2008-2009 Season

Game 11: Florida Gulf Coast at Michigan Post Game


There was no energy from the tip and Michigan didn’t do anything to give the crowd life all night. The fact that Florida Gulf Coast is a horrible team is no excuse to come out with the physical and mental effort that we saw tonight. Luckily FGCU was bad enough that Michigan’s poor play didn’t come back to haunt them.

Michigan played down to a Florida Gulf Coast team that had no business staying close. Worst of all they settled for a record number of three point attempts when they should have pounded the ball inside against a team that couldn’t match them in talent or athleticism. 65.6% of Michigan’s field goal attempts were from long range and they made only 12 of those 42 long range attempts.

Florida Gulf Coast’s 49% eFG% topped Michigan’s 45.3% but FGCU just couldn’t hold on to the ball. FGCU turned the ball over on 36.1% of their possessions compared to Michigan’s 20.8%. Michigan won the other two of the four factors as well: they rebounded 40% of their missed shots compared to FGCU’s 31.4% and posted a 35.9 free throw rate compared to FGCU’s 31.4.

Michigan picked a good time to play one of their worst games of the year but they can’t afford to play with this level of effort over the next couple weeks. North Carolina Central is another team who Michigan should blow out (they might be worse than FGCU) but they can’t afford to pick up bad habits headed into the Big Ten season. There are plenty of excuses (Christmas, break, poor opposition and whatever else) but Michigan didn’t do a whole lot to prove they belong in the top 25 tonight and better get their act together before December 31st.

Player Bullets:

  • DeShawn Sims: One of the only bright spots for Michigan today, Peedi had 20 points and 20 boards against a FGCU team that had no one that could handle him.  Peedi also hit 2 of 3 triples and added 3 assists, 1 block, and a steal.
  • Laval Lucas-Perry: LLP showed that his three point stroke against Oakland was no fluke as he hit 2 out of 3 of his long range attempts. LLP also showed good quickness getting down the floor on a fast break and breaking up a FGCU break. He played 20 minutes today and I’d expect his minutes keep inching up game by game.
  • Stu Douglass: Stu played pretty well, he hit a couple triples and also showed off his athleticism with an open court dunk. 12 points (3-6 shooting), 2 boards, 1 assist.
  • Kelvin Grady: Grady had a season high 14 points but he took 12 shots including 10 threes. Some of them were good looks but I would have liked to see Grady drive and dish a little more. 1 assist to 3 turnovers doesn’t help his stat line either.
  • Manny Harris: Manny had his first single digit game of the 2008-2009 campaign but he managed 5 assists and 6 rebounds. He also had 4 turnovers and got a little too careless with his shot selection in the first half.  Manny shouldn’t be taking 8 threes in a game and really started forcing his game.
  • Zack Novak: Novak struggled at the four tonight. There were several rebounds that maybe he should have had and I think he let that affect his shooting. Novak was 1-8 (0-5 3pt) and 2-4 on free throws for 6 points with only 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
  • Anthony Wright: Another DNP. The writing was on the wall as his minutes declined gradually and now that LLP is in the rotation it appears that Beilein is leaving him behind. It’s really hard to find room for a shooter who can’t shoot.
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