Michigan basketball has a lot riding on Terrance Williams II's big offseason

Michigan Wolverines basketball junior forward Terrance Williams II can play multiple positions on offense and guard the same spots on the other end of the floor. Coming off the bench the last two seasons, he added a spark in several games and helped lift the Maize and Blue to victory. He “impacts winning,” his coaches have said, and no stat exemplifies that better than his his 52.9 three-point shooting percentage in wins compared to 11.1 in losses last season.

While he’s certainly given Michigan a boost in the past, consistency has been an issue. However, if he doesn’t show up, it hasn’t always been the end of the world for the Wolverines. They had other options most of the time, shown by the fact that he’s started just one of his 52 career contests and averaged 11.9 minutes per outing over two years.

Now, sophomores-to-be Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate have entered the NBA Draft process. Both retained their eligibility when declaring and could return (they have until June 1 to decide), but if one or both go through with taking the leap to the next level, Williams’ role will increase, and fast. And both may leave at this point, with Diabate set to participate in the NBA Draft Combine and Houstan declining his invite. The latter’s unusual choice has some speculating he’s received a guarantee to be picked by an NBA team.

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Michigan could — and likely will — look to the transfer portal for help on the wing if one or both players departed Michigan for good, but it’s hard to predict how that will shake out. Either way, a lot will hinge on Williams and how he progresses this offseason, since he’s a potential starter come November.

A year ago, Williams proved he could turn offseason work into production on the floor. He lost 10 pounds, upped his conditioning and improved his jump shot. He averaged 4.7 points and 2.4 rebounds per game, while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from long range in 2022.

“I feel like it definitely came to life last season,” Williams said of his hard work paying off, discussing with host Brian Boesch on the Defend The Block podcast. “I moved way better this year, I maintained around 220 to 218 [pounds], so conditioning-wise, I was way better. I was able to play more minutes than I could’ve last year. I would get tired, but this year I didn’t get tired much.

“Even with my three-point shooting last year, I did improve a lot, but I feel I need to be more consistent with that, so that’s something I can always work on.

“All this offseason work is for me and what I need to work on and get better at so that during the season it can show like it did last year.

“I gained way more confidence, and that’s just with playing more, getting more minutes, putting the work in I do. I trust my work, I trust what I do during the season — during workouts and the offseason work I put in. It’s really just mentally focusing and locking in on yourself, and I feel like I did that this year and that’s why my confidence went up.”

Regardless of what happens with Michigan’s NBA decisions, Williams is planning to take on more of an on-ball role this coming campaign. He ran just 14 ball-screen possessions last season, but will see more of those in the future. Between guards DeVante’ Jones, Eli Brooks and Frankie Collins, Michigan is tasked with replacing 85.8 percent of its ball-screen usage from last year. Incoming point guard and Princeton transfer Jaelin Llewellyn has thrived in pick-and-roll situations in the past, but he didn’t run a high volume with the Tigers, and the Wolverines can’t count on just one guy to shoulder the load.

“On the offensive end, I would say being more consistent with my threes,” the Michigan forward said of his areas of focus. “A lot of ball-handling. I’m going to do a lot of ball-screen action this offseason, just creating whenever the time is needed. 

“On the defensive end, I just want to be able to guard ‘1’ through ‘5.’ That comes with a lot of mobility, because my hips are tight. I’m going to start doing yoga, I’m stretching a lot. [Head strength and conditioning] Coach Sandman [Jon Sanderson] is going to start working my lower-body strength, as well as my upper-body strength, so I can bang with bigs, as well as guards.”

In a sport so focused on skill, it’s not an easy task to improve those areas while working on being able to play multiple positions, Williams continued.

“It’s very challenging, but I feel like I can do it if I put my mind to it,” the Michigan junior said. “Just the workouts I go through, I do a lot of upper-body strength to bang with the bigs, bang with the ‘4’s and the ‘5’s, even with the ‘3’s, but you also have to be mobile to hang with the guards when we switch.

“It’s just more incorporating everything in a workout — not just working on one thing. Not just working on lower body, not just working on upper body — throughout the whole entire workout, you touch on each part of the body you need to work on, and I’m doing that this spring and summer with Coach Sandman. It’s definitely going to be a good spring and summer.”