Michigan's Offense Tore Up Maryland In A Fashion That Is Seldom Seen
The Michigan Wolverines' basketball team put on a beautiful offensive display in its 84-73 win at Maryland Thursday night, a theme that is quickly becoming a trend this season on that side of the ball.
The Maize and Blue have now scored at least 80 points in seven of their eight games, with the 62-58 victory over Penn State Dec. 13 being the lone exception. Michigan is averaging 82.2 points per game as a result, which ranks an impressive 42nd nationally in a season that has seen 330 Division 1 teams play at least one game.
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Even more impressive than U-M's scoring totals is how efficient its offense has run as a whole. Michigan is shooting 52.2 percent as a team, which ranks eighth in the country and second among Power Conference schools (Illinois' 53 shooting percentage is tops in that regard and sixth nationally).
The Wolverines' smooth offensive play culminated this past Thursday at Maryland, when they embarrassed the Terrapin defense in a way that head coach Mark Turgeon's crew seldom sees.
The 84 points U-M posted marked the first time Maryland allowed at least 80 to an opponent since 2017-18, which was of course three seasons ago. The last team to score 80 on the Terps prior to Thursday was, sure enough, … Michigan.
John Beilein's club picked up an 85-61 blowout win in College Park in the final game of the regular-season on Feb. 24, 2018. Maryland then proceeded to hold its next 75 opponents to fewer than 80 points.
U-M also shot 58.8 percent this past Thursday against the Terrapins, the highest any team had shot against them since Iowa connected on 64.3 percent of its attempts on Feb. 8, 2015 (six seasons ago).
It's important to stress how seldom Maryland has let opponents go off for big offensive nights in recent years the way Michigan did earlier this week. Only two teams shot 50 percent or better against the Terps last season (Northwestern shot 50 percent Jan. 21 and Indiana nailed 52.6 percent of its attempts Jan. 26), and none did in 2018-19.
Maryland's defense wasn't quite as stellar in 2017-18, allowing seven of its 32 opponents to hit the 50 percent mark. With that being said, only two of the seven eclipsed 52 percent (Michigan State hit 57.1 percent of its attempts Jan. 4 that year and Ohio State converted 56.1 percent Jan. 11).
One other reason for U-M's high scoring total at Maryland was due to its free throw success. The Maize and Blue were 18-of-20 from the charity stripe (90 percent), and are now connecting on 78.9 percent of their free throws on the year.
That is the best percentage in the Big Ten and the 10th best mark nationally.
| Date | Game | Opponent Shooting Percentage | Maryland's Result |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Dec. 31, 2020 |
Michigan |
58.8 |
L, 84-73 |
|
Jan. 26, 2020 |
@ Indiana |
52.6 |
W, 77-76 |
|
Jan. 21, 2020 |
@ Northwestern |
50 |
W, 77-66 |
|
Feb. 24, 2018 |
Michigan |
50.9 |
L, 85-61 |
|
Feb. 7, 2018 |
@ Penn State |
51.9 |
L, 74-70 |
|
Jan. 22, 2018 |
@ Indiana |
50 |
L, 71-68 |
|
Jan. 11, 2018 |
@ Ohio State |
56.1 |
L, 91-69 |
|
Jan. 4, 2018 |
@ Michigan State |
57.1 |
L, 91-61 |
|
Dec. 3, 2017 |
@ Illinois |
51.4 |
W, 92-91 |
|
Dec. 1, 2017 |
Purdue |
50.9 |
L, 80-75 |
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