Dusty May on Michigan newcomers Morez Johnson Jr., Aday Mara: 'We're gonna lean on both of those guys to play big roles'

Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May had a front-row seat to a second-half barrage of buckets from Auburn guards Tahaad Pettiford and Denver Jones that helped the Tigers come back from nine points down to hold a double-digit lead the final five minutes of a 78-65 win to advance to the Elite Eight.

Michigan’s season ended there in Atlanta, in front of a sea of Tiger fans that either are from the host city or had to drive less than two hours to cheer on the No. 1 seed.

Those moments as Auburn — which made an appearance in the Final Four — took over are what May remembers the most from what was, in a lot of ways, a magical postseason run. The Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament by beating Purdue, Maryland and Wisconsin in less than 48 hours, then advanced to the Sweet 16 with victories over UC San Diego and Texas A&M.

“There’s not just one memory from the run in March,” May said on the ‘Defend The Block’ podcast with host Brian Boesch. “It happened so quickly. And as optimistic as I am, looking toward the future and being around people, I just remember nine minutes to go and we’re playing really good ball against Auburn.

“We just didn’t make the plays, we didn’t control the game like we needed to, and then obviously Auburn’s guys, their guards were on the verge, they were teetering. Pettiford and Jones and those guys just got hot and made some unbelievable individual plays, and we just didn’t counter that run well enough.”

Part of those being the lasting memories could be chalked up to being a coach. It’s the way they’re wired. But beyond that, May seemed to take everything in during his first season at Michigan, evaluate it and act upon it once the campaign was over.

“Until we’re cutting down the nets on the very last day, I’m probably gonna remember most vividly the reasons we didn’t continue playing,” he noted.

Throughout the course of last season, Michigan’s head coach said publicly that he wanted the team to be more physical, have better playmaking and dominate the glass at a higher level.

It’s not a coincidence that those three things were addressed in the NCAA transfer portal this offseason. Michigan had to replace star big men Danny Wolf and Vladislav Goldin anyway, but May did so with the addition of two players with Big Ten experience who are elite rebounders in Illinois’ Morez Johnson Jr. (6-9, 255) and UCLA’s Aday Mara (7-3, 240).

UAB transfer Yaxel Lendeborg — the top-ranked player in the portal this offseason — was the cherry on top on the front line. Meanwhile, point guard Elliot Cadeau, who spent the last two seasons at North Carolina, has great quickness that will allow Michigan to play with more pace, and he’s an elite passer. He checks the boxes May was looking for at the lead guard spot.

One day after Michigan’s season ended, assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen traveled to Chicago to meet with Johnson. He committed soon thereafter. Mara pledged shortly after Johnson and Lendeborg joined the list of pledges. May has coached against all three — Lendeborg when he was at FAU and Johnson and Mara in Ann Arbor (though Michigan scouted Johnson, he was held out of the U-M vs. Illinois game due to injury).

“That’s the beauty of the portal — you have to make quick, decisive decisions,” May said. “And by playing these teams and watching as much ball as we do, it doesn’t take us long to decide who we want once they go into the portal.”

Johnson brought as much physicality as anyone in the league last season, and his 17.2-percent offensive rebounding rate would’ve led the Big Ten had he played 40 percent of his team’s minutes. The Big Ten’s best offensive rebounder that met that minutes threshold was Michigan State forward Jaxon Kohler at 14.5 percent.

“Morez was an extremely expedited recruiting process, where he knew what he was looking for,” May said. ‘I think we fit a lot of the criteria of who he is, and he had a good experience at Illinois. He played well. He was in the rotation. So, sometimes these guys are just looking for a change.

“But we were extremely excited about both of those guys, because we were familiar with them.”

Mara, meanwhile, thrived toward the end of last season and flashed his high upside. UCLA was 10-1 when Mara played 15-plus minutes, with the only loss coming in the NCAA Tournament second-round loss to Tennessee. He’s a strong passer out of the high and low post and an elite rim protector.

“When you watched Aday play the last half of the year, he really took his game to another level and had some really, really bright moments,” May explained. “His learning curve, his developmental curve going into his third year of college, where he’s added weight, he was well-coached … both of those guys played for really good coaches, so they have a really solid foundation of how to play winning basketball at a high level, and now we’ve gotta get them acclimated into our system.”

Michigan will use both a lot — they could split minutes at the ‘5’ — alongside Lendeborg, making for an exciting outlook down low.

“Obviously, each year you’re in college basketball, you’re role’s probably going to grow, so we’re gonna lean on both of those guys to play big roles on both sides of the basketball.”