July 28, 2011 - 6:51pm
LiveBlog: Michigan Men's Hoops season opener versus Northern
BY GJON JUNCAJ
The Daily writers are here at Crisler Arena for the men's basketball season debut against the Northern Michigan Wildcats (yes, they're D-II).
The Wolverines are a week removed from a methodical blowout win versus Wayne State last weekend, and from the looks of it, tonight should run a familiar script. The Wildcats also feature a small lineup, having just two players (both centers) over 6-foot-7. Meanwhile, Michigan is featuring the same starting lineup from last weekend: a four-guard crew of Darius Morris, Laval Lucas-Perry, Manny Harris, Zach Novak and Deshawn Sims.
We'll be here all night blogging the action. Keep checking back for updates.
First Half
15:45 REMAINING Timeout Northen. Morris and Novak show trap on a Wildcat ballhandler, who bobbles his own dribble. Morris scoops up the loose ball, slashes hard from left wing, does a pretty pump fake on the layup and draws the And-1. The Wolverines are going to the 1-3-1 zone early tonight and immediately exploiting the Wildcats small lineup. It's pretty easy for Sims to set himself up in the middle of the zone and deny the skip passes to frontcourt players shorter than he is.
Michigan11, Northern Michigan 2
10:47 REMAINING Lucas-Perry does a perfectly-timed closeout on defense, blocking a spot-up corner three-point attempt. Not that their speed advantage is surprising, but Michigan looks equally comfortable in zone and man-to-man. Outside of a couple of interior screens, Michigan's moving around with relative ease.
Michigan 21, Northern Michigan 8
5:17 REMAINING Vogrich sneaks free on the right wing and nails a wide-open three. Michigan's lead is at 18 right now, a product of superior quickness and Northern Michigan's shooters being pretty much what you'd expect from a D-II team. One thing to note is that the Wolverines' fast break is looking pretty smooth when given the opportunity. For whatever reason, the Wildcats backcourt is slow to pick up on Michigan players immediately racing down the court after defensive rebounds, and Northern is paying for it.
Michigan 35, Northern Michigan 17
3:39 REMAINING Vogrich just drilled his third triple in under two minutes, increasing the lead to 22. A few more of those and he'll have the displeasure of answering "how'd that feel" questions for approximately 12 minutes straight after the game.
Michigan 42, Northern Michigan 20
HALFTIME Harris sidesteps a defender and sinks a triple with 3.8 seconds left to close out an easy, efficient first half for the Wolverines. Michigan has shot 17-31 from the field, including 5-13 from the arc. Of the ten players coach John Beilein was expected to play, nine have scored. The lone exception being center Ben Cronin.
Meanwhile, Northern has really been suckered in to taking too many threes. The 1-3-1 has helped clog the middle and is partially responsible for inducing the Wildcats into taking 17 triples, and they've missed 14 of them.
Michigan 51, Northern Michigan 25
Second Half
16:26 REMAINING Novak leads the charge on a fastbreak and feeds a wide-open Morris on the left block for the easy lay-in. The Wolverines have opened the second frame on a 11-4 run, in part again, to just flying past the Wildcat guards downcourt in the open floor.
Michigan 62, Northern Michigan 29
10:45 REMAINING The Wolverines are up 35 points. Expect to see someone from the Ben CroninEso Akunne/Josh Bartelstein triple threat pretty soon.
Michigan 73, Northern Michigan 38
7:58 REMAINING Harris has just exited the game, likely for good, with Michigan holding a 43 point lead. Harris's 18 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists make him the second player in program history to notch a triple double.
Michigan 84, Northern Michigan 41
1:40 REMAINING The bench has now been emptied (with the exception of McLimans, who is expected to redshirt). Puls, Akunne, Cronin, Person and Bartelstein will close out the night.
FINAL SCORE: MICHIGAN 97, NORTHERN MICHIGAN 50
