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Watch Michigan basketball practice ahead of Sweet 16 clash with Auburn

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•03/27/25•

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Vladislav Goldin Michigan practice
Michigan Wolverines basketball practice ahead of the Sweet 16 against Auburn. (Photo by Clayton Sayfie / TheWolverine.com)

ATLANTA, Ga. — Michigan Wolverines basketball took the practice floor at State Farm Arena and opened the first 15 minutes to media Thursday morning ahead of Friday night’s NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 clash with Auburn. Watch video of the practice session below.

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Michigan basketball practice

Michigan head coach Dusty May is optimistic about his group heading into the second weekend of the tournament. The Maize and Blue sputtered at the end of the regular season but have won five in a row in the postseason. He can feel his group coming together at the right time, even though a tough challenge awaits in Auburn, the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament.

“There’s a point in everyone’s season where you look on the court and you see a group of guys that are consumed with one thing: winning only,” May noted on Monday’s ‘Inside Michigan Basketball’ radio show.

“And sometimes, that’s early in the season, and then the outside noise, distractions or personal ambition will derail teams that are playing great basketball and it’s going well for everyone. But the outside noise can really impact a team.

“And sometimes, you don’t really have that until the very end, and then you just catch fire and it’s like a wildfire, where then it just keeps growing and growing and growing — because it didn’t happen too early, but it happened at just the right time. 

“So we’re optimistic that our flow is happening at just the right time.”

May was pleased with the way his team locked in on the key points of the game plan in wins over UC San Diego and Texas A&M last weekend.

“I think we have a group of competitors,” the Michigan coach said. “I heard this years ago — and I don’t know where I heard it from or where I read it — but competitors figure out a way to win because they want to win.

“When you have competitors in the locker room and you simplify the message that all this other stuff is important, but that the game is really going to come down to this one thing, unless we just have an outlier of a game, good or bad — it’s gonna come down to rebounding. So, when we have a singular focus and we’re determined to find a way to win, I think there’s such a heightened awareness for our guys to get that job done.

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