IN took care of MI in an unexpected 80-67 rout on Tuesday, snapping the Wolverines’ four-game winning streak.
Advertisement
Wolverine head football coach Jim Harbaugh walked out of the tunnel in the minutes leading up to the game with in, sending the already frenzied fans to another level of joyous noise. And Indiana’s confidence grew with every made shot.
The Michigan basketball team is about to embark on monstrous week of basketball with two ranked teams coming to town.
And as much a juggernaut as IN looked IN its vicious 80-67 beatdown of those Wolverines, as much as the final score did not tell the true story, it may as well have been the Warriors IN the building. Unfortunately for John Beilein’s team things didn’t play out that way, with Walton’s shot essentially being the team’s final highlight of the game. Robert Johnson scored in double figures for just the third time in conference, dropping 16 points.
“No, not really”, Beilein said. “I think we need to get stronger in that area”, said junior forward Zak Irvin. “But I felt like we never got down and we never got discouraged”. “We feel bad about it, and we’ll watch some video to see what we can do”. “And when you don’t make some baskets, get back and guard somebody”. The Hoosier’s recollected themselves following a much needed timeout and shot almost ideal which would eventually bring their shooting average up to 61% from the field during the first half. MI aims to spread teams with the way in which they run their offense, using screens and cuts to produce quality shots. We can’t let that happen in the future. “I loved our preparation”, Crean said.
Three minutes later, sophomore guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman created space of the dribble and knocked down a short jumper to give the Wolverines their largest lead of the game, 17-6, with 13 minutes to play in the half.
The Hoosiers are now 19-4 and, at 9-1, alone atop the Big Ten standings.
“Obviously it hurts, especially losing to IU”, said Irvin, who is from Fishers, Indiana. But nobody’s going to feel sorry for us.
MI (17-6, 7-3) – now 11-2 at home – was done in by a dizzying stretch that began at the 8:43 mark of the first half and ended with 18:37 to play. However, in the early going, it appeared that the Wolverines might be making a statement against the Hoosiers.
The sharpshooting Robinson scored six of Michigan’s first eight points to start the second half. You just have to fight through it.
Early in the season in was at best indifferent on defense, with their ability to score points serving as a crutch players were far too willing to rely on.
Advertisement
On the eve of national signing day, MI football coach Jim Harbaugh was at the game, but he has ties to both sides of this rivalry.
