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January 30, 2013
Borton's Blog: Fast five heat check
John Borton
TheWolverine.com It's worth taking the five-game snapshot every once in a while, just to gauge hot and cold on the No. 1 team in the land. That's especially the case since Michigan is now into the serious business portion of its 2013 journey.
Here are some good and not-so-good numbers, reflected in the latest handful of efforts by John Beilein's crew.
Sweet Shooters - Michigan as a team has shot 47 percent (125-for-266) over the past five games, featuring no less than seven marksmen at 45 percent or better. U-M leads the Big Ten in shooting overall at 51 percent, but a four-percent drop off isn't much, especially against Big Ten defenses.
Individual Hot Hands - Yes, the now-injured Jordan Morgan takes heat sometimes for missing the bunnies. He's still connecting on 60 percent (9-for-15) of his tries over the last handful. Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Jon Horford, who has gone 4-for-5 (80 percent) of late, stepped in to supplement.
Among those farther away from the basket, freshman Glenn Robinson III has connected on a strong 58.3 percent (21-for-36) over the last five, with junior Tim Hardaway, Jr., at 49.1 percent ((27-for-55).
Cooling Period - Sophomore point guard Trey Burke is Beilein's one regular who has developed a little scatter in the stroke. Over the past handful of games, Burke struggled to 36.4 percent (28-for-77) shooting from the field, 28.0 percent (7-for-25) from three-point range.
Still Feeding - That said, Burke's 29 assists over the past five games are more than the combined total of the rest of the team (28). That's set against just 10 turnovers, and a free throw shooting percentage of 78.6 (22-for-28), better than all but freshman Spike Albrecht's perfect 4-for-4. Safe to say Burke isn't in any danger of losing minutes, but he knows he'll need to make more shots for the Wolverines to win in the tough venues to come.
Recalculating - Freshman Nik Stauskas stayed north of 50 percent on three-point shooting all throughout the non-conference season, but he's found the going a bit tougher in the Big Ten. He's at 34.3 percent in Big Ten play, and 31.8 percent (7-for-22) over the last five.
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