The sun is out for Michigan basketball, now that it's focused internally
INDIANAPOLIS — The last time Michigan basketball played this well, it was in 70 degrees in Los Angeles.
That was more than two months ago, and perhaps it was just a coincidence that it reached 78 degrees on Friday in Indy. But for the first time in upward of 60 days, the Wolverines truly looked like a force to be reckoned with. Coach Dusty May's team combined a season-high 25 assists with a season-low six turnovers as it played its best offensive game since the middle of January and throttled Purdue 86-68 in the Big Ten tournament.
The quarterfinal win, sending third-seeded U-M to Saturday's Big Ten semis (against second-seeded Maryland at 3:30 p.m.) for the first time since 2021, was the first time the Wolverines won a game by more than four points since Jan. 12 and it came after they had lost four of its final six regular-season games.
After the triumph, a few players in the locker room, such as Roddy Gayle Jr., implied they had noticed the vibes surrounding the program plummet.
Though he was surprised how quickly it happened, he said, the team took it upon itself to respond.
"It's society nowadays," Gayle said of the reversal of fortune. "People jump on the bandwagon when you're hot, jump off when you lose and drop a few games. But as long as we stay together in this locker room, I feel like we'll (be good)."
The balance is back
If it looked like Michigan played in a capacity that hadn't been seen in weeks, it's because it did things in practice it hadn't in weeks.
The Wolverines entered the Big Ten tourney coming off a stretch of five games in 13 days, when there was little time to practice its own sets or work on itself. Every day was simply about learning opponent tendencies and how to stop them.
Finally, that changed.
"We didn't look at any film, just went out there and went at the practice plan, very physical," Nimari Burnett said Friday. "Basically a tough-man practice. ... We focused on us internally. That was the major thing. We didn't think about who we were playing, especially because we were up in the air at the time.
"We were getting physical hits on each other; (the mentality) was to do it even worse to the team we play."
Michigan won the measures of physicality — such as rebounds, 40-34, and points in the paint, 38-30 — but not because of the Wolverines' physicaliity, but because they were balanced; four players scored in double figures, and seven scored at least seven.
It was a contrast with much of U-M's recent slump, in which the Wolverines were left to force-feed Vlad Goldin.
With every rotational player's 3-point shooting numbers dropping in February and March, it seemed as though the only reliable source of points was the 7-foot Russian center topping 15 points a game.
Friday, though? U-M was able to penetrate the lane, kick out for open shots and whip the ball in and around the arc consistently to generate quality looks.
No Wolverine did that better Friday than Danny Wolf, throwing left-handed cross-court skip passes to Tre Donaldson for three points on one possession before dumping off a feed to Goldin for a slam dunk on another.
Wolf, who finished second-team all-Big Ten, had his best game in months: 18 points, 11 boards, six assists and just two turnovers. Goldin added 15 points and eight boards, while Donaldson scored 13, Gayle had 11, Will Tschetter and Rubin Jones both had eight and Burnett finished with seven.
"Twenty-five assists on 30 made field goals, high-level," Wolf said in the locker room, following his night as one of four Wolverines with at least five assists. "Guys are happy for each other, smiling all over the court."
Still more work to be done
It's not as if all the problems were solved.
Michigan still shot on 30.8% on 3-pointers (in 26 attempts), making it 14 consecutive games at 35% or worse on 3s. But it was the type of shots generated Friday that had May as optimistic following a game as has been in since January.
"I thought we generated really good looks," May said. "In-out 3s, quick-swing open shots and we still didn't shoot it as well as we're going to. We really believe that the floodgates are going to open because we have guys who are much better shooters than their numbers right now.
"But if we keep generating looks like tonight, we will shoot a better percentage."
Now that Michigan is in the Big Ten semis, it turns its attention to the Terrapins, who beat the Wolverines by six on March 5 in U-M's home finale to ruin hopes of a share of the Big Ten regular-season title.
The Terrapins' starting lineup — with an Old Bay-spiced nickname of "the Crab Five" — could be as talented as any starting group in the nation, according to May. The first-year Michigan coach said his team has to do a better job of closing out on shooters and sticking to the playmakers than it did in Ann Arbor.
But most of all, U-M has realized it needs to focus internally.
Stick to the game plan, yes, but don't worry too much about what the opponent is trying to make you do. U-M leaned into its rivals too much, players said Friday; instead, they recently have emphasized doing things their way.
And sure enough, the sunny skies are out once again as a result.
"We kind of got that UCLA vibe," Gayle said with a smile Friday night. "Staying in a hotel, only being around family, friends and just buying into what we practice."
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball: Best game of the year means there's room for more
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