Michigan Basketball: Kyle Church previews showdown with Wake Forest

The Michigan Wolverines look to move to 2-0 when they head to Greensboro, North Carolina on Sunday to play a neutral site game against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons are 2-0 after a pair of wins over Coppin State and North Carolina A&T and are expected to compete for the ACC title, so this one should be the stiffest test yet for Dusty May’s inaugural team.

Assistant coach/general manager Kyle Church, a North Carolina native, spoke to the media on Friday to preview the non-conference tilt. The semi-neutral site game will be repaid next year when Wake Forest comes to Detroit to play Michigan, and these types of contests are something that Church and the Wolverines expect to schedule plenty moving forward.

“There’s usually some NIL opportunities attached to these type of things,” Church said. “There’s there’s some postseason. Getting the environment of a neutral site. Getting a chance to play at Greensboro Coliseum, which is not an NBA arena, but it’s an NBA-sized arena. It’s oftentimes a NCAA tournament site. Obviously an ACC site for Wake Forest.

“And then the NET [rankings], it’s obviously very close to Wake Forest’s campus and as a return game, we’ll be in Detroit, which will be very close to Ann Arbor, but it’s still a different, it’s a different feel. It’s not like being on campus and having the students, so it’s something we want to work in for those reasons, but also you know, we love the home-and-home games as well, which we’ll see against TCU.”

Church, who is from Durham, North Carolina, said the opportunity to return home as a member of the Michigan staff is one he is looking forward to.

“I’ve probably been to at least 30 games at the Greensboro Coliseum,” Church said. “They used to play in the ACC Tournament there basically every year. Which was an hour from where I lived in Charlotte, an hour from when I lived in Durham.

It’ll be a cool feeling being down on the court for the first time. But more so than that, just our team having to play a really, really good Wake Forest basketball team. Really good, really well coached, really talented. Getting the challenge of that and then being at home is just a bonus for me personally.”

Michigan has spent two exhibition games against Oakland and Toledo and the season-opener against Cleveland State to get a feel for how things will operate in-game under May. Wake Forest is a different type of beast with head coach Steve Forbes leading his team to a 21-14 record last year and an appearance in the NIT. Most expect them to push for an NCAA Tournament berth this season.

In terms of players to keep an eye on, the Michigan scouting report hones in on a pair if guards in Hunter Sallis and Cameron Hildreth.

“The headliners are the two guards Sallis and Hildreth,” Church said. “Can eally score the ball, super talented, All-ACC, potential All-American type candidates. They have a nice rotation of big athletic guys as well. Got some shooting on the wings, so they’re a handful offensively.

“I know they haven’t quite probably hit on all cylinders these first two games like they’re capable of, but we definitely have our hands full and we’re going to have to play a really sound game.”

Sallis in particular might be the toughest draw for the Michigan defense. Last season, he averaged 18 points per game while shooting 40.5% from three. This year, he’s hit only 11.1% of his three-point makes, but it’s only a matter of time until that levels out.

“His athleticism, his size, and then his ability to get the paint, stop, shot fake, and obviously make,” Church said. “Combine that with being able to make threes I think he’s becoming a better playmaker for others as well. He’ll be one of the better guards we play all year, no question.”

Heading into the game, Michigan has shown a ton of mostly positive things on the floor, but Church says they are not without flaws that needed to be addressed this week.

“Just our team energy, our focus level, our teammates being happy for each other, being happy for each other success,” Church said about the standout traits. “There’s a great camaraderie amongst the group, which is always great to see. Our shooting has been something that’s been a big plus for us these first few games.

As far as getting better at, there were some ball screen breakdowns, there were some transition defense breakdowns and there’s some stuff defensively that we were a little loose on. Cleveland State didn’t didn’t punish us like they could on another day. Part of basketball, sometimes the shots just aren’t falling. The glaring weakness would be the the defensive rebounding. That’s something that’s been addressed heavily this week.”

We will see the steps that Michigan takes from game one to game two on Sunday. Tipoff against Wake Forest is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET with ESPN2 carrying the broadcast.