Next: Michigan State

Michigan travels to East Lansing to play the Spartans at 7:00pm tonight. While the Spartans aren't currently ranked in the top 25, they are still a talented team.  Porsche Poole is the leading scorer (10.6 pts/games), but they have seven players averaging 6 or more points a games. 

Michigan 70 Illinos 50

Michigan started off the Big 10 Season with a 70-50 win at Illinois.  While the Illini may not be an elite team in the Big 10, any conference road win is important and the 20 point margin has to help build confidence.  The Wolverines had balance scoring including 16 from Carmen Reynolds, 14 from Courtney Boylan, 12 from Jenny Ryan and 10 from Rachel Sheffer.  Sheffer added 8 rebounds and 3 steals while Ryan had 6 rebounds and 5 steals.

Carmen Reynolds reached the 1000 career points milestone in the game, and it was nice to see her have a strong game after struggling occasionally earlier in the season.

Next: Indiana State

Michigan hosts Indiana State University tonight @ 7:00pm

Eastern Michigan 77 Michigan 64

Michigan fell behind early and couldn't quite come all the way back.  It was a bit of a frustrating game because Michigan shot poorly from the 3 point line (2-12), had some annoying defense lapses and committed 17 turnovers (not all forced).

Credit to Eastern Michigan - they definitely earned the win, in large part because of a great game by Tavelyn James (38 points, including 13/14 from the line - several down the stretch).  James became Eastern's all time leading scorer early in the game.

Next:: Eastern Michigan University

Michigan travels down the road to visit Eastern Michigan University, hoping to get a bit of payback for last year's loss in the WNIT.  The Eagles are 5-3, with close losses to Michigan State and Missouri-Kansas City in their last two games.  They are led by guard Tavelyn James (23.5 pts/game) and forward Paige Reddit (10.1 pts/game and 9.8 rebounds/game).

Michigan hopes to go to 10-1 as the head toward the last of their non-conference games.

Catching Up

Michigan has started the season with three wins - over Florida, Florida Atlantic and Utah.  This afternoon they travel to Seton Hall.  The Pirates have started the season 3-0 as well, but they have not faced any strong teams yet - Florida Gulf Coast, Army and Vermont. The focus of their offense is senior guard Jasmine Crew who is currently averaging 21.3 points per game.

A quick look at Jeff Sagarin's (very early) ratings has Michigan about a 2 point favorite on a neutral court, which is less than the 4+ point advantage of home court, so it could end up being a very interesting game.

Big Ten Tournament/NCAA Selection Monday

Michigan had a disappointing game in the Big 10 Tournament, losing 55-47 in the second round to Illinois.  The Illini jumped out to an early lead and combined with some poor shooting and a few turnovers Michigan couldn't overcome a huge deficit.  They made a strong comeback at the end, but there wasn't enough time left to pull it off.  Uneven officiating didn't help, but that was not the main problem.

From the Michigan Daily:

Against Illinois on Friday, the Wolverines couldn't do either effectively, which eventually doomed them against a team with the worst record in the Big Ten.
Even though Michigan played solid defense, it never found offensive rhythm from anywhere on the court. Despite getting plenty of open looks, the Wolverines couldn't capitalize consistently. Whether in the post, perimeter or midrange, it didn’t matter — Michigan simply couldn't find the net.
“We were getting some good looks, and the people we wanted to shoot were shooting it and they weren't falling for us,” senior guard Veronica Hicks said after the game. “They were making shots and we weren't.”

Today the NCAA announces which teams will be in the field of 64 - despite the loss, Michigan is "on the bubble" and has a decent shot at being invited.  Charlie Creme currently has them as one of the last four "in".  We'll find out tonight.