Michigan 15, Detroit 6

I incorrectly predicted this game in the preview, but even had I picked Michigan to win the game, it certainly wouldn’t have been by this type of margin. The expected has happened: U-M’s program is well past Detroit’s.

Any rivalry wins at this point for the Titans (and there will be some, probably many over time) will be of the “plucky underdog” variety, not two approximately even teams doing battle.

Tempo Free

From the official box score, a look at the tempo-free stats:

Michigan dominated possession (it probably could have been worse, honestly), and still managed to nearly double up the Titans in terms of efficiency. That’s… that’s a pretty good recipe for a bigtime win.

UDM had some nice answers on faceoffs, but despite a decent game from Jason Weber, just couldn’t compete in the other facets of the game.

Notes

Going to the big picture, it’s clear that Year Four is Michigan’s turn to finally show that it wants to compete with the top-20 programs in the nation. A Detroit-oriented source mentioned to me after the game: “You see what happens when one team gets top-5 recruiting classes full of hotbed kids, and one gets a few polished players with a lot of good Midwest athletes.” Michigan will be able to play with some of the country’s best teams in short order, and Detroit will be a really good mid-major team (one of the best mid-major teams year-in and year-out, in my opinion), but one that’s looking to pull upsets, not play with the country’s best on a weekly basis – because that’s not what the schedule’s going to ask them to do.

I joked last week about Ian King’s rebirth as a feeder (no goals and three assists against Bellarmine), and while he’s going to be a goal-scorer first and foremost, it’s clear that he’s taking a more well-rounded approach in his second year in D-1. Both he and John Paul said after the game, “Two assists is still two assists” but he’s a goal scorer – with six in addition to those two helpers, a program record – first and foremost.

“I guess scoring never really goes through my mind,” King said of setting a new program mark with six goals in a game. “I don’t go out like, ‘I want to score goals just to score them and break a school record.’ The coolest thing is that we won as a team.

“Somebody [mentioned the record] on the sideline, and it didn’t really register until they said it on the speaker. I was just going out there to win the game. That’s all I cared about.”

Other offensive standouts for Michigan were Mikie Schlosser (whose emergence after showing promise last year is going to let Michigan take a big step forward offensively) with two goals and two assists, Will Meter with two goals and one assist, and David Joseph with a goal and two assists.

“We’ve got a lot of guys,” Joseph said. “Our attack is producing more than they ever have. Mikie Schlosser is playing out of his mind. It’s good. We’re playing good team offense: we get the ball 6-on-6 and good things happen.

“We’ve got Will Meter, Dave McCormack, seniors coming into their own, and Ian King had a great game, too. I think it’s experience coming in as fourth-years for the seniors, and playing good lacrosse.”

On the other side of the coin, despite the result, Jason Weber showed that he’s one of the elite keepers in the game. He let in a couple in the second half that he probably wouldn’t have if his team was within striking distance. Early in the game, he intimidated Michigan shooters to a degree (nine shots off-cage by the Wolverines in the first half, before they dialed in a bit), and despite the late softies, managed a .545 save percentage.

His defense didn’t do him a ton of good, causing only five turnovers all contest (led by Paul Bitetti’s two), but that goes back to the argument at the top that Michigan is just good enough to not have those type of mistakes anymore.

For the Titans’ offense, Shayne Adams was an expected standout, with two goals and an assist, but freshman attack Mark Anstead also showed that he’s primed for a breakout year, especially when the softer underbelly of the schedule hits. He had a goal and two assists, and should only see that production improve.

Michigan’s Brad Lott was strong on faceoffs, but honestly should have been a bit better. He lost the first faceoff of the second quarter (despite winning the clamp – he popped the ball into no-man’s land and UDM won a 50/50 ground ball), and went into a bit of a funk for the rest of the quarter. It does show that Detroit’s Damien Hicks, who I’ve been high on despite the occasional poor statistical outcome, is due for a pretty good year. He won some clamps against a really good faceoff specialist, and his wing play was better than I’ve seen from the Titans in recent years.

Detroit was unable to make up possessions in the clear/ride game in part because Michigan rode really well (and that’s with extremely limited use of the 10-man, from my vantage point), and Detroit did not. much of UDM’s schedule will be against less-skilled teams, and given their result against a strong Ohio State program, it’s not much of a matter of concern yet.

This was truly a Michigan-dominated game, with the Wolverines boasting almost twice as many shots and twice as many ground balls over its duration (and of course, nearly three times as many points on the scoreboard). I think it says more positives about Michigan than it does negatives about Detroit.

Elsewhere

Michigan recap. Boxscore. Michigan highlights. Michigan notes. King was the Inside Lacrosse player of the week. Detroit recap. Photo gallery. UDM highlights. Anstead was named the MAAC Rookie of the Week. ALM has a recap and photos.

Up Next

Michigan hosts Notre Dame inside Oosterbaan Fieldhouse in a significant early-season test. The Irish are the No. 2 team in the country. The games faces of Saturday at 1 p.m.

Detroit heads back to Pontiac to take on Robert Morris. Game time is 1 p.m. Tempo-Free Lax likes the Colonials right now, but I feel like UDM’s a favorite there.

Previws of both games forthcoming.