Michigan HC Dusty May reveals reason for early lineup change: 'We didn't have much spark'
ANN ARBOR – The best type of lessons the Michigan Wolverines can learn are the ones that come in victories. They are even better when they come in the form of blowout wins like the 94-67 victory over Miami (OH) on Monday night at Crisler Center.
Head coach Dusty May was not a fan of his team’s energy out of the gate on Monday night, turning the ball over 4 times in the first 3 minutes of the game and surrendering a quick 7-5 lead to Miami. With that came an entire lineup change from his starters to his second unit just 2:53 into the contest.
It was part of a first half that included 12 turnovers for the Wolverines, one of the most bothersome early traits the team has developed. To its credit, it only had 6 the rest of the way. It appears the message was received by his team.
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“I think we have a lot of different guys that could be in any lineup, and sometimes it might just be simply different guys playing well with each other,” May said about the switch to the second unit early on. “I just thought that we didn’t have much spark. We looked a little bit dazed, and so we just wanted to throw some guys in there and see if they’d bring some fire and spark, and they did that.
“Every game we all have a different role, our jobs might be a little bit different night to night, and that second group did a nice job of giving us a spark.”
Junior wing Roddy Gayle Jr. was part of the group that was subbed out early in the game and he took the lesson in stride.
“I think we gotta be better,” Gayle said. “As a starting group, we got to set the tone for the rest of the team and rest of the game. So we came out and gave up a few offensive rebounds, even some turnovers. There’s no excuse for that. We got to be better.
“I think we adjusted to that very well when we came out and applied pressure and then we did it in the second half.”
One of the beneficiaries of the early change was graduate guard Rubin Jones, who has been singled out by May as one of Michigan’s tone-setters and his ability to make “invisible plays.” He knows his role, and embraced what it meant on Monday.
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“I felt good,” Jones said. “I mean, we kind of had a slow start. I felt like we were there just to get the energy going. Kind of pressure the ball on defense and kind of get after it. Not really have any egos about what’s going on. Not really feel bad about it. You know, it’s part of basketball. Stuff can go bad sometimes.
“We’re so deep. That’s the good thing about it. We can put freshmen in there and we can put guys in there and they can hold it on their own.”
May and his Michigan staff are pretty analytical when it comes to setting lineups and game plans, but Monday night’s win was an example of the human element coming into play. The Wolverines’ head coach went with his gut, and it paid off.
“It just was a feeling. It was just, hey, et’s get these next guys in there and give them a shot, see if they can start a spark. It wasn’t as if all five of the first five were not playing hard or playing lazy or anything like that. It was just… the feel and the urgency wasn’t there. Sometimes the second unit, their job is to come in and simply provide that spark. And then obviously, there’s five players on the court at a time, so sometimes one or two may have a miscommunication, and the other three are affected by it.
But that’s the beauty of our team. We have unselfish guys I think they trust each other, they believe in each other, so I thought everyone contributed this way.”
May and Michigan are back in action on Thursday night with a visit from Tarleton State to Ann Arbor. Tipoff is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
