It was a game that shouldn’t have even been in question, yet the Wolverines struggled mightily against the Oakland Grizzlies, a team that came into Crisler Center 0-3 and doesn’t have nearly as much talent as their in-state counterpart.
Yet, the zone defense stymied and stifled the Michigan offense, and carelessness and frustration took over from there.
Point guard Mike Smith found himself in early foul trouble, and as a result, the maize and blue looked rudderless with him on the bench, and the Wolverines went to the locker room with a halftime deficit. However, he was back for the bulk of the second half, but foul trouble put him back on the bench late. It ended up being a game, with Michigan finally cutting into the lead and pulling ahead with eight minutes left in the game, but it continued to go back and forth and the two teams went to overtime. However, the Wolverines survived, winning 81-71.
But it wasn’t pretty, nor was it expected. Here’s what we saw from the game.