Manny Harris scores against Marquette in Friday's game. AP photo
Poor shooting was a major factor as previously-unbeaten Michigan dropped its first basketball game of the season, 79-65, to unranked Marquette in the semifinals of the Old Spice Classic in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. on Friday.
Michigan ranked No. 15 by the Associated Press falls to 3-1. Marquette is 6-0.
The Wolverines next play in the consolation finals of the tournament at 5 p.m. on Sunday.
“We didn’t hit our shots and you can credit Marquette for a good bit of that,” said Michigan coach John Beilein. Michigan hit only 3 of 20 shots from three-point range and shot 45 percent from the field, hitting 25 of 55 shots.
“You know our shooters are capable of a lot better shooting than that,” said Beilein.
“We just couldn’t knock down any shots,” said Michigan forward DeShawn Sims, who finished with eight points on 3 of 10 shooting. “Give them credit.”
Michigan never led in the contest. The Wolverines trailed, 8-2 before tying the score at 10-10. Michigan trailed at halftime, 44-35 and then rallied to come within one point, 48-47 on a three-point jumper by Lavel Lucas-Perry with 15 minutes to play but Marquette went on a 10-0 run to put the game away.
“We battled them,” said Beilein, “and we got close but we never could catch them.”
Marquette, after losing four starters from last year’s team, was expected to struggle this season but the Warriors of the Big East Conference, impressed the Wolverines with their overall team speed.
“That’s the quickest team I’ve seen in a long, long time,” said Beilein. “They go small but they’re quick at all five positions. That makes them very tough to guard.”
Manny Harris led Michigan with 22 points and eight rebounds and Lucas-Perry added 12, and had two of Michigan’s three three-pointers.
Lazar Hayward, the only returning starter for Marquette, had 22 while Jimmy Butler had 17 and Darius Johnson-Odom added 14.
Marquette has no starters more than 6-6 but the Warriors outrebounded the Wolverines, 33-27. It was the second game in two days but Marquette was actually playing its third game in four days.
“No excuses,” said Beilein. “It’s hard for us to simulate the kind of quickness they have when we practice but this game should help us down the road. We have to shoot the ball a lot better.
” “I thought we did a really good job of handling their changing defenses,” said Marquette coach Buzz Williams. “We had our hands full from the beginning.”
On Saturday the Michigan players and coaches will attend Disney World and other theme parks in the Orlando area before Sunday’s game at 5 p.m. that will be televised on ESPNU. The Wolverines return home Wednesday night to take on Boston College as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
For more info: mgoblue, marquette athletics, annarbor.com
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