Half Time: If this game was decided by which university had the better PSA, Michigan would win hands down. With my apologies to EDSBS, SPACE BITCHES! Looking at the stats, Michigan is doing a good job of drawing fouls and not getting into foul troubles themselves. Only C. Sims and J. Smith have two fouls while virtually all of OSU front line players have at least 2 fouls.
18:30: Oden gets bailed out as the officials call the foul on Ivan Harris and not Greg Oden. Sims continues to earn my ire as he misses both of his free throws.
17:07: Big Ten officials <3 Greg Oden. And Amaker gets a technical and loses his coat! He’s just rocking the business casual turtle neck. He’s still yapping. Maybe he’ll get kicked out and Michigan will have a chance.
17:01: Amaker’s words did not fall on deaf ears and puts his coat back on. Petway drives and gets fouled by Oden. Oden may be a 7 footer, but Petway can jump as high as Dwight Howard.
16:06: Decent offense against the zone. Smith gets a little penetration and is able to get it to Sims a foot away from the basket who (just to annoy me) Euro-dunks it. Then Sims follows it up with a block on the other end. I’m liking the play from the seniors (although Abrams has been sitting most of the game), but Smith is really surprising me with good, intelligent point guard play for the most part.
14:42: Michigan is playing inspired defense. They got back and even though OSU had numbers, it looked like Michigan had more on that end of the floor. Eventually they force the bad shot and the OSU rebounder goes out of bounds.
14:09: Did Abram hear me? He’s playing a lot more aggressively now with two drives (one for a block) this one a really nice drive and finish.
12:55: Abram was running around looking for someone to guard. Luckily OSU turned it over stepping out of bounds.
11:49: Michigan is stagnating on offense, but they really look like they’re playing to win. Good hustle for rebounds and loose balls. Michigan has only 2 more turnovers then OSU and has a assist-to-turnover ratio of over 1.00. Weird.
11:22: Harris goes on to the court and breaks a 3-minute scoring drought with an and-1 opportunity which he fails to convert.
10:13: Petway vs. Oden. Petway wins.
9:02: WOW! Lob over the top of Oden to Courtney Sims who goes up strong with arguably the nation’s best shot blocker right over his should. Thad Matta looks like he’s almost to a gum spitting level.
7:54: The Big Ten officials seem to go by the assumption if Oden gets the ball and doesn’t score, there most be a foul. By the by, this might be the first game not against Delaware St. where I have been worried by Courtney Sims going to the bench. He has been playing Oden tough and had gotten it going on the offensive end. With the OSU game plan looking like “feed Oden” I would really like Sims out there.
6:50: Petway hits the deck to get the ball out to Smith on the offensive glass. Abram gets the ball and draws another foul. The seniors are playing like they don’t want to win the NIT.
5:56: I was just about to write how I don’t like Michigan playing the zone and then Smith comes up with the steal which leads to a Dion Harris score after an inbounds.
5:11: I don’t like Michigan playing the zone. They don’t know what they’re doing. People are just running around trying to guard a man or a zone, it’s hard to tell.
4:55: SIMS DRAWS A FOUL ON ODEN. Sims is trying to re-earn my love! Going strong into Oden and gets the freebies. NAILS THE FIRST! AND THE SECOND. Michigan up by two.
4:45: Oden gets it right back against Sims, who has 4 fouls.
4:15: Who is the player wearing #1 for Michigan; I sure don’t think it’s Smith. Honestly, besides the turnovers, which were only early on, he’s been playing out of his mind. Making great passes, great decisions, good drives and that ridiculous three point bomb from the side.
3:54: Sims gets an and-1 thanks to great feed, four fouls on Oden, and the hilariously named Terwilliger hitting his arm.
2:31: Michigan up by 2pts. It seems as though Michigan has been in control the entire game, but OSU could go on a run of 8-20 pts and blow this game wide open.
2:21: Michigan is starting to turn the ball over an awful lot. They need to stop if Michigan has any chance of holding on.
1:54: Michigan is down by 2. The game is going in the wrong direction. Michigan needs a solid offense possesion. If Dion Harris or Jarret Smith could turn the corner and either go all the way or dish it to Sims or Petway.
1:27: Sims misses a dunk. I’m pretty sure there was a foul, but Oden had four, so… no dice.
48.8: Sweet spin move by Harris draws the foul. He better make these…damn. Misses the front end of a one-and-one
10.0: Michigan can’t box out Ivan Harris since there are 6 Michigan players blocking out Oden. Immediate foul and Michigan is down by 3. And 4.
0.0: Smith throws it into the backcourt instead of, you know, shooting. OSU wins. Michigan gears up for another great NIT run.
Final: 65-61. A missed dunk by Sims and Harris missing the front end of a one-and-one with less than 90 seconds to go in a must win game. This, unfortunately, doesn’t surprise me at all. Two seniors, on Senior Day, against the #1 team in the country, playing for their tournament lives fold under the pressure. Now Michigan will have to win AT LEAST two games in the Big Ten Tourney for any chance of a bid. Amaker should try to get a Technical foul each game in the tourney. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
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