LIVE: Michigan vs. Savannah State — FINAL SCORE (OT): Michigan 66, Savannah State 64

By Andy Reid, written on Nov. 29, 2008

The Alumni Band is out in full, eh, swing, the elder Blue Rage has attempted to fill in the bleachers for the absent Maize Rage (let’s be fair; most students are home for Thanksgiving), there’s plenty of classic college football rivalries on TV today and the Michigan men’s basketball opponent is Savannah State.

What does that all add up to?

A yawn-worthy atmosphere in Crisler Arena. But while most Wolverine fans are still recovering from Thanksgiving break, you’re following this blog — good for you.

The Tigers (4-1 overall) have beat up on patsies — even by Savannah State standards — toppling Brewton-Parker (is that a high school?), North Florida (…), Coastal Carolina (I’ve heard of that one!) and New Orleans before losing by more than 30 to Clemson.

Check out the Tigers’ season records from the last couple years:

2007-08: 13-18
2006-07: 12-18
2005-06: 2-28
2004:05: 0-28 (That’s NOT a typo. Savannah State actually went winless in a 28-game season, and somehow, the school felt like it was a good idea to keep the program around.)
Oh, and they had 9-combined wins in the three years before that.
Etc., etc. The last time the Tigers had a winning season was 1985-86. Just three players on the team were alive during that season.

I really don’t see how this is going to be much of a game — it’ll be more like a practice go-around before traveling to Maryland next Wednesday.

Speaking of the Terrapins, they beat Michigan State by almost 20 points this weekend, making the Wolverines’ trip to College Park even more meaningful. If Michigan can pull of its second upset of the young season (on the road, no less), the Wolverines will be in good shape. But I digress — there’s no use looking forward to Maryland (and Duke at home after that) when Savannah State is in the House that Cazzie Built at this very second.

The couple hundred people that are here are stoked — especially the over-the-hillers that are slowly filling up the “student” section. But the Wolverines did go behind the scorer’s table to high-five the Maize Rage again before the game. They just started that before the last game, and it’s awesome.

Check back for updates throughout the game.

FIRST HALF

19:29: Manny Harris gets things started with a touch jumper. A much better start for Michigan’s offense than last week against Norfolk State — the Wolverines started the game 0-for-10 in that game.

17:58:The Tigers are keeping up with Michigan’s offense. The Wolverines’ ‘D’ has looked solid all year, but Savannah State is knocking down shots, and it just hit a 3-pointer to knot the game at 7. So far, the Tigers are a prefect 3-for-3 from the floor. SCORE: 7-7

17:13:The Michigan Defense just figured out one way to stop the Tigers — don’t let them shoot. The Wolverines played tight defense for a whole 35 seconds, forcing their second shot clock violation of the season.

16:28: SCORE Savannah State 12, Michigan 7

15:35: The Tigers are shooting lights out, even with good defense and a hand in their face by Michigan. The Wolverines can’t seem to crack the full-court pressure that Savannah State has shown since the early beginning. This is not the kind of start I would have predicted.

14:15:Even with their offense making pretty much every basket they shoot, the story of this game so far is the Tigers’ tenacious defense. They just forced two Manny Harris turnovers in a row, and they’re running a suffocating press that, for whatever reason, Michigan can’t crack. The Wolverines look so flustered from the press that they haven’t even set up their offense in about four minutes. For as good as Michigan has looked this year, today, they Wolverines have seemingly reverted back to last year’s form a little.

SCORE: Savannah State 21, Michigan 7

11:53:Michigan is shooting 50 percent to Savannah State’s 83.3, and the Wolverines are losing the turnover battle 9-2. You can’t play like that and expect not to be down 24-7 midway through the first half.

11:21:The Wolverines just made their first semi-good offensive play in about six minutes. DeShawn Sims drew a foul in the paint and made both free throws.

7:52: SCORE Savannah State 28, Michigan 13

6:43:The Wolverines still have just five made field goals, including none from behind the arc. This is by far the worst shooting day Michigan has had this season. And with Savannah State finding the bottom of the net so well, this game could get ugly unless the Wolverines can find some kind of rhythm.

