Michigan goes outside the arc to down Oakland

BY DAN STICKRADT

SENIOR EDITOR

dan.stickradt@northoaklandsports.com

AUBURN HILLS — Michigan has earned a reputation of using back-door cuts and three-point shooting to wear down opponents. It has become kind of your pick-your-poison option when trying to stop the Wolverines.

Oakland gambled with halting Michigan’s back-door access and that exposed the three-point arc. The Wolverines found enough firepower from long-distance to dial up a 90-80 victory over Oakland University Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

Michigan made eight of its first nine 3-point attempts of the second half and finished 15-for-28 for beyond the arc overall in torching the Golden Grizzlies. In fact, of Michigan’s 31 made field goals, 16 were of the two-point variety, just one more from three-point range.  The Wolverines were 13-for-22 from the foul line.

While there was more than one scoreboard malfunction during the game, forcing the public address announcer to often read the score after baskets, there was no malfunction with Michigan’s shooting touch. The Wolverines scored a season-high in points, shot 57.4 percent from the floor and outscored Oakland 58-48 after halftime.

Beilien was never comfortable with the situation.

ROOM TO MOVE: Oakland University's Corey Petros tries to block Michigan's Tim Hardaway Jr. during the Wolverines' 90-80 win Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Photo | Larry Mckee, www.lmckeephotography.com

“I was always asking ‘how much are we up,’” saidBeilein. “(Reggie) Hamilton is a good player, (Corey) Petros is a tough guard. They’re all good. I was happy with the way we handled the adversity. They ended the first half (with the run) when we weren’t playing Michigan basketball. We faced the adversity of them trying to make runs at us.

“Our shooting helped us. Every time they made a run, we had someone come through and make a three,” said Michigan coach John Beilein.

Tim Hardaway scored 21 points, canning 5-for-9 three-point attempts, and Evan Smotrycz added a season-high 20 points and nine rebounds for the Wolverines, who had four players reach double figures. Trey Burke scored 20 and Stu Douglass chipped in with 13 points for Michigan.

“To beat them, you have to come up with a way to stop them. We decided to try to (seal) off their back door cuts and layups,” said Kampe, whose team is 1-7 against U-M all-time. “They responded by making all of those threes. We picked a strategy to win and we stuck with it. It didn’t work. When a team shoots 15-for-28 from three, it’s tough to beat them.”

Michigan led 74-67 when Oakland’s Laval Lucas-Perry had a three-point attempt rim in an out. The Wolverines answered with a Hardaway three-pointer and a Douglass dunk following a Smotrycz steal to kickstart a 10-4 run to push the lead to 84-71 with 1:29 to play.

“That hurt us,” said Oakland coach Kampe. “That shot (by Lucas-Perry) goes three quarters of the way in and then pops out. That would have cut it down to four (points). The momentum we had went away.”

Michigan opened the game with a 15-4 run, making six of its first 11 shots. OU was 2-for-12 from the field in the first seven-plus minutes to fall behind by 11 points.

Oakland cut the lead down to 27-21 with 3:25 left in the first half and eventually used a 13-5 spurt, capped by Travis Bader’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer that knotted the score at 32-32 at the half.

Oakland (6-4) stayed within striking distance during the first 10 minutes of the second half, Corey Petros’ layup cut Michigan’s lead down to 55-53 with 10:21 to play. Michigan answered 11-2 run and never allowed Oakland to get any closer than six points the rest of the way.

All five of Oakland starters reached double figures, led by Hamilton’s 28 points, which included a 12-for-12 night from the foul line. Bader and Lucas-Perry both added 14 points apiece, Petros chipped in with 12 points and eight rebounds and Drew Valentine scored 10 for the Grizzlies, who were 8-for-21 from three-point range and 20-for-26 from the line.

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Tags: Basketball, college basketball, featured, Oakland University men's basketball, University of Michigan Men's Basketball

Category: Campus Clips, Colleges / Other, Oakland University