Dusty May praises defense, depth after dismantling of No. 22 Xavier: 'They fought like warriors tonight'

FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Michigan Wolverines sit at 6-1 on the young season after a blowout 78-53 win over No. 22 Xavier on Wednesday night, capturing a title in the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament with two wins in three days.

Head coach Dusty May’s team plays an up-and-down the court style that lends itself to the label of being a finesse-style of team, but Michigan has shown a propensity of getting after it on the defensive end, and allowed a total of 116 points in the two wins in Florida.

The drubbing of a ranked opponent may have been Michigan’s best, most complete performance yet.

RELATED: Xavier coach Sean Miller after blowout loss to Michigan: ‘We lost to a really good team’
WATCH: Dusty May, Danny Wolf discuss blowout win over No. 22 Xavier

“That was an extremely gritty performance, especially defensively against an Xavier program that we have the utmost respect for,” May said after the win. “Sean Miller is one of the best coaches in our game. They’re a veteran group, and this wasn’t their best game, but a lot of that, I think, did have to do with our size and our tenacity on the defensive end.

“We were as active as we’ve been. We were as physical as we’ve been, and it’s a good starting point for us as we have a long season in front of us and a lot of room to grow. Hats off to our guys. They fought like warriors tonight.”

Michigan was led by junior forward Danny Wolf with 20 points and 14 rebounds in the win, but it was the team’s depth that helped bury the Musketeers. Opposing head coach Sean Miller said his team was worn down and ran out of gas, which is affirming of the type of team May wanted to build in Ann Arbor.

“You want as many good players as you can get, especially with the late start that we got, but we’ve always felt like we had a little bit of an odd team,” May said. “Like they didn’t naturally fit. And so we’d have some growing pains. But we’ve got guys that didn’t play tonight that we are very confident could help us win this game. We’ve only had our group together for a couple weeks where we’ve had full practices, but it makes our practices competitive.

“Our second lineup continues to give us a jolt of energy almost every single game. I think every game but one this year, our second unit has been extremely productive statistically and intangibly. We just have a lot of weapons. We have a lot of good players. We still have a long way to go.

“But [Wolf], he’s such a unique talent. If you can play all over the court like he can, and we’re still figuring out different ways to use him and Vlad [Goldin] together and separate and we’re getting good guard play as well. It’s a fun challenge to figure out the best way for us to play.

“Fortunately we’ve got a really smart and tough group, and so we’re a little better today than we were yesterday.”

Wolf’s breakout was overdue, and he has looked unsure of himself at times this season. Getting him going in Fort Myers was key to the team’s success, and proving he can be a viable option at the four opens up a world of possibilities.

“I think even I was questioning that coming into deciding where I was going to choose a school,” Wolf said. “And I think coach may have made a comment that he believed in me more than he thought. I believed myself defensively when he was recruiting me and then that coupled with the idea of just really buying into the weight room. I bought into that.

“I just want to prove daily that I can guard or switch on smaller guards on a nightly basis. And I think when I do that, it makes defense so much easier for my teammates and when I trust myself and the coaches believe in me. Just makes that even better.”

May chimed in: “There was a lot of conversation. How is he gonna do this? How’s it gonna do that? And he was committed to it from day one. And the game changes when he’s at the four versus when he’s at the five, offensively and defensively. I think him being able to guard, and we say fours, he’s guarding points, he’s guarding twos and threes. And there have been a few times this year when he did a good job, but just old center habits kind of crept in. But he just, he stayed the course, he’s in the film room. And there aren’t very many guys that I’ve seen as I’ve watched games on television that I wouldn’t feel like he would force them to take a very difficult shot.

“He’s 7 feet, he’s mobile, and he’s getting more and more aggressive and trusting himself because he works every single day in practice, in the weight room in every facet of the game. So, like I said, this is just a starting point because our guys have, have, they’ve got a great work ethic and work capacity.”

Working in tandem with Wolf on Wednesday night was Goldin’s best performance in a Michigan uniform to this point with 18 points, including his first-career three-point make and attempt. May has coached Goldin for most of his career, and even he joked he was not aware he had that in his arsenal.

“He shoots them in practice,” May said. “In 2024, all big men are aware that most centers on the planet are shooting threes. So he’s been working on them for two years. But we don’t run stuff to get them for him. We want him to shoot them if he falls into them. We don’t want him hunting those because obviously you see what a presence he is in the paint.

“With Danny making four of them tonight, it was nice to see his first one go in because I think he’s one of the better shooters in college basketball, so it’s still another weapon that we’re going to be able to utilize, and then that opens up the pain even more for Vlad.

“When we’re at our best, it’s a lot of moving parts with Roddy Gayle attacking and getting fouled and Tre Donaldson in the open court especially. But I do think our guys are being more are having much better awareness of their teammates and what they’re doing well. Also realizing we don’t need to hit any home runs because of the talent and depth of our roster.

“We can single most teams to death and then when we need to hit a double or triple or home run, we think we can do that as well.”

Michigan defense carrying team as Big Ten play looms

Michigan is up to No. 7 on KenPom defensively coming off its pair of wins in Fort Myers, and its performance on that end of the floor has become something May and his staff are hanging their hats on.

“We think to be a championship level of the program – and we’re a long way from that – you have to be sound on both sides of the basketball,” May said. “Certain nights your defense has to carry you other nights, your offense can maybe carry the load. I thought we defended the first half.

“We feel like we defended even better than the score indicated. But even us botching the last 30 seconds of the half, us not capitalizing on the free throws, just shows how we still have a lot, a lot of room for growth.”

The need for more improvement with the Michigan program continues to be an emphasis for May and his players, especially with a two-game Big Ten slate looming starting next week at Wisconsin (Dec. 3) and home against Iowa (Dec. 7).

“Coach said in the locker room, bigtime games right around the corner, and getting to play in environments like these where games really matter, and you build habits late game, down the stretch,” Wolf said. “It was a back-and-forth game I think midway through the second half, and guys stepped up, Will Tschetter got a few big-time offensive rebounds and found guys and it felt like those threes were going in.

“Just being able to get those late game situations that you can’t get in practice and you can’t get in regular noncontact games by games, what not, it’s just very exciting.”