Podcast: Ant Wright joins to talk Michigan-MSU, preview Big Ten Tournament
TheWolverine.com‘s Clayton Sayfie is joined by former Michigan basketball player Ant Wright to discuss Michigan Wolverines basketball‘s loss to Michigan State and preview the road ahead, including the Big Ten Tournament.
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Michigan got down big in the first half and trailed 50-28 at the break. The Wolverines clawed back and made it an 11-point game in the second half but ultimately fell by 17 points to Michigan State.
Wright gave his breakdown on what he saw.
“It felt like it was two very different levels of basketball,” Wright said of the beginning of the game, between Michigan and MSU. “The urgency … it was almost like you were being out-classed. Just out-classed, where you don’t really belong on the same court right now.
“Second half was interesting, because, yeah, I do think Michigan came out with a lot more purpose, for sure, but a lot of that was because Michigan State and Tom Izzo went to a lineup that they haven’t played in a couple months, and that was the let’s play one guard who’s not a point guard with four front court players. They did that in the non conference a ton. When Big Ten play started, especially in these bigger games, you never saw that lineup — ever, ever, ever.
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“When they did that, I’m like, ‘Oh, Tom Izzo is messing around right now.’ He’s trying to get some stuff on tape. That’s it. He’s just goofing off. When he went to that lineup, I just felt that Michigan felt, ‘OK, some things are in our favor right now,’ and what they did was, I think, three things.
“One, they simplified things. It was, ‘When you have a good shot, you take it.’ Stop passing up good shots to create, because that’s when it gets nasty with turnovers and all that. Two, [freshman guard] L.J. Cason, I’ve been really high on him this year. I think that I’m not sure if they should’ve benched him as much as they did earlier on [in the season]. I think if they rode him 15-plus to 20 minutes a game early on, you see a much different guard, because he’s the most confident guard right now who can dribble the basketball. He’s playing more confident than [junior] Tre [Donaldson] and all those guys. He’s not really seeing the shot go in, but that’s not affecting him from a mental standpoint; I think that’s super important. But he has some good minutes, too.
“And then three, Danny Wolf decided to just turn it on, and was like, ‘You know what, I’m just gonna be unguardable. I’m just gonna do what I do.’ Being able to score the ball at the rim, going to the basket, using his size, right? He wasn’t doing that finesse, fancy stuff. He was putting his head down, getting to the basket. Shooting open threes — and that’s what they need. Moving forward into the Big Ten Tournament and into the postseason, I think you just gotta go all in on Danny and [graduate center] Vlad[islav] Goldin. Those are the two guys that have been the most consistent — by far — this season.”
