Preview: South Carolina State

No. 9 Michigan once again takes the Crisler Center hardwood tonight, this time against 1-1 South Carolina State. This is Michigan's final tuneup game before hitting the road on Sunday to take on Fred Hoiberg's Iowa State squad in Ames; even without senior forward Melvin Ejim, ISU should be a tough test. 

Nonetheless, there's not much use in going too in depth for a game like this, especially so early in the season. So, I'll talk a little SCSU personnel then move on to some miscellaneous Michigan-centric thoughts.

Resume
South Carolina State has played two games, at Marshall and St. Andrews, the latter which I'm pretty sure could be a school I played against in high school.

The Bulldogs --of the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference-- lost at Marshall, 85-69, a game in which they were fairly competitive for a while. Then again, that probably isn't saying much, as Marshall finished just 13-19 last season.

In their second game, the Bulldogs hosted St. Andrews and won in overtime, 59-55. As always at this point in the season, neither of these things means anything. Then again, you typically don't need contextual evidence to know that South Carolina State is probably not very good vis-a-vis even the worst major conference teams.

Personnel

Based on box scores alone, senior forward Matthew Hezekiah seems to be SCSU's best player. He scored 19 and 17 in his first two games while shooting 69.6% from the field.

Speaking of the Marshall game, due to some foul trouble the Bulldogs ended up playing 15 (!) different guys. That is incredible. Unfortunately for SCSU, Hezekiah was the only one to get in the double-digits in points.

Against St. Andrews, senior guard Adama Adams scored on 6-of-9 shooting (3-of-5 from beyond the arc). Barring some of the other guys on the roster getting a hold of Michael Jordan's "Secret Stuff," these two will likely be the only scoring threats.

Points of Emphasis

• This is another bad team: can Michigan avoid a first half case of the Mondays? Not that it even matters if they don't, but consistency is nice. 

• With Mitch McGary still out, can Glenn Robinson III continue to find ways to make himself a focal point of the offense i.e. to "hunt" for his shots? As has been discussed over and over again this offseason regarding his game, this is no longer the year of the putback/dunk for GRIII; he will now be expected to create. 

• Can Michigan get out in transition early? UMass-Lowell did a good job of shutting down Michigan's fast break game by simply getting back on defense with alacrity. 

• Derrick Walton watch: How does he look on the pick and roll? How about from three-point land? Can he learn from his relatively few mistakes thus far, i.e. last game's traveling call in transition?

• Is Caris LeVert actually shaping up to be a guy Michigan relies on for big points and some amount of ball-handling? Or is he simply filling the McGary-sized production vacuum?

• Plain and simple: shooting. Michigan was downright atrocious from the field in the first half against Lowell. I guess part of the benefit of these cupcake matchups is the opportunity for guys to get some good looks and see the ball go in. The Wolverines would like to get the types of looks they go in the second half against Lowell as opposed to the parade of jumpers they settled on in the first half. 

Most of these questions won't be answered for a while; unlike football, however, there isn't quite as much urgency for these answers to be so immediate. Each game is a small step forward in the data-gathering process. As for this game, it is one last chance for the team, especially the freshmen, to breathe before the non-conference schedule starts to pick up in quality. 

No use in even deigning to make a definite score prediction here. Michigan will win, by a lot. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Nebraska

As usual, my recap of Saturday's proceedings went up at Maize n Brew this morning. Once again, the story of the day was Michigan's inability to keep Devin Gardner upright, he took seven sacks on Saturday after taking nine in East Lansing.

With trips to Evanston and Iowa City coming up, if Michigan's previous ineptitude on the road continues, the Wolverines could very well be looking at a 6-6 regular season and a bowl game in Detroit.

Elsewhere in the B1G: Penn State 10, Minnesota 24

Heading into the season, if you had told me that Minnesota would have a better chance at winning the division --with the Wolverines sitting at 6-2-- I probably would have asked you to repeat yourself just to make sure I heard you correctly.

At 7-2 (3-2), with a trip to Michigan State remaining, the Gophers still had a shot at the Legends division title, albeit a small one. However, the Gophers needed to take care of business against the visiting Penn State Nittany Lions today at TCF Bank Stadium.

The Gophers got off to a good start after Bill Belton couldn't handle the handoff from Christian Hackenberg on the first play of the game. Minnesota recovered the fumble at the PSU 29, but went three and out; after a 45-yard field goal, the Gophers were out to an early 3-0 lead.

