Michigan looking to keep Tre Donaldson fresh, lessen drop-off when he's on bench: 'It's apparent how much he means to us'

Tre Donaldson only has one speed. The Michigan Wolverines basketball junior point guard plays fast with the ball in his hands, and he chooses spots to gamble to create disruption on defense.

The Tallahassee, Fla., native has been a huge piece for Michigan this season, after transferring in from Auburn. He’s averaging 13 points and 4.3 assists per game, and shooting 52.6 percent from inside the arc and 41.3 percent from beyond the long line.

There’s been a massive drop-off when he’s off the floor, with Michigan relying on a non-traditional point guard in graduate Rubin Jones or a freshman in Justin Pippen to lead the offense while Donaldson gets a breather.

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According to CBB Analytics, Michigan shoots a 55.3 effective field goal percentage with Donaldson on the floor, compared to 48.6 when he’s on the bench during Big Ten play. The Wolverines are turning the ball over on 16 percent of possessions with Donaldson, 24.7 percent without.

The Wolverines have only had 86 minutes against Big Ten opponents without Donaldson, with the guard averaging 33.7 minutes per game in the conference season. Michigan is trying to find ways to mitigate the drop-off when he’s off the floor, as well as give him some mini breaks when he’s on it.

“We’re trying to be creative,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said. “I think it’s apparent how much he means to us, and so we’re continuing to try to find ways to get him some breathers by moving him off the ball, where he doesn’t have to bring it up and initiate offense. Maybe he can get it back in his hands after everyone’s involved and he hasn’t had to do much up until that point. Continue to use the media timeouts for his breaks.”

The Wolverines have junior forward/center Danny Wolf as a primary creator, taking some of the load off of Donaldson’s plate.

Donaldson had an incredible first half in a 70-67 win over Indiana Saturday in Bloomington, posting 14 points and 3 assists. In the second half, however, he registered 4 points on 2-of-8 shooting and no assists with 2 turnovers. Michigan’s big men took over to lead the team to a victory down the stretch.

“Each game is a little bit different, but he played an incredible first half of basketball, and I’m sure fatigue caused a little bit of the second-half performance to be not quite as great,” May noted.

“I think it’s getting incrementally better. Each night, he performs well, for a little longer duration than he did the game before.”

When asked if Michigan could use its own timeouts for rest, May said it’s more about limiting the minutes of running the show than anything.

“This is just my opinion: I don’t think it’s as much physical fatigue as mental fatigue,” the head coach explained. “I think just playing 40 minutes, or 37 minutes, with extreme focus and concentration is more difficult than him running the floor and being in a stance and cutting for 37 minutes or whatever the case.”

Dusty May pleased with Rubin Jones’ performance against Indiana

Junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. has the third-highest usage rate on Michigan’s team (21.6 percent), behind Wolf (25.1) and graduate center Vladislav Goldin (24.9). He was in the starting lineup all season until being replaced by Jones Saturday at Indiana.

Jones is a much lower usage player (12.1 percent of possessions) and is a “connector” on offense, allowing Michigan’s top three players — Donaldson, Wolf and Goldin — to play off of each other more.

May is happy with how the offense worked with Jones in the starting lineup, particularly in the first half, when Michigan scored 1.3 points per possession, before Indiana went to a zone for much of the second stanza.

“I thought Rubin Jones made a lot of really nice complementary plays,” May noted. “When you look at our baskets, and you go back and just isolate our good possessions, I thought he had a real role, a real key role in all of them, whether it was screening, a quick swing, whatever the case. He seemed to just function well, especially the first few minutes of the game.

“And then Roddy, I still think he’s gonna have a breakthrough. He got four, five feet around the rim, it just didn’t drop. He continues to make big free throws down the stretch.”