Michigan basketball: Jaelin Llewellyn's role going forward, defensive issues due in part to lack of 'trust'

Michigan Wolverines basketball has been very thin in the back court so far this season but got back a key piece in graduate Jaelin Llewellyn Saturday against Oregon. On the first weekend of December last year, Llewellyn went down with an ACL injury. Now, he’s working back, having played 10 minutes against Oregon with more in store in the future.

Associate and interim head coach Phil Martelli said Monday morning that Llewellyn responded well to seeing game action and that he’s expected to play Tuesday night against Indiana.

“There was no holding back yesterday,” Martelli said. “It was not a heavy practice yesterday, but he was fully engaged, so there are no indications that he would not at least continue [to play]. And I’m not saying ‘minute restrictions.’ We just don’t deal with that kind of term. He was available yesterday for practice. Obviously, he played Saturday. So, the full expectation is that he will play Tuesday.”

Llewellyn played some point guard and also shared the back court with sophomore Dug McDaniel, who was on the floor for 42 minutes in the overtime loss to the Ducks. Llewellyn’s role will grow as he gets back into full basketball shape and increases his confidence coming off the injury, but Martelli shared on just how his presence adds a boost.

“First of all, a great example, a great tribute to [head trainer] Chris Williams, the trainers, the doctors — because the players watched. We might be on one court, but the players knew on the other court Jaelin was working and working and working to get to this moment.

“Does that mean a double-digit scorer? No, that’s not an expectation. Does it mean a calming voice? Yes. Does it mean like that grit and determination that you want from every player? Yes.

“We have mixed him in with Dug, so if somebody says, well, is that playing two guards? It’s two guards — it’s two players being on the floor.

“So, what we really want for Jaelin is for his play to reward all of the sacrifices and the hard work that he has put in since last December, when he got hurt. 

“I would say [Llewellyn is an] older, calmer and maybe a player who brings even more appreciation to the opportunities presented. Because sometimes when you’re young, you think, well, I have another 90 games or I have another practice next week. And Jaelin is a shining example of, that could be gone in a snap of a finger.”

Llewellyn scored 2 points on 1-of-2 shooting from the field with 2 assists and 1 turnover against Oregon.

Michigan defense struggles as team loses four of last five games

Michigan is the 125th-ranked defense in the country according to Kenpom, its worst ranking in that category since 2006-07, legendary coach John Beilein‘s first season at the helm.

The Wolverines are allowing opponents to shoot 39.4 percent from three-point range, with that mark ranking 342nd in the country. The last three opponents have eclipsed the 1.1 points per possession mark.

Martelli admitted that Michigan has a lot of areas in which to improve.

“I think we’re 4-4. I think the defense is not great,” Martelli said with a smile befitting of how obvious it is that Michigan’s defense has to improve. “And I think everybody has to amp it up. We have to amp up our ball pressure, we have to give them even more scouting report help. We actually had a conversation yesterday, [assistant] Saddi [Washington] and I, and one of the things was not so much the breakdown of the one-on-one challenges, which we attempted to address all preseason by playing one-on-one every single day in practice, but we’re stopping short. We’re not closing out.

“We have foundations in this program, and one of them is trust. And our close-outs are a little bit indicative that I’m just not sure — I’m just not sure that I can get there, I’m just not sure that somebody has my back. I think in players’ minds, sometimes, well, the jumper, there’s a chance he can miss, but the layup or the dunk, that’s really going to expose me.

“The term that we use is ‘daily vitamins.’ We have to keep the daily vitamins going every single day. It starts with keeping the ball in front of us and stop getting cracks in our defense — on top of our transition defense, which has gotten better. But still, we need stops to create more offense.”

Martelli said that ‘shot challenges’ are a statistics that Michigan tracks and is “very important.” Redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter said the goal is to contest 70 percent of shots from the floor. However, he revealed, his belief is that the Wolverines have only hit that number in one game, a 92-62 victory over Youngstown State Nov. 10, when the Penguins scored just 0.81 points per play.

“On the three-ball, it starts with keeping the ball in front so that we don’t have to trigger help so early, and then when we do close out, we have to close out with confidence that I can get to that guy’s shoulder, that I can have a hand-ball-contest on his shot,” the Michigan coach said. “And then if he makes one, forget about it, go to the next play. But trust the fundamentals that have been taught and trust the information that we have, in terms of scouting report and the numerical analysis that we’ve done.”