Michigan Rides Efficient Second Half To Defeat Oregon
Michigan was able to overcome its sluggish first half to take down Oregon by a score of 81-71…
It took a first-half scare, but the Wolverines escaped their West-Coast road trip unscathed.
Oregon's (8-10 overall, 1-6 Big Ten) two best players — forward Nate Bittle and guard Jackson Shelstad — were out due to injury, but the Ducks still gave the No. 2 Michigan men's basketball team (16-1, 6-1) a run for its money. Regardless, the Wolverines weathered the storm and walked away with an 81-71 win.
For a moment in the first half, it looked like the Wolverines might just pull away early. Michigan took an early double-digit lead, and with Oregon down Shelstad and Bittle, everything was pointing toward a Ducks collapse, and the Wolverines' return to dominance.
Halfway through the period, Michigan held a 21-10 lead. Its offense didn't look particularly dominant, but its defense was drowning Oregon's offense. But from that point onward, it was all Ducks in the first half.
The Wolverines became careless with the ball, giving up valuable possessions that led to scores the other way, and their defense suffered as a result. In the final 10 minutes of the half, Michigan allowed Oregon to score 31 points, a rate of concession that the Wolverines' defense rarely descend to.
To make matters worse, sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. picked up three early fouls and was forced to sit much of the half on the bench. Johnson's unavailability was a major factor in Michigan's lack of paint presence — the very identity of this Wolverines' team. When Michigan is at its best, its dominating the paint-scoring battle, but Oregon finished the first half with the advantage near the rim, scoring 16 paint points to the Wolverines' 10.
Michigan's turnover problems, combined with its lack of interior presence and energy, culminated in a first-half deficit at 41-40.
Graduate forward Will Tschetter started the second half in place of Johnson due to his foul trouble, but it didn't seem to have any immediate adverse effects, as the Wolverines started the second half looking rejuvenated.
They made five of their first seven shots, opening up a 53-47 lead with just over 15 minutes to play. Graduate guard Nimari Burnett carried his strong first half into the second, knocking in a 3-pointer along with a dunk. Junior center Aday Mara also got much more involved in the offense, as Michigan was making a concerted effort to correct its lack of paint presence from the first half.
Slowly, the Wolverines began to retake control of the game. Utilizing the fastbreak and the paint, they started to wear Oregon down. They forced the Ducks to expend so much energy getting back on defense and trying to grapple with Michigan's immense size that Oregon's offense began to stagnate.
With just under eight minutes to play, Johnson slammed in a dunk off of a wild shot by sophomore guard L.J Cason to push the score to 68-56. Just like that, Michigan held a 12-point lead.
Some timely Ducks 3-pointers off of empty Wolverines' possessions indicated a potential comeback push. Oregon managed to get the deficit back down to seven points at 71-64 with 5:27 to play, but Tschetter calmy canned a left-corner 3-pointer to extend the lead back to double digits.
The Ducks were putting up quite a battle, but every time they got too close, Michigan was able to muster a response. And as the clocked ticked under one minute to play, the Wolverines still held a 10-point lead, 78-68, and Oregon was going to need a miracle to pull off the upset.
No miracle appeared, and the Wolverines were able to ride a productive second half to a 10-point win. The short-handed Ducks gave it their best shot, but Michigan did enough to head home with a 2-0 record on its West-Coast road trip.
