Michigan is an equally exciting and frustrating team to watch, now, especially against good teams.
Michigan shot it really well and the half court defense was solid, overall. The problem was there were way too many dumb turnovers, especially those that resulted in layups at the other end, and they also committed too many dumb fouls.
Franz Wagner started and played major minutes but was a big culprit on the dumb fouls part, as he fouled out, which was a rarity for anyone under Beilein, much less a guard (though Mo Wagner committed a lot of dumb fouls as a freshman).
Teske had two dumb moving screens early which kept him on the bench for the rest of the first half and then had some other fouls that forced him off until late, when he helped clinch the win..... Consequently, Castleton played a lot and made some nice plays on offense but also looked fairly bad on defense to the point that Austin Davis came in during the first half, as well, and actually looked okay.
Simpson had a double-double of points and assists, but also had a lot of dumb turnovers. Brooks and DeJulius both hit some big shots and made some nice plays, as well, while also making mistakes.
Livers had a pretty good game overall hitting some big shots but also forced a few. Johns had some good moments and also some bad mistakes.
Nunez still played some in the first half but not in the second half. He's clearly the worst defensive player, even though he hit a 3, so I don't think he'll be in the rotation for much longer (he probably played today partly to mitigate the fatigue factor for the next two days for the rest of the rotation).
Overall, if they can limit their turnovers and bad fouls, they'll be able to compete with anyone in the country and certainly the BigTen. We'll see what happens the next two days, though....
