The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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men's basketball Five Questions With Freshman Mitch McGary Did the Arkansas game demonstrate this team's growing ability to close out contests better? McGary: "We've got to work on that. It's always tough when we're leading and a team tries to make a run on us. We try to stay poised. Being at home, and having a home-court advantage with our fans, they keep us in it. It rattles them up, and our older guys kept poised and stepped up. "Coach [John] Beilein kind of yelled at us when we started the second half, so we knew we had to pick it up and not let up." How do you feel about your game at this point? McGary: "I feel a lot better. I'm trying to get my feel for the team and know my role. I know I'm coming in as a high-energy guy. I'm trying to give good minutes for J-Mo [redshirt junior McGary said of players' reactions forward Jordan Morgan] and Glenn [Robinson to Michigan's No. 2 national rankIII] and score easy buckets when I can, set ing, "Everybody has the mindset screens." that it's just a number." photo by lon horwedel How is your post game coming along, and that of the team? McGary: "It's doing pretty well. It's new to the guys, because we never really had a post game the last couple of years in Beilein's system. We're trying to establish it. It's just taken a little bit more time than we expected. "It's just going to help our team overall. If we get it into the post, they're going to double down on us and leave shots open for Tim [Hardaway Jr.] and Trey [Burke] and Nik [Stauskas]." How is this team learning to react to pressure put on by opponents? McGary: "We had our scout team pressure us even more than we got against Arkansas, so we felt like we were pretty prepared for that one. We knew they were going to get into us and scrap for the ball. We knew we had to be strong with the ball and make great passes. I think we handled that pretty well." What's it like to be the No. 2 team in the country? McGary: "Everybody has the mindset that it's just a number. I think we just need to keep getting better as a team each day, and keep winning." — John Borton Michigan Shows Well On Big Ten Statistical Lists Michigan has yet to lose a basketball game in 2012-13, and a scan of Big Ten statistics through Dec. 17 reveals why. The Wolverines rolled through the first few weeks of the season as the Big Ten's hottest-shooting team. Through 11 games, Michigan had connected on 51.1 percent from the field, better than any other conference school. Indiana stood as the only other Big Ten team above the 50-percent mark, at 50.6, with Michigan State shooting 48.1 percent. The Wolverines also led the conference in three-point shooting percentage, going 89 of 222 (40.1 percent) through 11 games. That mark kept Michigan just ahead of Ohio State 40 the wolverine January 2013 (39.9 percent) and Indiana (39.4). Michigan didn't lead the Big Ten in free throw shooting, but certainly remained in the conversation, in fourth place. Indiana (74.5 percent) topped the league, with Iowa (73.3) second, followed by Minnesota (72.3) and Michigan, thousandths of a point behind. The Wolverines were a solid third in scoring offense, their 78.2 points per game trailing only Indiana (88.8) and Ohio State (80.1). Michigan ranked fourth in scoring defense, allowing 57.5 points per contest, behind league-leader Michigan State (56.4 percent), Wisconsin (57.1) and Ohio State (57.4). That put the Wolverines in a very enviable position in terms of scoring margin. Michigan outscored foes through the first 11 games by an average of 20.6 points per contest, better than all conference teams except the Hoosiers (28.3) and Buckeyes (22.7). Defensively, the Wolverines lingered in the middle or lower, in terms of opponents' shooting. Foes connected at a 40.0 clip through 11 games, making Michigan's shooting percentage defense no better than eighth in the Big Ten. Michigan opponents shot 31.0 percent on threes, making U-M sixth in the league in that category. The Wolverines reached unfamiliar territory on the boards in their initial 11 games, coming up fourth in the league in rebounding margin, at a plus-9.6. The Hoosiers paced the Big Ten through their first 10 games, snagging 12.2 more rebounds per game than opponents. Despite an increase in size and depth among the big men, Michigan's defensive forte definitely does not involve shot blocking. The Wolverines stood last in the Big Ten in that category, averaging just 2.6 blocks per contest. Minnesota (6.9) led the conference there. The Wolverines also averaged just 4.9 steals per game, 11th in the Big Ten and well back of the Gophers' league-leading 9.9 average. U-M stood sixth in the Big Ten in average assists (15.1), fifth in turnover margin (plus-2.0) and third in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.5). Wolverines One Of The Nation's Best, And Youngest, Squads Everyone knows by now Michigan basketball has launched itself back into the nation's elite. The No. 2 team in the land has gotten there despite being one of the youngest squads in the country. StatSheet.com produces "The Experience Tracker," which examines experience per minute played by teams across the nation. The Wolverines entered mid-December with an "experience number" of 1.98, tied with UC Santa Barbara for the 20thleast-experienced squad in the country. The Wolverines featured the youngest team in the Big Ten, followed by Purdue. Michigan also sported the youngest team in the nation among the Associated Press top25 squads. ❑