4:28:Anthony Wright drew another foul in the paint. He promptly missed the first gimme. Well, he missed both. It’s remarkable that this game is within 13 points, honestly. I’ve never seen a team play this badly and still be semi-in-the-game.

SCORE: Savannah State 31, Michigan 15

3:35:DeShawn Sims made what feels like Michigan’s first field goal in forever. He took a pretty long jumper from the baseline and sunk it, meaning the Wolverines are no longer getting doubled up. The score sits at 31-17.

2:20 Manny Harris drew a foul after a rebound of another missed 3-pointer. The Wolverines have almost as many points off free throws as they do field goals. Huh.

1:38:the Tigers just hit a 3-pointer at the shot clock buzzer. It looked awfully close to me, and the crowd definitely seemed to think the shooter had his hand on the ball when the clock struck zeros. The shot fired up Savannah State — they’ve scored eight points in the last minute or so, and Michigan will go into the locker room down by 20.

HALFTIME SCORE: Savannah State 39, Michigan 19.

Halftime Thoughts: Michigan didn’t come to play. It’s as simple as that. This is — by far — the worst the Wolverines have looked all year. Offensively, they shot just above 30 percent (including 0-for-8 from behind the arc) and just 70 percent from the charity strip, and they turned the ball over 12 times. Defensively, Michigan is allowing Savannah State to shoot over 71 percent, including a perfect 5-for-5 from the 3-point stripe.

I don’t think any analysis is necessary — the Wolverines are simply playing terrible basketball right now.

The Almuni Band director just went nuts, dancing like a mad man during the hafltime performance. It’s not an over-statement to say he drew the loudest cheer from the crowd so far today.

SECOND HALF

19:48: The Wolverines started the half out the right way, with DeShawn Sims hitting a three and Anthony Wright intercepting a pass. The team already looks more fired up than they did all first half. Now, let’s see if this newfound energy came too late.

18:07: You have to expect some growing pains from freshmen, but that was a crucial mistake from Stu Douglass. After a turnover, Douglass pushed the floor and made a errant pass to Manny Harris or DeShawn Sims (I really could tell where he intended it to go) and the ball went out of bounds. Michigan’s still down 15, and a basket there really could have been a momentum-turner.

16:45: Freshman Zack Novak just hit a three. This is nuts — Savannah State has yet to score — or even come close to scoring — a single point this half, watching its 20-point halftime lead dwindle to 10. The crowd’s into it again, the team’s into it again. Michigan is back in this game. Wow. I’ve never seen that intense of a turn-around. Now, the story is whether the Wolverines can maintain this energy long enough to erase the entire Tiger lead.

SCORE: Savannah State 39, Michigan 29

15:07:Out of the media timeout, which burned a lot of the crowd’s energy, Novak hit his second triple of the second half, a deep one from the top of the key. The Wolverines have pulled within double digits, outscoring the Tigers 13-0 this half.

14:18 Manny Harris just hit a deep two, forcing Savannah State to call a 30-second timeout. The score this half is Michigan 15, Savannah State 0.

I can’t recall a game where a team had as bad a first half as Michigan did and flipped the switch this intensely in the second. It’s crazy here at Crisler.

SCORE: Savannah State 39, Michigan 34

13:04:The Tigers finally got their first points of the second half, a two-point jumper.

11:23 Michigan pulls within five points. 43-38.

10:34: Jevohn Shepherd is continuing his case for playing more minutes, coming in and looking solid today. He just hit a nice jumper, and I’m sitting here, trying to get used to the idea of him being a shooter. SCORE: Savannah State 48, Michigan 40.

9:49: DeShawn Sims REALLY wants to win this game. I can’t count how many offensive rebounds he already has this half, but he just grabbed one from an impossible angle, and put it back to pull Michigan within six points. The Tigers have yet to score 10 points since the break.

