Well That Was Fun
Michigan and Ohio State earned big wins in the night of the year for the Big Ten
I guess waiting to post this Hoopla until Tuesday was a good call, because my goodness last night’s games gave us something to talk about.
It is funny to not start with the matchup that came between two top six teams, and Indiana-Michigan was a very good game in its own right. But I have to start with the late night matchup that might be the conference’s game of the year.
How The Hell Did Ohio State Win?
Iowa and Ohio State battled in the other top 25 game, and the Hawkeyes would have had a chance to move into first place in the conference by the end of the week with a home win here.
Instead, despite Herculean efforts from Iowa’s stars, the Buckeyes prevailed in a 92-88 victory that was, wire-to-wire, an unbelievably entertaining game to watch.
It’s hard to overstate how impressive it is that Ohio State won this. For one, it was in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. For two, Iowa shot over 60 percent on the game. For three, Caitlin Clark had one of the best performances of her already remarkable career:
43 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists
Even writing out that absurd stat line doesn’t do Clark’s performance justice. This was utter domination on the offensive side of the floor, with seven of the most disgusting three-pointers you will ever see, highlighted by this one that felt like it could give the Hawkeyes the momentum needed to close this one out.
And yet, Ohio State immediately scored on its next possession to take a lead, Clark did not hit another three the rest of the game, and the Buckeyes held on to a crucial, crucial victory.
It was also not that easy for the Buckeyes. I thought Iowa would win because no one would be able to guard Monika Czinano inside, and I was half right. Czinano had 23 points and 9 rebounds on 11-of-13 shooting. No one could stop her, she combined with Clark for 66 goddamn points, and Iowa lost. How.
Here’s how. Ohio State was also incredibly efficient as a team (55.9 FG%), and star guards Taylor Mikesell and Jacy Sheldon did what they do: 44 combined points, 18-of-31 combined shooting. Early on, Rebeka Mikulasikova went from typical not great three shooter to Slovakian Steph Curry, hitting all of her first four three-point attempts and scoring 14 points in the first 5:34 of the game.
But this was much more than just those three players. The Buckeyes got major contributions from Braxtin Miller, Rikki Harris and Tanaya Beacham, as well as some key minutes from true freshman Taylor Thierry.
Harris has turned into a great two-way player and had three pivotal steals to help kill Iowa’s offensive flow, and Miller hit one of the most important shot of the game: a three with 4:54 to cut the deficit back down to one, 83-82, as soon as Iowa again looked ready to run away with it.
There were so many of those moments: Iowa would hit a big shot, the crowd would get into it, then Ohio State remained poised and cut the deficit right back down. There were 16 lead changes, but the Buckeyes lead for less than nine minutes (8:54) of this contest. To stay in the game throughout and to break through at just the right time was an astonishing feat, especially after a demoralizing loss to Michigan the game prior.
All that said, I have to talk about some officiating, which I hate to do. Iowa held a three-point lead with under two minutes to play, before Harris kicked a ball that led to a Clark turnover and two Ohio State points. There’s no doubt and that’s not picking a side: Harris undoubtedly kicked the ball, and it was brutally obvious live from my TV on a stream. It was a missed call, and that change in momentum was everything.
Clark turned it over for real the next play and all of a sudden Ohio State had a late lead that it never relinquished. Did Iowa still have a chance? Absolutely, and some of the late-game play calls were iffy at best, downright bad at worst. But there is no denying how significant that no-call was on the kicked ball, and that’s a real shame for how good the matchup was overall.
Now, let’s talk about this Michigan team.
Michigan Is Playing Like A National Title Contender
Yeah, I am saying that about a team that just turned it over 25 times, what about it?
Michigan welcomed No. 5 Indiana to its home and then was the better team through and through for a mostly comfortable, while still very ugly 65-50 win. The win is the seventh in a row for the Wolverines, all of which have been by 13 points or more, including three wins of 15 or more against ranked opponents.
Let me get the caveats out of the way: Indiana indeed was still without star Mackenzie Holmes, and Indiana indeed had not played since Jan. 16. Those 100 percent were a factor and I am not trying to pretend that Michigan just beat a full strength Hoosiers squad by 15.
But let’s also not pretend that this is not an exceptionally impressive win for Michigan anyway. Indiana is still a very good team with four other starters that are more than capable of dominating. Instead, at least offensively, the Wolverines smothered all four of them.
The four remaining usual starters shot a combined 19 of 53 (35.8 percent) and scored 47 points, down from their usual average of 49.5 PPG, and remember that’s mostly when Holmes is in the lineup scoring 17.9 per game.
But how was the rest of the Hoosiers lineup? If you are a math expert, you might be thinking that there aren’t too many points left to give out. Well you would be right, as the calculus says that the rest of the roster scored 3 points on a combined 1-of-7 shooting.
This was a defensive masterclass from Michigan, something that is still difficult when trying to stop four great players instead of five. The Holmes impact was made most clear in the rebounding differential, which was, uh, stark.
Rebounds:
Indiana - 20
Michigan - 52
You would think a lot of those 52 boards were from Michigan star Naz Hillmon, but she had just five. Instead, in a lovely little metaphor of Michigan’s season, the boards were split through a handful of important role players, including Emily Kiser (16 rebounds) and Danielle Rauch (7), who are seeing a large uptick in playing time and have been pivotal in the success of this team.
Despite that 32 rebound advantage, Indiana had more field goal attempts in the game because it held onto the ball well (11 turnovers) at least compared to its counterparts. As mentioned, the Wolverines turned it over 25 times, eight of those thanks to steals by Nicole Cardano-Hillary.
Outside of Maddie Nolan, who is more of a spot-up shooter anyway, every player who earned at least 14 minutes for Michigan had at least three turnovers, not great. But, when not shooting themselves in the foot, the Wolverines offense was as delightful to watch as it has been during this recent run of play.
Kim Barnes Arico has turned this offense into a beautiful well-oiled machine with a lot of movement and options aplenty to get players into the exact right position that matches their skillset. Leigha Brown only shot five times in this game, but made four of them for an efficient 11 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists stat line that stayed small from foul trouble.
Brown is a mid-range god and Barnes Arico knows that, and the offense works accordingly to get her space where she needs it. But how Michigan uses Hillmon is what’s really special. Hillmon is so, so good inside, but the Wolverines are helping her more than ever by getting her in the right position for the simple post moves that she does so effortlessly. She is also becoming better and better at passing out of the paint, and though it only was for one assist this game, you can see the impact it has when you watch the game.
Hillmon was great against the Hoosiers with 21 efficient points, and that 21 is a large total considering the type of slugfest that ensued in Ann Arbor last night.
What To Watch
Alright I know that this is a long one, so let’s try to sell five games coming this week with one sentence for each.
Northwestern @ Purdue, 2/3, 7 p.m. — B1G+
Even matchup between two teams fighting for their NCAA Tournament lives.
Penn State @ Nebraska, 2/3, 8 p.m. — BTN
Makenna Marisa is cool but Nebraska will probably score a lot and that’s fun.
Nebraska @ No. 17 Maryland, 2/6, 1 p.m. — B1G+
I’m calling the upset and it will be a fun, high-scoring upset to watch.
Illinois @ Wisconsin, 2/6, 2 p.m. — BTN
It’s a toilet bowl and it might not reach 90 combined points, good game to watch with various beers.
No. 21 Iowa @ No. 6 Michigan, 2/6, 6:30 p.m. — BTN
Banger on the way, as Iowa has a forward who can compete with Hillmon and Caitlin Clark is in a truly special run of form.
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