Wolverines drop to 5-7 in Big Ten after loss to Spartans

John Beilein's Michigan team possesses a defense worthy of a dangerous NCAA Tournament contender. The problem for the mastermind of the Maize and Blue is that his offense has "NIT" written all over it.
 
The home standing Wolverines held down Michigan State on Tuesday in Crisler Arena, but a quality showing at one end of the floor couldn't overcome the deficiencies of UM's offense. A 54-42 loss to Tom Izzo's Spartans--in a game that was closer than the final margin indicated--dropped Michigan to eighth place in the Big Ten. With just one month of regular-season basketball remaining, a team that has performed so admirably against the biggest names in the sport finds itself on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. Without some answers on offense, the slayer of Duke and UCLA (and a gallant loser at Connecticut) will once again fail to punch a Dance card.
 
To be fair to the Wolverines, this loss to Michigan State--one of the premier programs in all of college basketball--shouldn't have been preceded by the visit to New England a few days earlier. Just 72 hours after warring with the No. 1 team in the land, Beilein's boys had to do battle with the No. 9 club in the country. The brutal combination of back-to-back heavyweights proved to be too much for the home team, as the visitors from East Lansing definitely had the fresher legs on the evening. It should be noted that while Michigan encountered UConn on Saturday evening, the Spartans hosted Indiana. The Hoosiers work hard, but no one would confuse Tom Crean's kids with Jim Calhoun's crop of ultra-talented stars. It would be hard to think that this set of realities didn't affect the outcome of this contest to some small degree.

Nevertheless, looking for explanations is something the Wolverines shouldn't have to be doing at this point in time. Michigan's primo performances against A-list foes underscore the extent to which the Maize and Blue have slumped against beatable Big Ten teams. Because of their pronounced struggles in league play, the Wolverines simply had to win this game against their bitter rival, and when crunch time came calling, the men in gold jerseys couldn't bring forth their best. The draining duel with UConn might have influenced their level of energy, but with the NCAA Tournament on the line, the Wolverines--who had to go above and beyond the call--didn't look like a team worthy of a spot in the field of 65.
 
This defensive grinder wasn't aesthetically pleasing, but it had to hearten Beilein and Izzo, two hard-working coaches who expect maximum effort from their players. With just under five minutes left in regulation, the Wolverines--despite a set offense that did virtually nothing against the Spartans' suffocating man-to-man pressure--were down by just four points at 42-38. One strong finishing kick, one inspired string of possessions, would have enabled Michigan to nail down a high-value conference win, the kind of result that would go a long way toward satisfying the NCAA Division I-A Men's Basketball Committee on Selection Sunday. For all their shooting woes, the guys in gold found themselves in the thick of the fight.
 
However, the final few minutes would be much like the first 35. Michigan would watch, and Michigan State would take the initiative.

The Spartans won most "50-50" balls down the stretch, and one such scramble led to an ice-veins three by MSU point guard Kalin Lucas that stretched the visitors' advantage to 45-38. Continuing the game's most constant theme, Michigan wasn't sloppy on offense, but certainly stuck in quicksand against the Spartans' faster feet. Manny Harris, the Wolverines' star player, could never attack the basket or break down State's defense with dribble penetration. Just a few days after going strong to the goal against Connecticut, Harris lost his high-powered passion and lacked the extra measure of explosiveness needed to revitalize Michigan's offense.
 
Spartan guard Travis Walton--the best defensive player on the floor in this game--was able to lock down Harris in the final minutes of regulation, and when that happened, the Wolverines' already-inept offense remained paralyzed. The U of M didn't hit a single field-goal attempt in the final 4:51, a clear sign of both insufficient appetite and inadequate performance. Though not playing ugly basketball, the Wolverines--with so much on the line--definitely played like a timid team unwilling to embrace its big moment. Nerves sometimes manifest themselves in the form of mistakes; on this night, Michigan's anxiety emerged in the form of tentative and hesitant offensive execution.
 
There's one month left of basketball before the Big Ten Tournament. In that time, Michigan not only needs to find some offensive production; the Wolverines need to find leadership, late-game courage, and the ability to push past their physical limitations. Unless they can conquer their offensive agonies with a newly tenacious style of play, the Maize and Blue will prolong a March Madness drought that--one month ago--did not seem likely to continue.

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