There were no tired legs on Friday night in the Bahamas and Michigan and Texas went back-and-forth in an offensive shootout in the Battle 4 Atlantis fifth place game. The Wolverines led throughout, but Texas cut the defecit to 1 point with 4:26 to play in the second half before Michigan answered and held on for a 78-72 win.
It was over when
Michigan answered Texas’ late run with a 7-0 run of its own. A pair of big time drives by Caris LeVert helped extend Michigan’s lead to five points before Derrick Walton drew a charge with 3:19 to play and Zak Irvin buried a three on the ensuing possession to stretch the lead to 8 with 2:55 to play.
Player of the Game: Derrick Walton
Walton shot the ball well and sliced the Texas defense apart with his vision and ability to get in the lane. He finished 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds in an impressive all around performance.
Stat of the Game: Three-point shooting
Michigan made 11 triples in the first half after hitting 10 in the second half against Charlotte. The Wolverines finished the game with 14 made three-pointers on 25 attempts, two short of a school record. After watching the Wolverines brick shot after shot against UConn, the confidence that the Michigan offense picked up the last two days on Paradise Island could be critical heading into Raleigh on Tuesday evening. Duncan Robinson (4-of-5), Derrick Walton (3-of-5) and Caris LeVert (3-of-5) led the charge from long distance but five different Wolverines hit at least one triple.
Room for Improvement: Defense
Texas scored 1.14 points per possession and the only reason that the Wolverines were able to win this game was because of their prolific offense. The Longhorns, generally a well below-average shooting team, shot the ball well inside and out and dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 29 percent of their missed shots. The Texas offensive performance should have been even better, but the Longhorns were just 8 of 19 at the free throw line on the game.
