Hawkeyes impress Michigan’s Beilein

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Injuries have depleted John Beilein's Michigan squad beyond recognition from its 2014 Big Ten championship squad. In the minutes that followed a 72-54 loss to Iowa - Michigan's worst home loss in five years - the Wolverines head coach avoided any woe-is-me comments and instead praised Iowa as one of his league's top teams.

'You have to go back quite a few years to see a game like that played in Crisler, and I have to give a lot of credit to Iowa,” Beilein said to open his news conference. 'They were terrific. They have some great pieces right now. (Mike) Gesell is running the club really well. (Jarrod) Uthoff really had an exceptional game. They had the big guy (Adam Woodbury), a 7-2 guy who can pass it is big. Aaron (White) is very good, and (Peter) Jok was tremendous today. They were very, very good, and we weren't nearly as efficient or even as close to being as good.”

Beilein later described his team as being 'overwhelmed with their (Iowa's) timing, their talent, their length and their size.” All of those aspects led to Iowa's largest margin-of-victory in Ann Arbor since 1954. Iowa hit clutch baskets throughout the game and shot a season-high 62.7 percent. But two primary shifts by Iowa led to the blowout, and both came near the end of the first half.

Michigan led 21-19 after a Spike Albrecht 3-pointer with less than 7 minutes left in the first half. Iowa then switched from its multiple defense approach to a 2-3 zone that was long and active. The Hawkeyes then attacked the Wolverines' interior, and the size mismatch paid dividends.

Iowa's frontcourt stands 6-foot-9, 6-9 and 7-1, while Michigan's tallest player is 6-foot-9 center Ricky Doyle. The Hawkeyes repeatedly exploited the post in the half's final six minutes, going on a 12-0 run and connecting on six of their final nine shots. Michigan, conversely, missed its final eight - five from 3-point range - turned it over twice and airballed two shots.

The inside-out approach was crucial with Woodbury. The junior scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and had six assists in 27 minutes. Woodbury knotted the score at 21-21 when he scored off a Uthoff miss, then Woodbury found White inside for a dunk on the next possession. Two minutes later Woodbury dished to White again inside to put Iowa up 27-21.

'He's a very unselfish player,” Iowa Coach Fran McCaffery said. 'You can't run your offense through the post if you don't have a post player who can pass. He takes great pride in his ability to find people and to be unselfish. That's why I love him.”

Woodbury's assists were varied, from layups to jumpers. He had three assists in each half.

'Sometimes my guys put me in fortunate situations, and they're open on the wings and stuff, and I'm able to find them,” Woodbury said. 'I tried not to force too many shots (Thursday) and tried to find the guys who were hitting a lot of shots for us, trying to get them in good spots and try to knock them down.”

It marked Iowa's second consecutive win against the Wolverines counting last year's 18-point victory at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. It was the teams' only scheduled meeting this year, and based on Thursday's result, Beilein said that's a good thing.

'I'm glad we don't have to go to Iowa City because if they do that to us here, let's see what they'd do there,” he said.

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