After falling to a very good UConn team last week, the No. 20 Michigan Wolverines bounced back in a big way, beating fellow Big East opponent Marquette, 84-70.
Shaka Smart has a good team in Marquette this season, with the Golden Eagles being picked to finish fourth in a deep Big East conference in the preseason poll. Marquette blew out two sub-300 KenPom teams in Mercyhurst and Detroit Mercy, and in its final exhibition game, Marquette beat a Michigan Statethat just knocked off Duke by three possessions.
While Marquette isn’t ranked yet, this team is no slouch and could make a deep tournament run, making this a good non-conference test for the Wolverines.
There’s no such thing as a must-win game in November, but coming off an eight-point lossto UConn at a neutral site, Michigan wanted to avoid consecutive losses at the start of a difficult non-conference slate. Michigan avoided that skid with an emphatic win against a decent team that should be on the right side of the NCAA tournament bubble come March.
Michigan went on a 20-5 run over the last 7:50 of the first half to take an eight-point lead into the break, methodically picking apart the Marquette defense while Smart’s squad struggled to keep up offensively. Michigan came out firing to start the second half, jumping out to a lead that got as high as 22 points. Marquette slowly came crawling back to make Michigan sweat and get the lead down to single digits multiple times, but optimal offensive execution down the stretch helped the Wolverines put this one away.
Here are the takeaways from the victory.
Starting off the second half hot
After a back-and-forth first half, the Wolverines stepped on the throat of the Golden Eagles out of the break. J.P. Estrella, Trey McKenney and Elliot Cadeau each hit a three, with Michigan making it’s first three attempts and jumping out to a 14-point lead before Marquette could blink.
Between this awesome start to the second half and the strong finish to the first half, Michigan took the identity of the Dan Campbell Detroit Lions by owning the “middle-eight” of the game. This game went from being back-and-forth to nearly a blowout in a flash.
Per KenPom, The Wolverines entered this game ranked 335th in the country in three-point shooting, a mark that’s 30th-worst in the country and only better than two power 4 teams (Miami and Maryland). Michigan’s season percentage looks a LOT better after tonight’s performace from deep (11/27, 41 percent).
I don’t want to see Michigan become overly reliant on the three-ball, but tonight’s shooting performance was more than encouraging.
Power in the paint
After Michigan didn’t shoot well from deep to start this one (2/7), the Wolverines made a concerted effort to get to the paint. Between Elliot Cadeau getting to the rim and dump-down passes to the bigs, Michigan outscored Marquette in the paint, 20-10, over the first 16:29 of play.
Two of those buckets camefrom J.P. Estrella as part of a 13-3 run that helped Michigan take a slight first half lead.
Estrelka led all Wolverines with 11 points and five rebounds in the first half, as he was an absolute menace inside. The effort he uses to go for offensive rebounds is admirable; he is an annoying player to box out, which obviously works in Michigan’s favor. Estrella led Michigan with 18 points in this one and was efficient (8/12) from the field.
The Wolverines outscored the Golden Eagles in the paint, 36-24, and those paint touches were a big reason why Michigan got so many open looks in the second half.
Costello comes up clutch
The Wolverine to make a three in a first half was Quinn Costello, who hit two shots from deep in that first half. High school coaches watching this game were probably salivating at Costello not dropping the ball below his chin off the catch, keeping it high for a quick release to make him a tough cover.
Just like three of Michigan’s starters, Costello hit his first three-point attempt of the second half to balloon Michigan’s lead up to 50-33. He hit his second attempt to get the lead up to 17 points again with just over 13 minutes to play.
When he is making threes at the clip he did tonight (5/6, 15 points), Michigan’s offense is impossible to slow down.
Captain Cadeau
Cadeau made it his mission to get paint touches, slicing into the lane and finding his bigs for 10 assists as the Golden Eagle defense collapsed.
The veteran point guard helped slow the game down after a disjointed start offensively, with Cadeau’s deliberate passing and pretty handle helping Michigan dictate the pace of the game. Marquette wanted to play fast, but Cadeau put his foot down to that gameplan, taking his time to find the open teammate.
Michigan is lucky to have him as a commanding presence.
Thiam protects the rim
The Wolverines sorely missed Thiamin their home opener against Oakland, as the Cincinnati transfer made his presence felt defensively early, swatting away two Marquette layups in the first six minutes of the game.
Thiam affected the shots that he didn’t manage to block, as Marquette tossed up a few ill-advised floaters after those early Thiam blocks.
I thought Michigan played a clean defensive game, particularly in the second half. The rotations were mostly on point, and having Thiam (three blocks) as an anchor allowed the Wolverine guards to stay aggressive along the perimeter.
I have to imagine head coach Mike Boynton Jr. is happy with that defensive effort, and that all started with Thiam, who gives Michigan one of the best interior defenses in the Big Ten.
Up Next
Michigan stays home this weekend, hosting William & Mary (173rd in KenPom) on Sunday in a matinee game (2 p.m. on B1G+). After that, Michigan won’t play until the following weekend, when the Wolverines travel to Philadelphia to complete a home & home series with Villanova (42nd in KenPom, 7 p.m. tip off on Saturday, Nov. 21 on Fox).
