Michigan dropped its final exhibition game in Spain to Joventut Badalona, 85-79, and fell to 1-2 on the trip.
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The Wolverines lost both games they played against legitimate professional teams on the trip, but it is important to remember that very few schools schedule legitimate professional teams on these international trips. Most prefer to play against the makeshift all-star type of teams (loosely affiliated collections of unsigned local players) that Michigan opened the trip against in Madrid.
John Beilein wanted Michigan to lose games on this trip (but he probably wanted to be there to coach) and he went out of his way to schedule KK Mega Bemax and Joventut Badalona. Expect Beilein to find more value in those losses to good teams than blowout wins over bad teams (which is all Michigan got out of its trip to Italy four years ago).
Here are five thoughts on Michigan’s loss to Joventut.
The takeaways
- Charles Matthews finishes strong after first half foul trouble
- Big men produce
- Not last year's defense, yet
- Isaiah Livers finding his role
- Intriguing week from Eli Brooks
Five Takeaways
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