On the next series, Philip Nelson led the Gophers out of danger after PSU had pinned them at their own four. After a pair of timely third down completions and a 16-yard scamper, Nelson marched the Gophers into PSU territory.

With a 4th & 2 at the PSU 28, Minnesota went for it. Nelson held the PSU linebackers with a fake and threw a dart to Maxx Williams up the middle for 24 yards and a first down. David Cobb eventually punched it in from one yard out, giving the Gophers a 10-0 lead. The drive was one more example of Minnesota's 2013 offense at its best: 96 yards in 15 plays and 8:10 of clock burned.

The Nittany Lions needed an answer, and they provided one, with a 6-play, 75-yard touchdown drive in just over two minutes, mostly powered by a steady diet of Zach Zwinak.

Once again, Minnesota embarked on an odyssey of a drive, this time going 70 yards in 13 plays, capped by a Nelson 6-yard touchdown run. To this point, the Gophers went 4-for-7 on third down, which doesn't seem especially notable until you remember that they were also 2-for-2 on fourth down.

Following a Penn State field goal, the Gophers had one more long drive in them, this time an 11-play, 74-yarder to head into the half up 24-10. Watching this Minnesota team, it's hard to believe this is the same squad that got thumped by Iowa at home and lost 42-13 at Michigan.

However, Minnesota's first mistake of the day came about halfway through the third quarter, when Cobb coughed it up and PSU recovered at the Minnesota 37. The defense did its job, though, forcing PSU to punt in what could have been a huge point of resurgence for the Nittany Lions.

Neither team scored in the third, and Penn State was thus forced to go pass-heavy to start the fourth. Faced with a 4th & 9 at the Minnesota 38, it was now or never. Unfortunately for Bill O'Brien, Hackenberg's pass fell incomplete, well wide of his intended target.

While Nelson's improvement was the story of the first half, the story of the second was Minnesota's defense. After getting gashed on the ground in the first half, Minnesota's defense made stops when it needed to in the fourth quarter. After stopping PSU on the aforementioned 4th & 9, the Gophers once again stopped them on 4th down, this time on their own 16.

Once again, PSU drove down into Minnesota territory, this time getting to the UM 1. Although not a "forced" turnover, Hackenberg's fumble and the ensuing Minnesota recovery just about sealed the deal.

With the 24-10 victory, the Gophers moved to 8-2 on the season, with the Badgers coming to town in two weeks; as the folks in Minneapolis know, the Gophers haven't had Paul Bunyan's Axe since 2003. Minnesota will have to solve its run defense issues if it is going to give the Badgers a game, but one thing is for sure: the Gophers will have their best shot at bring the Axe back to the Twin Cities in some time.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: UMass-Lowell

The Wolverines began their regular season at home last night against UMass-Lowell, managing a 69-42 win after being tied at the half. I wrote about it last night at Maize n Brew.

Despite being unable to hit a shot from the perimeter in the first half, Michigan hunkered down with an 18-0 run early in the second to put the game out of reach. Derrick Walton and Zak Irvin continue to impress, although via a small sample size, it does not seem as if Walton is a pure scorer on his own just yet. Of course, with options like Nik Stauskas, Glenn Robinson III and eventually Mitch McGary (not to mention an improved Caris LeVert), Michigan will be okay relying on him as a transition havoc-wreaker and occasional three-point shooter.

Next up for Michigan is South Carolina State on Tuesday at the Crisler Center.

Elsewhere in the B1G: No. 21 Wisconsin 86, St. John's 75

As the Wolverines took on UMass-Lowell in what was destined to be a blowout from the moment it was scheduled, the Wisconsin Badgers took the floor against St. John's at the Sanford Pentagon in Sioux Falls for what would be, on paper, the first interesting matchup for a Big Ten squad.

The Badgers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead, which included Ben Brust's first trey of the year. Shortly thereafter, Josh Gasser hit his first trey in two years, boding well for the Badgers' perimeter shooting for the night. The Badgers started 4-for-8 from beyond the arc; when UW shoots it like that, they can be very difficult to beat.

The biggest development for Bo Ryan's squad has been its ability to push the pace more frequently than has usually been the case. UW found some success early on tonight, grabbing St. John's long rebounds and pushing it for a high-percentage shot of some sort, whether around the rim or a three after an extra pass or two.

