Wolverine Wednesday: Basketball Issues

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Michigan's Basketball team is ranked #5 in the nation and is struggling right now.   Nobody was upset by the loss to Wisconsin, playing on the road in cold conditions is difficult to do.    Last night's win, looked more like a loss.   Let's take out the Matthews buzzer beater for a second and really look at what is troubling the Wolverines.

• Lack of offense - Michigan is completely stagnant without Teske in the game.  Poole is struggling with his shot, Iggy started the game 0-7 before getting hot, Simpson is not an outside shooter, and Matthews has been finding the lane very crowded.   All this leads to some ugly offense and isolation 3's.   Michigan shot 3-22 at the 3 point line last night.  

• Can't find a backup to Teske - Michigan is struggling to find a replacement a center.   Austin Davis is too slow, Livers and Johns are really forwards, and Castleton is no where close to being ready.   When Teske leaves the game, Michigan is way worse on both sides of the ball.   

• Plenty of Tape Available - Nobody is surprised at what Michigan is running now.  So the Big 10 teams are putting together defensive formations to stop Coach B's offense.   

• Teams are getting better - Michigan got out fast this season but other teams are starting to catch up with better play. 

• Too Streaky - It seems Matthews, Poole, and Iggy have to hit a layup before they can shoot the ball effectively.   Lately those 3 have been ice cold to start the game.  Poole scored 3 points last night and had 4 foul shots.  

Michigan won't be able to beat any Big 10 team on the road the way they played last night.  The Wolverines should have beaten Minnesota by 20 points.  They travel to IU on Friday and Coach B has plenty of things to work on before then.  The good news is this team has been through this exact same thing this season already.   Let's hope they can find their way out of this slump on the road like they did to start the season.  

from The BIG HOUSE Blog http://mbighouse.blogspot.com/2019/01/wolverine-wednesday-basketball-issues.html