Michigan Falls in Exhibition Contest to Charleroi
8/23/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Aug. 23, 2010
• Audio Quotes: Coach John Beilein | Freshman Forward Evan Smotrycz | Junior Guard Stu Douglass
• Scoring Summary 
• European Trip Main Page
Site: Charleroi, Belgium (ATL Spiroudome Arena)
Score: Charleroi 90, Michigan 60 (ex.)
European Tour Record: Michigan (0-2)
Next Event: Wednesday, Aug. 25 -- at Oostende (Oostende, Belgium), 8:30 p.m. CET (2:30 p.m. EDT)
CHARLEROI, Belgium -- The University of Michigan men's basketball team dropped its second European Tour exhibition game today (Monday, Aug. 23) following a 90-60 loss to Charleroi, the defending Division I Belgian League champion, at the ATL Spiroudome Arena.
Freshman Tim Hardaway Jr. (Miami, Fla./Palmetto Senior) led the Wolverines with 12 points and six rebounds, three assists and two steals, while freshman Evan Smotrycz (Reading, Mass./New Hampton Prep [N.H.]) and sophomore Darius Morris (Los Angeles, Calif./Windward) each added nine apiece.
Overall, the experienced Charleroi team, featuring six former Division I college basketball players, used scoring from long range (14-for-38) to pull away in the second quarter and never look back for the victory. Despite the loss, Michigan improved on yesterday's (Sunday, Aug. 22) performance at Gent with a solid 11-for-29 showing from long range as Hardaway Jr., redshirt freshman Blake McLimans (Hamburg, N.Y./Worchester Academy [Mass.]) and juniors Zack Novak (Chesterton, Ind./Chesterton) and Stu Douglass (Carmel, Ind./Carmel) each made two.
After Charleroi jumped out to a quick 9-2 lead to start the game, U-M recovered following a timeout as the Wolverines broke the Charleroi press and ran the offensive sets. Smotrycz caught fire, collecting seven of U-M's 17 first-quarter points as the Wolverines trailed by just five after the opening quarter.
In the second quarter, Charleroi used a quick 15-4 run that put Michigan in a 37-21 deficit. The Wolverines countered with threes from sophomore Matt Vogrich (Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest) and McLimans to stop the run and close the game. The Wolverines closed the half on a 9-2 run to go into halftime trailing, 39-30.
Morris used penetration to create third-quarter scoring opportunities for the Wolverines, but Charleroi's long-range efforts continued to stop any Wolverine run. Michigan countered to close the quarter with a backdoor slam dunk and three-pointer from Hardaway Jr., and U-M trailed, 63-47.
A slow start from Wolverines in the fourth quarter helped Charleroi increase its lead to 72-47 with five minutes remaining. Hardaway Jr. once again helped pace Michigan with a fast-break dunk and three-pointer with 5:15 remaining, but the experience of Charleroi was just too much and the game ended 90-60.
After a day trip to Paris on Tuesday (Aug. 24), the Wolverines will play their third exhibition game at Oostende on Wednesday (Aug. 25) at 8:30 p.m. (2:30 p.m. EDT) in Oostende, Belgium.
N O T E S
• Michigan used the same starting five for the second straight game: Darius Morris, Stu Douglass and Matt Vogrich on the perimeter and Zack Novak and Blake McLimans in the frontcourt.
• Nearly half of Charleroi's team has played college basketball. The list includes: Chris Hill (Michigan State, 2005), Dwayne Broyles (James Madison, 2004), Andre Riddick (Kentucky, 1995), Justin Hamilton (Florida, 2003), Brian Greene (Colorado State, 2003) and Brian Mallet (McNeese State, 2001).
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