Wisconsin raced to a 24-10 lead 10 minutes in, paced by six points apiece from Sam Dekker and Ben Brust and seven from Traevon Jackson.

Frustration began to set in for the Red Storm when Orlando Sanchez got called for an offensive foul 15 feet away from the basket, his third foul of the game. On the other end, Gasser buried his second three to give the Badgers a 31-13 lead that seemed insurmountable given the lack of pep in the Red Storm's step.

In the first half, the Badgers managed a mark of 1.13 points per possession, with the Red Storm going for 0.77 PPP. The Red Storm turned it over 10 times in the first half--paired with a 39.1% from the field, that is not exactly a recipe for success against the Badgers, let alone any team.

As it to say "I'm back," Gasser hit another three early in the second half to put the Badgers up 40-25. Despite the loss in frontcourt production, Gasser's return from injury is a key addition for this swifter version of Badgers basketball.

However, the Red Storm began to show life. A putback slam from Chris Obekpa put the Red Storm down 10 3:30 into the second half.

The Red Storm dunkfest continued, with Sanchez hitting JaKarr Sampson in transition for an authoritative slam. On the ensuing offensive possession, a Sampson putback cut the Wisconsin lead to 49-42.

After a sloppy first half for the Red Storm, they battled back admirably, cutting the deficit to five with nine minutes to go. It will be interesting to see how this St. John's team performs the rest of the way; Steve Lavin's squad definitely has talent, particularly Sanchez and Sampson.

Foul trouble became an issue for the Badgers, with freshman forward Nigel Hayes and Traevon Jackson both carrying four with over nine minutes to play.

Luckily for Wisconsin, following another thunderous Red Storm dunk, Sam Dekker and Ben Brust buried triples on consecutive possessions, completely taking the wind out of the Red Storm's sails.

Shortly thereafter, Duje Dukan, a 6'9'' RS junior from Deerfield, Ill., nailed two straight threes to increase the the UW lead even further. On that note, Dukan is an intriguing option for the Badgers and perhaps the heir apparent to UW's long line of three-point shooting forward types.

From there, the Badgers cruised to a 86-75 victory, an impressive start to the season for a UW squad that will present Big Ten foes with a much different look than it has in recent years. Despite the Red Storm's dazzling play above the rim, they weren't able to get a whole lot in half court situations.

Perhaps the most notable takeaway from this one is Wisconsin's scoring output; in 2012-13, the Badgers scored 80+ just four times.

On the other hand, the Badgers bombared St. John's with three after three, finishing 11-for-23 (47.5%) from beyond the arc tonight. Half court defense plus the three-point shot will continue to be the UW formula for victory.

Wisconsin returns to the Kohl Center on Tuesday, where they will look to avenge last year's loss against Florida (9:00 ET, ESPN2).

Miscellaneous Minutiae, 11/7/13

This past Saturday was a rough one for the Wolverines to say the least, but the season can still be somewhat salvaged, record-wise; that begins on Saturday, when Michigan looks to remain undefeated at home in the Brady Hoke era. On to the links:

• Irrespective of the situation at quarterback for the Huskers, Michigan's defense will face a stiff test attempting to check the Big Ten's leading rusher, Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah. 

• Corn Nation previews Michigan, foresees the Husker offense being a good match for the Michigan defense but isn't sure about their chances in a "defensive battle."

• Philip Nelson regains the QB1 role at Minnesota. The Gophers take on Penn State this Saturday at home as they look to go 8-2 on the season. 

• Texas A&M supposedly has no plans of playing former conference rival Texas again in the regular season. It's always sad when the light goes out on a top notch college football rivalry (see: Michigan-Notre Dame), and Texas A&M-Texas was one of those. 

• Urban Meyer refuted reports that Luke Fickell had interviewed for the FAU job. 

• Bucky's 5th Quarter gets to know BYU. The Badgers face an interesting, oddly placed November non-conference tilt against the 6-2 Cougars, who rank 14th in rushing and 28th in points against. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Michigan State and Wayne State

Halftime of Bears-Packers is my chance to post my usual reminder that my Monday recap went up at Maize n Brew this morning.

Also, I posted a quick recap just after Michigan's exhibition victory against Wayne State tonight. Michigan wasn't incredibly impressive tonight, but the outcome was never really in doubt; the closest it got in the second half was a 13-point Michigan lead. Nik Stauskas, Caris LeVert and Glenn Robinson III filled it up and the freshmen impressed once again.