IOWA CITY — Michigan men’s basketball coach John Beilein doesn’t get mad often. Well, at least he doesn’t show it often.
But in the Wolverines’ 75-72 win against Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Saturday, Beilein was frustrated. And he didn’t hold back.
It isn’t exactly clear what he said, but whatever it was caused an official to charge Beilein with a technical foul — Michigan’s 10th team foul of the first half.
“I think maybe it’s a bit out of character for me — I didn’t do it on purpose,” Beilein said after the game. “There was no strategy there. (I) just wanted to voice my opinion. How’s that for a really good answer?”
After surrendering a double-digit lead to the Hawkeyes, who then themselves took a double-digit lead over Michigan, Beilein was warned twice to stop jawing at the referees after they distributed nine fouls to the Wolverines in the first stanza.
But Beilein seemed to take the warning with a grain of salt because he continued to dispute calls.
The technical gave Iowa two shots from the charity stripe. The Hawkeyes cashed in the freebies, as the Wolverines watched their 10-point lead dwindle away. Arguably because of the fouls, Beilein went to the bench and Iowa took an eight-point advantage going into halftime.
NOTHING FOR NOVAK: For the first time this season, junior guard Zack Novak was scoreless at the end of regulation time. Novak’s first points didn’t come until overtime when he netted two free throws. Those two points were his only two of the afternoon.
“Everybody has their off day man,” Morris said. “Novak just had his today. He didn’t score until late, but he’s still out there working every play. It’s not like he gives up.”
On top of his little offensive production, Novak fouled out by the game’s end. His first two personal fouls came in the first half, which forced Beilein to play freshman Colton Christian for the end of the first frame — when Iowa took a 10-point lead.
All five of Novak’s fouls were the result of him trying to draw a charge. Unfortunately for Novak, all five attempts failed.
“That’s part of the game,” junior guard Stu Douglass said. “(Novak) was a little unlucky because he was like 0-for-5 at drawing charges. Who knows? Next game he could draw five charges.”
Shooting 0-for-10 from the field, Novak still collected three rebounds, two assists and a steal. But his fouls forced him to play conservatively in the second half.
FOUL PLAY: It wasn’t just Novak who posed fouling problems for Michigan. The Wolverines recorded everything from tic-tac fouls to technical fouls. Each of Michigan’s four other starters collected three fouls before the end of the game, and freshman forward Evan Smotrycz tallied two off the bench.
What was most haunting was the timeliness of them. The Wolverines tallied 10 fouls before halftime and it didn’t help that Iowa shot an impressive 18-for-22 from the free throw line.
Hawkeye center Jarryd Cole was 8-for-9 from the line. But the free points were not Michigan’s biggest problem. Because of fouls, Beilein was forced to play four bench players for the last five minutes of the first half.
HARDAWAY DOES IT HIS WAY: After the game, assistant coach Bacari Alexander joked with the media and challenged someone to find any player, in any league, who had ever scored 30 points and taken just 14 shots from the field.
He makes a valid point. Hardaway Jr. had an impressive afternoon.
The freshman shot 5-for-7 from 3-point range and 9-for-14 from the field en route to the career-high 30 points. He also sank all seven of his free throws.
“That’s Tim,” Morris said. “When he gets hot, he gets hot.”