It’s been a crazy month for John Beilein and the Michigan basketball team.
In the world of college hoops, all the attention is on what happens in March and the madness that ensues. March Madness has lived up to its billing for the Wolverines, who are somehow still alive after a roller coaster of a weekend in Wichita, Kansas.
The month began with another Big Ten Tournament championship, stalled for a 10-day layoff and picked back up again in a do-or-die scenario. Thanks to Jordan Poole’s epic buzzer beater against Houston, Michigan survived long enough to earn a matchup with Texas A&M.
The Wolverines are a better seed by far, but it certainly doesn’t feel like it.
College basketball fans who don’t tune in until after football season haven’t heard much from the Aggies. They started out 0-5 in SEC play, scrambled to get to 9-9 and finish the season with 12 losses overall.
It was a solid, but forgettable January and February, but none of that matters after what happened in Charlotte.
Texas A&M drew a tough matchup against Providence in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, but controlled the entire game and pulled out a 73-69 victory. Most expected the tournament run to end there, but the Aggies blasted North Carolina in its own backyard, leading by 14 at halftime and stretching that lead to 21 points before the final buzzer sounded.
It was one of the greatest performances of the opening weekend, and Texas A&M now looks like the No. 2 seed.
Whether it was the 10-day layoff, post-10 p.m. start times or tournament nerves, Michigan wasn’t the same team in Wichita after blowing through the conference tournament in New York.
The Wolverines beat top-10 teams in Michigan State and Purdue by a combined 20 points to earn the Big Ten crown, but struggled to get anything going against Montana and Houston. They averaged 62.5 points in the two NCAA Tournament games despite scoring 76 points per game in the Big Ten tourney.
It looked like Michigan’s run would come to an end when the Cougars were up by two points and heading to the free-throw line with four seconds to play, but Poole breathed new life into the team.
One of Texas A&M’s greatest strengths is size, and that’s reflected in the rebounding battle from the first two games. A&M crushed Providence and North Carolina on the glass, finishing with 94 boards, compared with 62 for its opponents.
Michigan was almost even on the glass in each of its first two NCAA Tournament games, edging Montana 36-33 and trailing Houston 41-38 in rebounds. Neither of those teams presented the type of size mismatch that the Wolverines will see in the Sweet 16.
Out of Texas A&M’s top four scorers, three are at least 6 feet 9 inches tall. Tyler Davis and Robert Williams, both 6-foot-10, average nine rebounds per game. When the teams take the floor Thursday night, A&M will have the size advantage at almost every single position against Michigan.
The Wolverines don’t necessarily need to win the rebounding battle, but they have to be competitive and avoid the massive margin that Texas A&M enjoyed last week.
Like Michigan, Texas A&M more or less uses an eight-man rotation with a few other players occasionally sprinkled in. That means the officials will be a huge factor in the game, particularly in the first half.
Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman #12 of the Michigan Wolverines reacts in the first half against the Purdue Boilermakers during the championship game of the Big 10 Basketball Tournament at Madison Square Garden on March 4,2018 in New York City.…
Michigan has been in foul trouble each of the first two games. Against Montana, starting point guard Zavier Simpson picked up a pair of fouls in the first five minutes, forcing Jaaron Simmons to play significant minutes. Duncan Robinson and Moritz Wagner each picked up four fouls in the game and struggled to get into a rhythm.
In the second round, both Robinson and Charles Matthews fouled out, and Wagner was playing with four fouls. Michigan committed 22 fouls in the game, allowing Houston to shoot 22 free throws.
Texas A&M is big, wants to attack the paint and will crash the offensive glass. Michigan has to defend and rebound without fouling to keep its best players in the game.
One of the reasons Texas A&M lost 12 games and earned a No. 7 seed in the tournament is the roster adversity it faced during the regular season.
Starting forward D. J. Hogg and star point guard T. J. Starks were suspended for violating team rules, and Hogg had been suspended earlier in the season. The suspensions contributed to Texas A&M’s 0-5 start to SEC play and threw off the Aggies during conference play.
Head coach Billy Kennedy also dealt with a knee injury to starting guard Admon Gilder.
The Aggies have one of the best starting lineups in the country, and when intact, they can beat anybody. With all five starters ready to go, Texas A&M is much closer to the team that beat North Carolina that the team that lost 12 games.
If Michigan has any chance to slow down Texas A&M and advance to the Elite 8, its two best players have to bounce back from bad opening weekends.
Wagner is Michigan’s most skilled player, and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman has been the leader and calming force all season.
Moritz Wagner reacts to a call during a win over the Michigan State Spartans at Breslin Center on Jan. 13,2018, in East Lansing, Michigan. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)
It’s been a rough NCAA Tournament, though, as Wagner scored a combined 17 points on 7-15 shooting and Abdur-Rahkman scored a combined 23 points on 7-26 shooting.
Abdur-Rahkman had plenty of open looks against Houston, but went 0-6 from beyond the arc. Whether it was rust or nerves, the senior guard struggled more in back-to-back games than he has all season.
Wagner was limited, in part, by foul trouble, picking up four in each game and playing more tentatively as a result. He hit two massive triples against Houston to keep Michigan alive, but Beilein needs more from him against the loaded Aggies front court.
If Michigan wants to get back to the Elite 8 for the first time since 2014, a lot has to change from the way it played in Wichita.