And Savannah State looks flustered. It just tossed a pass out of bounds. It’s looking more and more like Michigan is going to finish off this ridiculous comeback.

8:23: Harris to Sims for a alley-oop that just blew the ceiling off this place. SCORE: Savannah State 48, Michigan 44. The score since halftime: Michigan 25, Savannah State 9.

6:40: Harris just drew a foul driving toward the basket. He made both shots, preserving time on the clock and pulling Michigan within a 3-point basket. I still can’t believe this game is competitive after how badly the Wolverines played in the first half.

5:16How am I supposed to describe what happened? Manny Harris intercepted a pass, ran the court, lost control, Zack Novak found the ball, lost control, Harris found it again, went up, finished the play and drew a foul. Whew. Did you follow that? Probably not.

SCORE: Savannah State 51, Michigan 49

2:54:No one’s scored in a few minutes, but Manny Harris drew a foul. He’s shooting two.

Makes the first.

Makes the second.

Tie ball game for the first time since 17:50 in the first half. 51-51.

2:23: DeShawn Sims is fouled. He missed the first. Made the second to give Michigan its first lead since 18:15 in the first half. Crisler is absolutely nuts right now.

1:38 Anthony Jones of Savannah State hit a three then fouled out on the Tigers’ next defensive possession. These free throws for Manny are just as intense as the ones in the final minute vs. UCLA. He makes the first and the second to tie it again at 54.

1:00 — SSU takes a two-point lead. Michigan takes a timeout to regroup and call a play. With 44 seconds left, it looks like the Tigers will get the last shot, even if Michigan makes a basket here.

0:35.5 — Manny draws another foul. Once again, these shots are huge. Makes them both. Savannah State will play for the last shot — win or overtime.

The Tigers take a timeout with 10.1 seconds left, a .1 time differential between game and shot clocks. It looks like the best-case scenario for Michigan right now is overtime. There’s no way they Wolverines are winning this thing in regulation.

0:3.7 — I was wrong — Michigan did have a chance to win it in regulation. Freshman Zack Novak stole the inbounds pass, raced up the floor and with less that a second on the clock, he went up for an emphatic, game-winning dunk.

He missed it.

The look on his face as Manny Harris draped an arm over him on their way back to the bench was priceless. Freshman mistake — when the game is on the line, go for the easy layup.

OVERTIME

3:40No one has scored yet in overtime, but DeShawn Sims was fouled flagrantly and gets to take two foul shots alone. He made just one of them but Michigan gets the ball back.

3:30: the Wolverines gave up another turnover, this time with a one-point lead, but the Tigers throw up an airball.

2:53: The refs just called two straight fouls on Michigan that the crowd here definitely disagreed with, putting Michigan in the bonus. SSU takes a one-point lead after to two foul shots.

SCORE: Savannah State 58, Michigan 57.

2:47:David Merritt just hit one of two foul shots. There has yet ot be an overtime field goal from either team. Tied at 58

1:48 SSU puts up the first field goal of extra time. The Tigers lead by two with less than two minutes to play. This game is officially ridiculous.

1:40Novak just made up for his missed dunk. Huge three pointer. This place is going apeshit. I probably can’t say that but I just did.

SCORE: Michigan 61, SSU 60

Less than a minute, SSU is up by one now. 0:38.6 — Manny draws foul, And-one. If he makes this, Michigan is up by two. He does.

This is so hard, to blog during a game like this. Ahhh, stress.

Ok — timeout. This’ll give me a chance to catch up. There’s less than 20 seconds less. Michigan is up by two points. Crisler is nuts, SSU looks flustered, but so am I, trying to do this blog. Whew.

0:5.9 — tie.

0:0.0 — Michigan win.

Wait — the final shot is being reviewed by the officials. DeShawn Sims’s three swished as the buzzer sounded — it counts. That was nuts.

But, not to be a party pooper or anything, Michigan should not be pleased with this win. Savannah State, on paper, had no business being in the game, and it was up by 20 at the half. The Wolverines have a lot to work on.