Sunday, February 3, 2013
Aggressiveness a concern for UM?
By Matt Giles
"We're an extremely young, young team," said Michigan coach John Beilein during the post-game press conference, following his squad's loss to Indiana. "We had four freshmen out there." While part of the offensive struggles Nik Stauskas and Glenn Robinson III faced in Bloomington were due to Indiana's defense, the duo woefully underperformed against the Hoosiers. Robinson only made one two-point field goal, and Stauskas was one of eight at one point.
After the game, Beilein noted that "...both the coaching staff and our guard play continue to recognize what people are doing," but while the defense did help handcuff Stauskas and GRIII, there comes a point in a game where each player has to make a play. As spectacular as Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke have been all season, why Michigan has flirted with the nation's number one ranking all season is due to the frosh's ability to quickly acclimate themselves with UM's offense and use their extreme athleticism to elevate the scoring punch.
Michigan still had a decent offensive efficiency rate -- 1.01 points per possession -- but it is difficult for any team to win when the distributor -- Burke -- must take 24 field goal attempts to keep the offensive flowing. When Beilein was asked if Robinson needs to be more aggressive, he responded, "He shows us great progress in practice every day, but still it is a work in progress, getting him in opportunities where he can be successful."
