John Beilein on Michigan's stretch run: 'They have to prioritize winning right now and not worry about anything else'

It’s the best time of year in college basketball, with conference tournaments for low- and mid-major leagues already having started up. Michigan Wolverines basketball has two regular-season games left (vs. Maryland, at Michigan State) before the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament.

Michigan is almost to its do-or-die portion of the season, where all that matters is winning because losing sends a team home for good. The Wolverines have lost two of their last four games, including a 20-point blowout loss to Illinois Sunday, but control their own destiny for at least a share of the Big Ten title and will be a relatively high seed in the NCAA Tournament.

Former Michigan head man John Beilein won 20 NCAA Tournament games with the Wolverines from 2008-19 and left the college game as one of 14 coaches to lead four different programs to the Big Dance. He understands what it takes to win in March, and gave his take on how the Wolverines should approach it while on ‘The HUGE Show’ with host Bill Simonson.

“You know what? That roster has to just forget about everything right now except, what do we have to do to win? What can I add to win?” Beilein, now a Big Ten Network analyst, said. “Whether it’s the last guy on the bench, first guy off the bench or [graduate center] Vlad[islav Goldin] or [junior forward/center] Danny [Wolf] or [junior guard] Tre [Donaldson] or any of those guys, [graduate guard] Nimari Burnett. They have to prioritize winning right now and not worry about anything else.”

Michigan is one game back of Michigan State in the Big Ten standings. The Wolverines can make sure Sunday’s game in East Lansing is for at least a share of the title if they take care of business Wednesday night versus Maryland, while the Spartans head to Iowa Thursday evening.

First-year head coach Dusty May‘s Michigan team is full of newcomers — six transfers and three freshmen — but have come together at a high level to record a 14-4 Big Ten mark to this point. The Wolverines will have to hit another gear to have success down the stretch, though.

“That’s tough, when Dusty had to throw this team together, where these guys at Michigan State have been riding that thing together for a long time now,” Beilein continued. ‘They are a solid, solid team that prioritizes winning.

“I don’t know that Michigan isn’t. I just suggest that they should, going forward, that this is all about now, our next game. If you don’t practice that, [you play] Maryland, Michigan State, you’re gonna leave home early from Indianapolis and leave home early from the NCAA Tournament. It’s gotta be a point where I don’t care about anything but the team right now.

“I know Dusty is saying it to them. They gotta get that done.”

Three-point shooting would help. The Wolverines have shot 27.9 percent from beyond the arc since Jan. 19, a 12-game span. That ranks 353rd out of 363 college basketball teams during that stretch. Michigan began the year. That comes after they connected on 38.4 percent of their attempts in the first 17 games.

“When you’re not hitting threes and you have two seven-footers in the lineup, it is really hard to play transition defense,” Beilein noted. “It’s a long rebound, they’re easy rebounds, but it’s the setup for a fast break.

“Sometimes, it’s akin to turning the ball over. That is really hard with … you’ve heard me talk about playing two seven-footers, and they’ve been great, and I expect them to do it and they should do it … but if you don’t make shots, your transition defense is really challenged with two guys that have always ran back to the paint and found their men. Now, they’ve gotta run to the three-point line and find their guy. It’s much harder than when you’re making them.”

It also affects the psyche of Michigan’s players on the defensive end when the shots aren’t going in, something May is looking to guard against the rest of the way.

“Unfortunately in today’s climate, there’s a lot more emotion through individual success, through your shot going in, than it needs to be if you’re going to be at a championship level,” May said earlier this week. ‘But we’ve even talked about, at this point in the season, the percentages are what they are. You can’t think about your percentages anymore.”

Regardless of how the season plays out from this point on, the former Michigan coach is impressed. The Wolverines went 8-24 last season, but May and Co. have turned things around quickly.

“Last place in the Big Ten last year. Last place!” Beilein said. “This is the biggest one-year change that Michigan has ever had. This is an amazing story that is not a bad one if they don’t win the championship. It’s just if they lose it and they can’t win it, they lose to Michigan State, it just takes some of that celebration out of what they’ve accomplished this year.”