan’s new court. The 2-tone B1G logo in the lane and the inside the arc look really good. It has a pretty classy, yet modern, look to it.
Surprised more teams don't play zone...
against Iowa. McCabe is at 48% for the year from 3, Oglesby at 38%, and everyone else of note is under 35%.
Given Iowa’s desire to take the ball to the basket and draw fouls, zone seems like the way to go against Iowa.
Of course, we’ll get our fill of zone next against jNW.
DodgerHawki - February 2, 2012
Two guys shooting over 38% is not bad
SaturdayMorningKegStanzis - February 2, 2012
And Gatens at 35%
That said, doesn’t a zone help against teams that push it in transition as well?
Notclevr - February 2, 2012
A note on the national anthem
It wasn’t pre-recorded, the pep band was actually playing. They have them mic’ed oddly so it may have sounded like it was a recording.
Boben_fett - February 2, 2012
They need to kill that mic
Not only is it unnecessary outside of winter break when there are 8 people in the pep band, but they often leave the mic on during actual gameplay which results in some people’s yells getting picked up and broadcast. I mean, I’m all for students yelling “FUCK YOU, REF” or something, but that probably doesn’t need to go out over the PA.
Not to mention, it seems like they’re using a directional mic pointed straight at the out-of-tune trumpet. Just stop.
Luke Recker No-Look Pass - February 2, 2012
“trumpet” would have sufficed.
PackerHawk - February 2, 2012
Give Gatens credit
He dunked after that steal. Not a layup, a dunk. Other than that, another excellent job as always.
PackerHawk - February 2, 2012
As good a Cartwright can look at times
There are others he looks awful. We need him to not be awful.
FiveSecondRuleChef - February 2, 2012 via mobile
Yeah, it seems to be
feast or famine with him. Game to game, and play to play.
isHawkeye - February 2, 2012
We have to figure out an offense
for that 20 minutes in the middle it was painful to watch. No one moving, it looked like there were 7 gophers out there on D, they could easily double team each of our guys. It appeared everyone was afraid to do anything, shoot most of all.
We look really good running, when we get a half court offense worked out we will be very dangerous.
The Bacon Explosion - February 2, 2012
Unfortunately
That might not be until Gessell and Woodbury show up. But when they do, we’ll (hopefully) have a PG who can create and a big man we can always go through in the post whenever the offense bogs down.
Notclevr - February 2, 2012
Defense
I really wish Franimal would go to man-to-man more often. They played that way at the beginning of the game and really looked good.
Really, Minny got back into the game because of open 3’s created by that zone.
Tom Davis was great at mixing up defenses and the press during a game. I’m still waiting to see if Fran can do this.
salparadise23 - February 2, 2012
You have to rely on help in the middle when you go with man defense more,
right?
You have seen our interior defense, right?
I’m not sure I want to rely on our guys’ quickness or “quick thinking” to make our defense better, as we’re not a particularly quick team.
WaterlooChazz - February 2, 2012
Last Iowa team that had 4 different Hawkeyes dunk in one game?
It’s been awhile…
BentNotBroken - February 2, 2012
Maybe it's because, when I played in my younger years, I didn't have a great shot, but worked my ass off to do everything else (assists, defense, screening)
but I don’t feel like McCabe is getting enough credit for what he accomplished on Dev’s Business Time play (the dunk).
McCabe was being hugged aggressively (to say the least), but he fought through it in order to make a sick pick. I’ve raved about his fire and mean-ish streak, and that play was a good example of Big Zach doing what needed to be done to get into position, and then making a difference.
It’s a nice feeling when, as you’re flashing to the basket, you’re defender just disappears and you’ve suddenly got space.
And that was just a fuck-you screen, too. But I was impressed that he seems to be learning and using his head more lately, because early in the season, after being bear hugged, he likely would have thrown his shoulder into the defender’s face just a bit more than necessary and gotten the offensive foul called. As it was, he Zapruder’d Hollins (back, and to the left). Not being hot-headed makes for a more dangerous Zach McCabe.
But I also loved the very brief look (like he was saying “foul me, it doesn’t matter”) that Dev gave to Sampson III after the dunk, but it was just for a second before Dev ran back on defense.
Eyeheartfreedumb - February 3, 2012
This
I love me some Zach McCabe. He’s so mean, it’s fantastic. Every team needs a guy who is not afraid to get his hands a little dirty, and I’m glad McCabe is filling that role. He just needs to work a bit on keeping position to cut down on the fouls.
StewMonkey13 - February 3, 2012
At least when he fouls out it takes more than 3 minutes of playing time
/Brommer’d
PackerHawk - February 3, 2012
and /Archie'd
and /Basabe’d
therealCatnuts - February 3, 2012
I don't even think Archie plays long enough to foul out
PackerHawk - February 3, 2012
Great point
That pick was awesome. McCabe’s shoulders seem to have impressive powers to knock people back, both on offense and defense. And he does seem to have managed to cut down on the number of offensive fouls he gets using them.
Horace E. Cow - February 3, 2012
Completely agree
McCabe has really impressed me this year. If it weren’t for the huge stride Marble made from last year to this, McCabe would be the most improved player on the team.
ClaybornSmash - February 3, 2012
McCabe is a player
The kid has heart and isn’t afraid. Love it.
djwoody - February 3, 2012
Sidenote:
I really like Michigan’s new court. The 2-tone B1G logo in the lane and the inside the arc look really good. It has a pretty classy, yet modern, look to it.
ClaybornSmash - February 3, 2012
Too bad we can talk Mediacom into taking two big shits on it.
SomeJerkPoster - February 3, 2012
*can't
SomeJerkPoster - February 3, 2012
Oregon's floor is still better
Conversely, that purple they ended up using at jNW is horribawful (h/t to Ross for that word)
PackerHawk - February 3, 2012
I'm 99% sure I stole that from somewhere, but hey - you're more than welcome to use it.
RossWB - February 3, 2012
It seriously looks like it was colored in with crayon
NorseHawk - February 3, 2012
Or markers that were running out of ink.
So bad.
RossWB - February 3, 2012
I was thinking about a purple stain
So the natural grain of the wood isn’t covered as it would be if you were so gauche as to just cover it in solid purple.
PackerHawk - February 3, 2012
Yeah, I noticed that while watching the MICH-IND game before the Iowa game.
Very sharp-looking floor. I love the way they did the B1G logo.
RossWB - February 3, 2012
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