How Louisville shut down Michigan basketball's offense

Michigan opens Big Ten play Friday at home against Iowa.

By Ashley Bastock / The Blade
Wed, 04 Dec 2019 15:45:41 GMT

LOUISVILLE — In Michigan’s 58-43 loss to No. 1 Louisville Tuesday night, the Cardinals held the Wolverines to season lows in just about every offensive statistic.

Michigan shot 25.9 percent from the field (15 of 58), 15.8 percent from 3-point territory (3 of 19), made just six of its 12 layups, and had six assists and 10 turnovers.

A big reason for the inefficient offensive production was the way Louisville attacked the Wolverines’ pick-and-roll actions, particularly between point guard Zavier Simpson and center Jon Teske.

“I think it starts with Zavier,” Louisville coach Chris Mack said after the game. “The deeper he gets in the lane, the more he puts your off-ball defenders in a bind.

“He’s very, very quick. He’ll reject a lot of ball screens, he’ll act like he’s using it and then drive to space and kick. Teams have tried to go under, and Zavier’s so clever, he just plays peek-a-boo and figures out which side you’re trying to catch him on, and he goes down the lane with that Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] hook.”

The Cardinals went over the top of just about every ball screen Michigan set, and had defenders collapse on Teske to prevent the big man from rolling to the basket.

While Juwan Howard said Michigan knew that Louisville would probably defend the Wolverines this way, the Cardinals were so good at it that Michigan still couldn’t get in the lane.

“Give them credit,” he said. “They do a great job of defending overall. We knew that their 5s like to hedge on ball screens. Our goal was to make sure that we could get those paint touches that we were comfortable with getting throughout the year thus far. We practiced it, just unfortunate for them, they did a really good job of compacting the paint, keeping us out of the paint from going downhill.”

Between Louisville’s pick-and-roll defense and staying aggressive in passing lanes, the Wolverines lost a huge piece of offense that goes back to the John Beilein era.

Last season, those pick-and-roll sets designed for Simpson and Teske were such a mainstay that Beilein called it the “Ohio connection” in the NCAA tournament (Simpson is from Lima, while Teske is from Medina).

This year, the duo has continued to find success in similar actions under Howard. Teske (13.9 points per game) has been more active posting up around the basket, while Simpson is averaging 11.9 points and 8.9 assists per game.

Both of them were still productive against Louisville. Teske led all Michigan players with 18 points, and Simpson was the second-leading scorer with nine and had half of Michigan’s assists.

But on the whole, the defensive scheme made the Wolverines settle for contested mid-range jumpers, of which they hit 6 of 27 (22 percent).

Michigan opens Big Ten play Friday at home against Iowa.

According to Howard, his team is eager to get back on the floor.

“This is a great development and transition on leading into our conference play,” he said. “The beauty of this game is that you get a chance to play again on Friday, at home, vs. Iowa, and we are chomping at the bit. “

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