Watch Michigan basketball practice ahead of NCAA Tournament matchup with UC San Diego

DENVER, Colo. — Michigan Wolverines basketball held an open practice in front of media and fans Wednesday evening at Ball Arena. Watch clips from the on-floor session below.

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Watch Michigan basketball practice

Before taking the floor, Michigan junior guard Tre Donaldson, junior forward/center Danny Wolf and graduate center Vladislav Goldin took the podium to speak with reporters. Here’s what they said.

Q. You’re kind of a popular pick to go down in the 5-12 game. Do you see that?

DANNY WOLF: Yeah, of course. I think that — I’ve been on the other side of this, so obviously last year with Yale when I was a 13 seed, obviously going into that game with a chip on your shoulder, so I understand their perspective.

But from our perspective we know what we’re capable of, we know how good we are. These last few weeks we’ve tried to block out all the outside noise and we’re going to try to do the same tomorrow. We know who’s in our locker room, who’s been with us the last 10 months, so that’s what we’re going to focus on, and that’s all we care about.

Q. All of you guys have had previous NCAA Tournament experience with your previous teams, so how does your approach differ or stay the same coming in with a new program in Michigan?

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: We all try to emphasize that it’s the biggest event in basketball, so it’s like, just take one game at a time and don’t try to overlook anything. Just enjoy the moment, play one game, and what’s going to happen happen.

TRE DONALDSON: Not just trying to focus on too much outside of our locker room, just controlling what we can control, and that’s our energy and effort. And if we can bring that every night we’re going to give ourselves a chance. So I think that’s the biggest thing, focusing on us and Michigan basketball.

DANNY WOLF: These guys hit it on the nail. We’ve all been in this position before, a lot of success in the locker room, the coaches, multiple Final Fours from players. We all know what it takes to win games in this environment, and if we just stay locked in on that and key in on the little things, you’ll put yourself in a good place.

Q. I know UC San Diego forces a lot of turnovers, especially steals. What have you seen from that aspect of their defense? I know it’s been a focal point for you guys all season. What did you like last weekend in a couple of those games where you guys did have lower turnover rates that you can apply to this matchup?

DANNY WOLF: Yeah, obviously UC San Diego is a great defensive team and their turnover percentage is I think top in the country and I think it’s top two in the field this year. They do a really good job at off-ball steals and forcing turnovers.

I think we did a much better job protecting the ball throughout the Big Ten Tournament. I know in the first game against Purdue we had six and then against Maryland we had a lot.

But these last few days in practice we’ve really just been focusing on ball security. We’re capable of it, and it’s not having the unforced turnovers. Yeah, UC San Diego is a well-coached team. Defensively they have great instincts and we know what we’re going up against. We just got to focus on ourselves in terms of that.

TRE DONALDSON: I would say just the flow of our offense, being able to catch the ball we want and get the ball we want and being able to dictate offensively, I think that’s a big thing for us being able to take care of the ball, not letting them run through passes, meeting passes.

Just little things offensively that will keep us from turning the ball over against their defense.

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: Just try and make a simple decision and not try to overcomplicate things.

Q. Can you speak to Nimari and Will’s impact on this season? You’re guys are all in your first year. You’ve known winning here, but they went through last season. How have they helped you three and the rest of the team get to this point?

TRE DONALDSON: I would say what it means to play at the University of Michigan. I feel like those two guys have embodied what it means to play at Michigan, and just being able to show us that and how to walk in that light when embodying this, I feel like that’s the biggest thing they’ve brought to our team. It’s a pride playing for Michigan, so just having that pride gives us that push and that urge to win and play for each other.

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: An example like them is helping a lot because they show us how we deal with that.

Q. Danny, have you stayed in contact with former teammates, coaching staff at Yale? What’s it like potentially playing them in the second round, and what’s been your impression of the Yale team this year?

DANNY WOLF: Yeah, first of all, I have nothing but amazing things to say about Yale, my teammates, my coaches. I had an unbelievable two years there.

Obviously could not be happier with their success this year. I was cheering along when they beat Princeton and Cornell in the tournament. When I was walking in here today I ran into a few of the coaches and support staff and then I saw a few of my teammates who I keep in contact with.

It put a big smile on my face to see all those guys because we had a really special year last year and the year before.

Obviously I’m not looking past UC San Diego because that’s all we’re focusing on right now, and if the opportunity presents itself to play Yale, we’re going to go at it head on and I’m going to put all that stuff aside and see them as another team. I have a lot of love for those guys, super proud of all of them, and yeah.

Q. Danny, another semi-Yale question, but is there any anything that, say, Yale and Michigan have in common as far as winning, figuring out how to win basketball games at such different kinds of schools?

DANNY WOLF: I mean, yeah. It’s two very storied basketball programs. Coach Jones, all he does is win. The last few years are examples of that.

They’ve gone to the tournament these last few years and we beat Auburn last year, and it was a pretty special moment for our team.

At Michigan, obviously last year didn’t go as anyone would have liked from a fan perspective, from a team perspective, and when we came into that year we knew what we had to do to kind of flip that page and bring Michigan back to success.

We’re one step closer to that, and we have a few big weeks ahead to kind of cement ourselves in Michigan basketball history. But Yale is a winning program. Michigan is a winning program, and it has been.

Simple answer is yes.

Q. Dusty said that you were one of the reasons you got your swagger back in the tournament, and you said that he had a sit-down or talk with you about your confidence and why he brought you here. Can you describe how that went and what he said to you?

TRE DONALDSON: It wasn’t necessarily what he said to me, it was just it wasn’t a long conversation, it was a quick conversation. It’s just to be Tre. That’s something I’ve lived by for a long time but I just got away from it. He wanted me to get back to it.

