Good, Bad and Ugly: Michigan

  • 01/07/2009 9:25 pm in

THE GOOD:

We played very good for very long against a borderline Top 25 team, who has beaten the likes Duke and UCLA. The first half was so promising, so full of life, it was a feeling we haven’t felt all year. Good times. Good, yet fleeting times.

IU showed great resilience in their defense all night. Michigan just happened to start hitting in the second half.

Matt Roth. Roth is slowly becoming quite the fan favorite. His game certainly doesn’t jump out at you, but outside of a guy that can dribble drive and slam down a rim-roaring dunk, the deep three that hits nothing but nylon is one of this game of basketball’s pretty plays. He made 3-of-7 attempts from three-point land on the night, for a total of nine points.

Devan Dumes. He’s hot, he’s cold. He’s under control and looking good, he’s wild and taking boneheaded shots. But hey, tonight, he hit some key buckets, and you just need to take the good and bad with Dumes. He shot nine threes tonight, hitting four of them. For the evening, he had 17 points.

Other guys deserving a mention:

Daniel Moore: His mad dribble, dribble, dribble worked on a few occasions, setting up a some shots for his teammates.

Verdell Jones, Nick Williams: Both look more mature, more confident and more under control in their play. This is encouraging.

Tom Pritchard: Solid as a rock.

All and all, a remarkable effort by this squad. Just didn’t pick up the W.

THE BAD AND UGLY:

Six (SIX!!!!!!!) missed free throws in overtime. And um, my heart sinking during the collapse, a collapse I was near certain was going to happen.

I’ll leave the rest of the frustration for E in the morning. Until then …

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