Michigan dropped to 3-3 on Wednesday night, in a disappointing performance against Boston College. The final score ended up being 62-58, but Michigan trailed for almost the entire game, and was down by as much as 17 points in the second half.
“That was really a bad, a poor performance for us and really disappointing,” said John Beilein of the game (quote from Michael Rothstein of annarbor.com). Disappointing was a good way of summarizing the game, in which Michigan lost almost every category: in rebounding, the Eagles had a 42-27 edge; in assists, the Eagles won 18-10; in blocks, the Eagles won 6-3; and, most notably, Boston College had a 47 percent to 32 percent edge in shooting.
On the positive side, the Wolverines were able to come back from a 10 point deficit at halftime, and 17 points in the second half to close the gap in the final five minutes of the game. Zach Gibson had a lot to do with that, knocking down three-pointers on back-to-back possessions with about four minutes remaining.
Manny Harris knocked down a three-pointer as well, with about two minutes remaining in the game. Harris finished with 19 points, as well as six assists and seven rebounds. He was the only Wolverine to finish with more than 10 points against Boston College’s stifling defense.
From there, Michigan was able to close the gap to three points, with 1:55 remaining, before Boston College began to make free throws to put the game away. Corey Raji led Boston College with 24 points on 11 of 16 shooting from the field.
After this third loss in as many games, Michigan is not looking anything like the preseason 15th ranked team that was surrounded by so much hype to begin the season. In this latest chapter of Michigan defeat, the Wolverines looked flat and unexcited, as well as never being on the same page this game.
Stu Douglass spoke to this lack of chemistry, saying, “We’re not focusing completely as a unit. If one guys slips up, it screws up the whole team.” (quote from Michael Rothstein of annarbor.com)
It is also important to keep in mind that Michigan is currently losing to teams that it might be compared to when it comes time for the NCAA tournament. It is therefore imperative that the Wolverines beat teams like this right now, even if March seems to be in the distant future.
Zach Novak summarized the situation when asked about Michigan’s current position, saying, “Backed up against the wall. We just have some things we have to fix right now. We just, we have to get it done.” (quote from Michael Rothstein of annarbor.com)
Fortunately for the Wolverines, there is still plenty of time to turn the season around, but Michigan has to start getting results immediately, not only from Harris, but also from the rest of the team. For Michigan, the road to March Madness is not a one man show, but has a be a collective team effort.
For questions or comments, Jesse Buchsbaum can be reached at jessebu@gmail.com.