For this team to be at its best I have to play with confidence and play with my swagger. That’s when we are at our best. I get everybody going. And just continuing to do that, being that energy guy for this team. I feel like that’s the biggest thing that I was bringing.

No matter if it’s scoring the ball, defending, no matter what it is, I just have to bring that energy and that swagger, because that’s what I need to win. That’s what this team wants to do and that’s what this staff wants to do.

Q. For any of you guys, how do you feel like you’re translating the momentum and success you had in the Big Ten Tournament, whether it be tempering those emotions or trying to build on what you did there or kind of a mix in between?

TRE DONALDSON: I feel like the biggest thing is the Big Ten Tournament, being able to win it was great, but not getting too high, not getting too low.

Coming into the Big Ten Tournament we were coming off three tough losses, but our momentum and our energy coming into the Big Ten Tournament was big because we could have came in low, but we decided not to. Came in even keeled, neutral like Coach likes to say.

And after winning it and coming in now to play in the NCAA Tournament, we can’t be too high. We’ve just got to enjoy the Big Ten Tournament Championship at the end of the year, but right now we have to take care of business. So I can’t really look back on that. We just have to focus on the task at hand.

Q. Danny, you mentioned the Auburn win last year. You’ve kind of been on the other side of this. I was at that game. I saw the way they looked at you when they came on the floor. Maybe didn’t take you guys as seriously as they should have, and then you showed them how well you can play basketball. What lessons from that did you learn that you can apply this time? Because when you walk on the floor and see a bunch of guys 6’4″ to 6’7″ that don’t look like basketball players —

DANNY WOLF: First of all, they look like basketball players. They’re all one hell of a basketball player. I’m not discrediting UCSD at all. I made this a point to my teammates when we were watching film first against UC San Diego and I was trying to give them the other side of the — just our perspective was going into the tournament, and obviously we were the underdog and a very clear underdog, and Auburn just came off an SEC Tournament Championship.

So we knew that it was us against everyone, and we really just had to play with — we had to leave everything out there. We looked at Auburn and realized that the only thing that’s stopping us from beating is ourselves. We kind of went in with that mindset, and I’m sure that UC San Diego is coming with that same mindset.

I know that a lot of my teammates have won games in March Madness, some as underdogs, some as favorites. When you get to March, everyone is a really, really good basketball player. UC San Diego is one of six teams that’s won 30 games this year, so they’re doing something right. All they’re doing is winning right now.

We’ve just got to go into it knowing what we’re capable of and knowing if we play our best brand of basketball that we like our five, and just need to block out all that outside noise and give UC San Diego the credit that they deserve.

Q. Vlad you and Coach May enjoyed that ride with Florida Atlantic a couple years ago. How is it different this time not being the underdog and kind of being the hunted?

VLADISLAV GOLDIN: We tried to think that there is no underdog or any favorite, because as soon as you start thinking who’s underdog, who’s the favorite, you’re losing that reality, because everybody deserves to be here and it’s going to be a hell of a game no matter who plays who.

That’s how it was. March Madness has shown us so many good stories. Just to stay focused and don’t overthink who’s underdog, who’s favorite.

Q. Danny, what was your experience like the first time that you got to the tournament? Was it overwhelming? How long did it take you to get used to that environment while you were playing? How much of an advantage can it be for you guys in that Dusty and all you players have tournament experience?

DANNY WOLF: Yeah, I was talking with someone yesterday and they asked how it felt being here. I think the first thing that came to mind was just last year when we came to March Madness, it felt like a kid in a candy store. It was what you dreamed of, what we dreamt of our whole childhood, and we had buzzer beater to come to March Madness.

We were playing with house money. No one expected anything from us. They say the lights are brighter. When we walked into that gym the lights were bright and just the experience of it was our first time chartering as a team and all that went into it just made it a really special experience.

I think on the flipside this year it feels more like a business trip for us than it did last year at least, and we have really high expectations. We want to go to San Antonio. We know that we’re capable of doing that, and we’ve got to go one game at a time.

We’ve got a really good opponent coming up tomorrow night and I speak for the entire locker room at just how excited we are to be here. Not many teams get to be in March Madness and it’s a once in a lifetime experience. For us, we’re grateful that we get it a few times, and the second part of that, I think it just kind of helps us. We’ve been here before.

All the main guys have won games in the tournament or they’ve won major impactful games. We know what it takes. We know how every possession matters, what you should and shouldn’t do, the dos and the don’ts, and we’ve really got to focus on ourselves and try to block out all that outside noise.

We’re really excited to be here to say the least.

Q. Last weekend statistically all three games were a little bit different in terms of what you guys needed to do to win, but to go 3-0 and a couple days removed from it, what do you think you guys found or captured or recaptured as a team that allowed you guys to flip the script on the last couple weeks?

TRE DONALDSON: I would say our togetherness. It was just, like I said, coming into the Big Ten Tournament after three tough losses we were desperate for a win. Just getting our team camaraderie back, just being able to go and win big games like that, the Big Ten has prepared us for moments like this with different types of games, wins, losses, blowouts, close games, all that.

So I feel like it’s just prepared us for this time, and I feel like we have a very seasoned group that’ll be ready for anything that’s thrown at us come tomorrow night.

Q. Everybody asks Danny about last year’s game. What are your thoughts on Auburn and Yale and your memories of that?

TRE DONALDSON: I’m not going to really speak on it. It was a good game. Danny came out with the dub. But it’s all love for Auburn, but it is what it is. I can’t really share all my comments because people are entitled to their own opinion.