John Beilein previewed Sunday’s match-up with Ohio State this afternoon in his pregame round-table. Of note, Beilein said Jon Horford will do a “full workout” today, but a final decision on whether or not he will use a medical redshirt still has yet to be made. Here’s video of Beilein, followed by notes and quotes after the jump:
Notes and quotes after the jump. [click to continue…]
Jordan Morgan and Tim Hardaway Jr. met with the media this afternoon to discuss the upcoming match-up between Michigan and Ohio State. The rival schools face off in a battle for first place on national television at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Watch the interviews in the embedded media players below:
Watch Hardaway’s interview after the jump.
[click to continue…]
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Michigan and Ohio State will face off on Sunday at Value City Arena in a battle for first place. We’ll have plenty of preview content over the next 72 hours but here’s a first look at the Buckeyes with Chris Lauderback, the resident hoops guru at Eleven Warriors. I also answered a few questions about Michigan, which should be live at 11W on Saturday.
Ohio State has been dominant in Big Ten games that it has won but dropped two early games on the road. The Buckeyes have played the easiest Big Ten schedule to date and still have six games versus Michigan State, Wisconsin and Michigan – the three other teams at the top of the Big Ten standings. Ohio State is obviously a great team but what’s your read on exactly how good?
Tough question. Not even Matta can answer confidently at this point. On nights when Sullinger, Thomas and Buford have it going, this team is virtually unbeatable, just ask Duke. The big three shot a combined 16/41 (59%), scoring 59 points in that 85-63 spanking led by Sullinger’s 21 and Buford’s 20 and they combined for 52 points in an 81-74 decision over Florida back in early November.
Michigan fans get their NCAA Basketball real time stats from SBR Forum
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Eso Akunne will be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks following foot surgery. Here’s the athletic department release:
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – University of Michigan men’s basketball head coach John Beilein announced today (Thursday, Jan. 26) that junior guard Eso Akunne (Ann Arbor, Mich./Gabriel Richard HS) will miss 6-to-8 weeks following surgery on his left foot.
“We all feel bad for Eso because he has worked so hard to work his way into this rotation,” said Beilein. “His attitude, however, is so good that I am certain he will bounce back from this and return to practice as soon as he can. Eso has been a big part of this team’s success over the last two years, even if that does not show up in the box score. We hope he will be able to help this team again sometime in March!”
Akunne is scheduled for surgery Friday, Jan. 27, at the University of Michigan Hospital and will have a screw inserted into his left foot to help stabilize an injury on his fifth metatarsal.
Akunne has played in 12 games off the bench this season. Twice this season he scored a career-best five points — Iowa State (Dec. 3) and Alabama A&M (Dec. 17) — and has gone 7-for-8 from the field with a 4-for-5 tally from long range.
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Photo: Dustin Johnston
The UM Hoops mailbag is a collection of questions tweeted to us via Twitter (@umhoops), e-mail or via our Facebook page. Submit your questions at anytime and we’ll answer as many as we can in periodic updates like this.
@jlustig22: @umhoops How far can UM go relying on just 6 guys? Is Beilein not a believer in going to the bench often or does he not trust the reserves?
John Beilein has never been shy about riding his starters. In fact, his stronger teams usually have a much shorter bench than his weaker teams. I can only assume that this phenomenon is because he spends so much time experimenting with other options when things aren’t going as he would like – see 2009 with Grady, Shepherd and Merritt all playing significant time at one point in the season but not others.
Michigan actually played its bench even less last year and his best regular season team, the 2006 team that went to the Sweet 16, at West Virginia had less depth as well.
Video from MGoVideo
