Emptying the notebook from Denver: Inside the Michigan locker room pre-Texas A&M

DENVER, Colo. — No. 5 seed Michigan Wolverines basketball is preparing to face No. 4 seed Texas A&M in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, with the two teams set to square off Saturday around 5:15 p.m ET at Ball Arena.

Here are our notes from meeting with Michigan players in the locker room and head coach Dusty May at his press conference heading in.

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Michigan can cement itself as a great team with one more win

Michigan is one win away from making it six-straight NCAA Tournament appearances with a trip to the second weekend. The first five were consecutive (minus the canceled tournament in 2020) and stand as a Big Ten record.

Michigan finished tied second in the Big Ten standings and won the conference tournament. A Sweet 16 berth would turn this from a great start to the May era — and actually remarkable, given what he took over — to a special team on its own.

In 2017, Michigan was coming off a first-round exit in 2016 and missed tournament in 2015. The Wolverines struggled in the first half of the Big Ten season but turned it around, won the conference tournament and kept that momentum going into a Sweet 16 appearance. That stands as one of Michigan’s fans’ favorite teams in recent history, due in part to the group going on an incredible postseason run after surviving a plane crash at Willow Run Airport.

This team has the chance to cement itself as a memorable one. Making the second weekend has a way of doing that. Losing in the first is either really disappointing or just solid. In this case, given the context, it would be the latter, but the Wolverines have the talent to make a deep run.

“It was great,” junior forward/center Danny Wolf said of May and Co. recruiting him out of the transfer portal from Yale. “Very thankful that the coaches took me in, and hopefully we can cement ourselves down the stretch these last few weeks.

“It’s a chance any kid dreams of, no matter where you are. It’s awesome to be able to do it while sporting a Michigan jersey.”

Texas A&M is the best offensive rebounding team in America

Texas A&M rebounds 41.7 percent of its own missed shots — first in the nation. The Aggies miss a lot of them, too, with a 47.8 effective field goal percentage that checks in 309th in America.

Michigan has struggled against teams that are great on the offensive glass, making this a scary matchup. The Wolverines are 0-3 in games versus squads that rebound 35-plus percent of their misses, and at 41.7 percent, this is a different animal.

“They’re relentless on the glass,” Wolf said. “They’re the best offensive rebounding team in the country, and it’s what they built their identity on.

“If we’re able to kind of keen in on that, I think it’ll really, really help our chances.”

It really would. Texas A&M doesn’t have to dominate the boards to win, but it’s the Aggies’ best path to victory. They’re 10-0 when rebounding 46.9-plus percent of their misses.

Michigan has had its fair share of struggles on the defensive glass, but this is a different style. MSU crashes from almost every spot and has big men and a great athlete in Coen Carr that can track down rebounds. Illinois spread Michigan out, pulling the bigs away from the rim, and got a bunch of offensive boards via their guards. Texas A&M will crash at least three to the glass but won’t likely break the Michigan defense down as much as those other two opponents did.

Plus, the Wolverines are hoping the threat of going home if they don’t get the job done will be enough motivation to shore up the woes.

“It’s just focusing in on the scout and what the coaches have put us in position to do,” Wolf said. “I think it’s a desperation type of perspective going into the game in that we just gotta be relentless on the glass.

“We’ve had success, but we’ve also had some games where we haven’t done as well as we can. It’s a team effort, and five guys gotta rebound down.”

Find another way

Texas A&M’s strength (offensive rebounding) is Michigan’s weakness (defensive rebounding). While the Wolverines will look to at least have a stalemate on the boards, they may have to understand that they could lose that battle but find another avenue to win.

That could be making a bunch of open threes, dominating Texas A&M on the inside, taking care of the ball or turning the Aggies over, among other things. If Michigan does get beat up in the rebounding department, it’ll need a bit extra from the other areas.

“I’m much more confident that we’re going to find a way to win each night than the confidence that we’re going to fix something that we may just not be built well enough to fix in that moment,” May said.

“Sometimes, 30-plus games is a pretty large sample size. Sometimes you’re just not good at certain things. You have to overcome it by being exceptional or really, really good in others.

“Like I said, do I think we’re going to fix that issue? I think we’re going to do our absolute best and fight as hard as we possibly can. If that doesn’t fix it, then we’ll have to overcompensate in another area.

“We believe we’ll find a way.”

This would be perfect timing for the ‘floodgates’ to open

May has remained optimistic that Michigan is going to break out from three-point distance, but the Wolverines haven’t made double-digit triples in a game since Jan. 27 against Penn State.

“The way we shot the basketball earlier in the year and the way we’re capable of during practice, we think the floodgates can still open for us,” May said during Michigan’s Big Ten Tournament run.

Texas A&M will mix up defenses, get in gaps and help a lot. The Aggies limit attempts at the rim but give up a lot of three-point shots (46.6 percent of attempts), and this would be the perfect game for Michigan to drill 10-plus from the outside.

Wolf pointed out that, while Michigan has two seven-footers with him and graduate center Vladislav Goldin, it’s not as easy as some fans think for them to dominate on the inside. Opponents scheme to take them away, and that opens up opportunities for teammates.

“You take what the defense gives you and play in the flow of the game,” the Michigan standout said. “Obviously, with how effective Vlad is around the rim, you want to get him as many looks as you can. But from an outsider’s perspective looking in, it just seems like it’s a no-brainer — you have two seven footers, just pound the ball inside. I wish it was that easy.

“Teams scout us just how we scout teams. Like UC San Diego last night, they really didn’t let us have a post-up game because they doubled every time we got a touch to the baseline side and they loaded to the ball really well. We got a lot of good looks from three when that happened, but when those shots aren’t going in and we’re getting doubled, then it just looks like easy answers — keep pounding the ball inside.”

Goldin has turned the ball over quite a bit playing out of double teams, and Texas A&M will bring an extra body at him in the post quite a bit. He’s prepared, but Michigan has to be strong with the ball.

“They’ve doubled before, so that’s probably one of the things we’re gonna see,” Goldin noted. “Obviously, we can’t be 100 percent if they’re going to double or not going to double. We’re going to see in the game. But one of the options is they’re going to double, so we’re gonna find open players and [allow] them to make a play.”