Michigan does not pull off the W against North Carolina tonight.
Moe Wagner led the team in scoring with 20 points followed by Charles Matthews with 12 points.
U-M takes on Indiana at home on Saturday Dec. 2 at 12:30 pm#GoBlue ?? pic.twitter.com/mT6EwhEr3u
— Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball) November 30, 2017
A 16-point loss doesn’t do this game justice – Michigan played a lot worse than that.
After only making 1 three-pointer against Michigan State, North Carolina hit 7 three-pointers against Michigan (47%).
The Wolverines got manhandled on both ends of the floor. They didn’t have an answer to Luke Maye or Joel Berry defensively, and outside of Charles Matthews and Moe Wagner, Michigan didn’t have anyone that could get a bucket.
Even in a loss, Moe Wagner looks incredible
Even in a game that the Wolverines looked terrible in, Moe Wagner seemed unstoppable when he got the ball. He scored facing up, with his back to the basket, and spotting up.
Moe finished the game with 20 points(9-13), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and a block.
Wagner has a great skill-set, and that skill-set is becoming increasingly effective and desirable in the NBA.
Fans should be emotionally prepared to lose him to the draft this year.
Too many players getting significant minutes
Granted that a lot of the minutes coming from the back-ups were when the deficit was 20+, Beilein has obviously not figured this rotation out yet. It’s especially hard to gain chemistry with a bunch of young guys when they don’t know their role on the team.
Defense?
Michigan looked horrible defensively. MAAR and Duncan Robinson consistently looked lost.
North Carolina is a good team, and they were bound to bounce back after the embarrassment handed to them by Michigan State. Regardless, Michigan wasn’t prepared to play this UNC team.
The two big downfalls of this game defensively were communication and physicality.
The Wolverines got bullied. Luke Maye ripped them apart from the inside, and it didn’t look they had any way to stop him.
North Carolina also got multiple open shots due to miscommunication on defense.
As a result of these problems, Michigan got tore up for 86 points, and would’ve been more if UNC’s starters had played more.
Isaiah Livers’ minutes
Isaiah Livers should be getting more significant playing time. While he played 18 minutes this game, most of those minutes came after this game was already over.
The lineup could see more athleticism and better defensive presence with Livers playing instead of Duncan Robinson.
Duncan is a better shooter than Livers, but if Duncan is shooting poorly, then he brings nothing to the game that Livers doesn’t.
Robinson had 3 points and 2 rebounds in 21 minutes.
Livers had 9 points and 5 rebounds in 18 minutes.
Michigan plays Indiana on Saturday.