While entering Friday at 19-1 on the season, having taken down several top teams, Michigan basketball was set to have the battle that means a little more than the rest: a road trip to East Lansing to face rival Michigan State.
The Wolverines have lost four straight to the Spartans, but are coming off a comeback victory over a top-five Nebraska. The maize and blue were running roughshod over every top team they had faced early in the season, but this is a different animal.
First, here’s the recap:
It was a good defensive start for Michigan, with MSU only scoring two points in the opening four-plus minutes. Meanwhile, the Wolverines jumped out to a 7-2 lead, with a big 3 from Yaxel Lendeborg. But the MSU defense came up with two early blocks on what looked like easy scores for Lendeborg and Aday Mara.
Elliot Cadeau hit a 3 to push the lead to eight, but after a four-minute drought, MSU answered, and it was 10-5. The Wolverines scored another five while the Spartans still couldn’t find any offense, and the maize and blue had a 10-point lead at the under-12 media timeout in the first half. Four minutes later, it was still a 10-point advantage for Michigan.
After a defensive stand and a 3-pointer, MSU started to get some momentum. What was a 13-point lead for the Wolverines with 8:52 remaining in the half became just five three minutes later. Two minutes later, Michigan had pushed the lead back to 10. After a flagrant foul (hook-and-hold), Lendeborg sunk two free throws and then got a layup (with an and-one) to push the lead back to 13. A block by Johnson, and a 3 by McKenney, and the Wolverines were suddenly up 16 with two minutes remaining in the first half.
Now more than five minutes without a basket, MSU guard Jeremy Fears picked up a flagrant one going after Lendeborg, but the Wolverines only got one point out of it. MSU scored two more free throws, as did Michigan, but the Spartans broke their field goal drought to close out the half to cut the maize and blue lead to 16.
MSU opened up the second half with two straight baskets (off turnovers, the Wolverines’ fifth and sixth of the game) to cut the Michigan lead to 12. After getting to the foul line, it was a 10-point game. Before the under-16 media timeout, a 9-0 run by the Spartans cut the Wolverine advantage to just five. After having just four turnovers in the first half, the Wolverines committed four in four minutes to open the second half.
Freshman and former five-star Trey McKenney stopped the bleeding for the maize and blue, getting his 10th points of the game with a step-back jumper. But the turnovers continued, and the Spartans remained hot shooting the basketball, and it was just a three-point game with 12:51 remaining in the game. Michigan was able to extend the lead back to five after Cadeau drained two of three free throw attempts. The foul trouble continued for the maize and blue with McKenney getting a flagrant foul, which cut the lead back to three. Lendeborg finally got Michigan back on the board, but MSU responded, and McKenney picked up his third foul — it was now a two-point game.
After another turnover, the defense stood tall, and LJ Cason drained a 3 to push the lead back to five. Jeremy Fears remained hot, answering with a two, and then MSU tied the game for the first time since it started with 7:57 remaining in the game. What had been an 18-point advantage at one point had completely evaporated.
Then MSU took the lead after the Wolverine offense couldn’t get anything going coming out of the under-eight media timeout.
Lendeborg tied the game back up on two free throws, but the defense needed to find a way to get back into it. MSU answered, taking the lead again, but Will Tschetter hit a 3 to put Michigan back up by one.
The Wolverines finally got a stop and got to the free-throw line on the other end, where Morez Johnson Jr. put them up by three again. After a foul by Cadeau, MSU hit two free throws to cut it back to one, but Cadeau hit a jumper on the other end. A dunk by Cooper made it a one-point game again with 4:18 remaining. Johnson returned the favor, and Michigan had to hold, up three, with four minutes remaining. Cadeau hit a 3 to give the Wolverines some breathing room, up six at the under-four media timeout, with 3:05 remaining.
A foul on Mara coming out of the timeout allowed Fears to cut it to four with 2:48 remaining. Lendeborg answered with a layup to push it back to six. Michigan had made four of its last five while MSU hadn’t scored from the floor in three minutes.
Johnson scored on a layup to push the lead to eight with less than 90 seconds remaining. Fears missed on the other end, and now all the Wolverines had to do was hold on with 1:09 remaining. After Lendeborg hit two free throws, Fears drained a 3, and it was a seven-point game.
After a series of free throws, misses by MSU, more free throws, and a series of Spartan technical fouls, Michigan ended up downing its rival in hostile territory, 83-71.
Now, here are our five takeaways:
A tale of two halves
Michigan football essentially dominated the first half, going into the half up 16. However, that lead was eroded just minutes into the second half.
The Wolverines were excellent at forcing turnovers and limiting them when they had the ball, but that deteriorated in the second half. MSU went on a 9-0 run while Michigan couldn’t score for a three-minute period, and it was enough to turn the game on its head.
The good news for the Wolverines was that when the maize and blue needed something, it was Yaxel Lendeborg and Elliot Cadeau who came alive. And the defense found its rhythm again late, allowing Michigan to pull away.
The close games of late paid off
After destroying everything in their path for months, the Wolverines have played more close games than not as of late. Whether it was the tough-as-nails game against Ohio State, the Nebraska win (where Michigan only lead for about two minutes), or even the loss to Wisconsin, the maize and blue had enough adversity throughout the season to inform what needed to be done when the going got tough.
It felt inexplicable when Michigan went up by 18 that it would ever trail in this one, yet that’s where it found itself. And when the going was tough, it was Elliot Cadeau who helped lift the maize and blue out of the doldrums.
The physicality of the Wolverines showed up
The talk going into the game was that this would be the most physical game that pretty much any of the Wolverines would have had to date. Often, going into East Lansing, MSU has tended to have significant advantages in rebounding and forcing turnovers.
At the outset, the Wolverines were the aggressors, the disparity alarming (in a good way) to open the game, but as the teams started to settle, MSU started to find the basketball and even the score (in terms of rebounds). Still, Michigan finished with the advantage there, and though the Spartans had an advantage in offensive rebounds, it was the Wolverines who were superior in second-chance points by a wide margin (14 to 6).
Defensive masterclass in the first half, relapse in the second
As we noted, it was a tale of two halves.
MSU entered the matchup as the nation’s No. 1 defense, but the Wolverines weren’t too shabby with the No. 2 attack on that side of the court. The Spartans started the contest with a long stretch of not scoring, going 3-of-13 to open up the game. The maize and blue held MSU to 26.9% shooting in the first half; however, it was 50% in the second.
But the defense really stepped up when it counted most, in crunch time, as MSU couldn’t hit (until the Fears 3) in the final stretch, save for free throws.
If nothing else, the defensive performance in the first half allowed the Wolverines to have some wiggle room.
Free throws and points off turnovers
Michigan got better at the former, but couldn’t make good on the latter.
In the first half, the maize and blue limited themselves to just four turnovers, but added an additional nine in the second half. MSU had just two points off turnovers in the first half, but the costly nature of the nine in the second equated to 17 more Spartan points.
The Wolverines missed some key free throws early, but rectified late, however, the issue wasn’t as much making the free throws as much as the sheer amount. MSU had 27 attempts and while Michigan finished with 26, nearly half of those came as the Spartans were working to come back after the Wolverines pushed the lead back to 10 (having two technical fouls with 31.5 seconds left really helped Michigan push the lead). But without the fouling to get back into the game or the techs, it was looking like a much closer game with MSU frequently getting to the line and missing quite rarely.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Takeaways: Michigan basketball rallies late to beat MSU on the road
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