Takeaways: Michigan Falters At Home As Offense Collapses
Out Of His Element: Senior point guard Zavier Simpson has worn the cape much more this season than in the past. That was born out of necessity with the early departures of Jordan Poole, Iggy Brazdeikas and Charles Matthews and especially when Isaiah Livers went down with a groin injury Dec. 21. But there is good hero ball and bad hero ball, and the latter was on display in Michigan's loss.
After making three of his first four attempts, all the sort of slithering, get-to-the-basket layups Simpson is known for, the senior made just 5 of his next 19 shots, taking ill-advised three-pointers (2 for 7 in the game), forcing shots early or whittling the shot clock down and taking bad shots at the end of the clock.
Simpson also had six turnovers in the game, including a stretch in the final 10 minutes of the first half in which he turned it over four times (and went 0 for 3 from the floor) as the Nittany Lions erased a five-point deficit for a 37-28 halftime lead.
Simpson had a game-high six assists, but he set a career-high in shot attempts with 23 and that is not a successful recipe for U-M. Simpson is at his best when he makes everyone around him better, but tonight, he played like he was Option 1, 2 & 3. It was selfish basketball from a normally very unselfish leader.
Duds: On my radio show Wednesday, we all picked a matchup to watch that could influence the outcome. I picked a freshman battle between Michigan's Franz Wagner and Penn State's Seth Lundy. Wagner had taken (and made) more threes than any other Wolverine over the past four games (9 for 29) while Lundy had gone 3 for 6 from behind the arc in back-to-back contests.
They were both no-shows. Wagner went 1 for 9 from the floor, 1 for 8 from threes, as he finished with six points. Lundy, meanwhile, was 0 for 3 overall, including 0 for 2 on three balls, as neither player made a positive impact for their team.
Shooting Woes Continue: Michigan entered tonight's game making just 29.5 percent of its three-point tries in conference play, and it actually got worse for the Wolverines against Penn State. U-M finished the night 5 for 28, 17.9 percent, from behind the arc, including the pitiful showings from Wagner, Simpson, junior Eli Brooks (1 for 5) and senior Jon Teske (0 for 4).
Michigan got plenty of good, open looks from Wagner, Teske, Brooks and sophomore Brandon Johns Jr. (1 for 3) but wasn't hitting anything. Chalk that up to bad breaks, but shooting is about confidence, and this team is sorely lacking any.
No Shows: Halfway through the season and one still has no idea what they'll get from Brooks or sophomore David DeJulius on any given night. Brooks had a breakout game with 25 points in a loss at Iowa last Friday, and was off to a hot start tonight, with seven points on his first four shots eight minutes in.
But then he, as he has too often this season, drifted out of the offensive flow, not working hard enough to find opportunities for himself. The result: one for his last eight, including a 20:19 stretch at the end of the first half and start of the second half in which he didn't make a basket.
This Michigan basketball team is much better off when Brooks, a more natural shooter and scorer than Simpson, leads the team in scoring chances. And while Simpson wasn't making it easy with his bad decision-making, Brooks was too content to slip into the role of a background player.
DeJulius, meanwhile, had just two points, both on free throws, as he missed three shots in 14 minutes. He has games where he plays with a swagger and shot-making ability desperately needed, and he has games where he appears to go through the motions, filling a spot on the floor but nothing else. This game was the latter.
In some ways, Brooks and DeJulius forced Simpson's hand tonight (though I still contend that Simpson could have created more for his teammates), and frankly, if it's more of the same, more no-shows from these two, there will be plenty more losses in January and February.
Sliding: Michigan has lost three in a row for the first time all season, and this was, by far, the worst loss of the bunch (really the worst loss of the year).
Tonight kicked off an eight-game stretch in which U-M would play five at home, one neutral-site game against Rutgers (though in New York City) and away games at Nebraska and Northwestern, the two worst teams in the league. KenPom predicted eight victories for the Wolverines, with the tilt against Penn State the fourth-easiest of the eight contests.
Michigan fans now have to wonder how many of these games the Maize and Blue will win, and what will be left of the season after the stretch finishes with a home contest against Indiana Feb. 16. U-M has fallen to 11-7 overall and 2-5 in league play, now 11th in the conference standings.
It's imperative Michigan gets Livers back for Saturday's game against Illinois and earns a victory before heading on the road. A season cannot be lost in January, but a downward spiral can limit a team's postseason potential.
