Penn State has been close in most of its Big Ten games this year; the Nittany Lions just haven’t been able to finish.
They were robbed against Purdue after a late blown call, missed a lay-up that would have tied it with seconds to go at Ohio State, lost by a point at Minnesota and won their only game somewhere in the middle of that, scraping out a win at Northwestern.
Michigan travels to Happy Valley Tuesday night, and U-M head coach John Beilein said his Wolverines had better come to play.
“If we could take the final 15 minutes of each half (in a win over Wisconsin) … we’re going to need all 40 (like that) to beat Penn State,” Beilein said. “If you’ve been following their scores, they’re really tight with everybody. I mean anybody. I don’t know if anybody is playing better than Purdue right now. They had a chance to win that one, then at Iowa, at Ohio State. They missed a bunny and a score that would have won it.
“They’re really playing well; their record just doesn’t show it. It’s important we win if we’re going to compete for the Big Ten Championship. We’ve got to win every game we can win, and Penn State is not easy for anybody.”
The Wolverines have been pulling out games primarily with their defense, though the offense came alive in a 77-65 win at Rutgers last week. They were only 4-for-17 from three-point range against Wisconsin and needed a late flurry to hit the 60 mark in a 61-52 win.
For the second time in two games against the Badgers, freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis had a tough game. He finished 1-for-9 from the floor after being shut out in Madison, but the looks were there for him and his teammates, Beilein said.
“It was one of those games we couldn't make a shot,” he said. “I thought in Madison a lot had to do with their defense; this time we just missed them. We missed some pretty good open looks; they made some tough ones.”
They’ll need more offensive production to win the Big Ten, most likely, and Beilein knows it.
“I hope we can do what we’ve been doing last couple year. We could have a really good year if we can do that,” Beilein said. “That’s the focus in practice, to try to find some holes in everybody’s game that we’re trying to improve a little bit, strengthen areas we think we’re strong in right now. Last week it was Jon [Teske’s] balance, and we’ve seen it pretty well the last couple games where he’s balanced in some situations.
“If we continue to improve, we’ll have a chance to be in that championship hunt for the Big Ten.”
NOTES
• Beilein said some of his young players are still feeling out what’s going to be called a foul and what’s not.
“Two hands [on a guy’s back] is automatic,” he said. "Just little techniques we’ve got to teach them. They’re not going to call this [forearm], but will this [hands to the back]. Wisconsin is great at it, and they understand it, as well.
“Freshmen don’t understand it. It takes them a while. The high school game is much more physical. They are beating each other up and no calls, but that’s not the point of emphasis in the pros and college.”
• Michigan’s shooters will continue to get the green light to shoot all night and every night, Beilein noted, even when they’re struggling.
“We don’t tell anybody they’re done shooting,” Beilein said. “We’re basically looking for how a team is guarding us, the best action to run, if it’s not his day or if we’re underrating his defense or their defense.”
That was the case with redshirt junior Charles Matthews against the Badgers. He came to life with 16 points in the second half.
“We’ve moved to the side pick and roll late in the game because he was getting to spots we weren’t getting with the high pick and roll. We didn’t go into the game thinking do that,” Beilein said. “We had some things we wanted to do, thought we could attack Ethan Happ with Iggy a bit, and that didn’t’ work very well. We thought w could get some action going, but didn’t.
“We also had some really good shots that didn’t go down, as well.”
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