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WATCH: Michigan coach Dusty May previews Purdue, discusses Vladislav Goldin, 'fixing problems,' more

clayton-sayfieby:Clayton Sayfie•01/20/25•

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Dusty May
Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May led his team to an overtime victory over Northwestern. (Photo by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May met with the media Monday morning to preview Friday’s game at Purdue and discuss his team. Watch video of the press conference below.

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Michigan head coach Dusty May

“Excited for the opportunity coming up this Friday at Purdue,” the Michigan coach said in his opening statement. “Obviously, great venue. It’ll be a great environment against one of the best programs in the country. So it’ll be a good barometer for us to see where we are, going on the road to play the Boilers.”

Michigan graduate center Vladislav Goldin has made 9 three-pointers this season, after not even attempting any in the first 118 games of his career. He made 3 against Northwestern, helping lift the offense when it was struggling early in the 80-76 overtime victory. May was asked how comfortable he is with those looks.

“To be honest, step-in threes … I thought we turned down a lot as a group yesterday,” May said. “As far as offensively, we’re searching for a rhythm and a decision-making process that the decisions are made before the catch. Last night, I thought the ball stuck a lot.

“I thought we caught and looked for our own game. There are going to be a lot of opportunities for Vlad to shoot threes, because 5s gravitate towards the rim. And so the decision making piece will be big, and even when we’re playing with Vlad in that delay spot, that trail spot of looking for the actions, looking for the cutters and then if they’re not there, then falling into some isolation drives and some different levels of creation.

“We’re all still learning each other, and diving into different roles at a deeper level. I wasn’t happy with our flow last night, but as far as Vlad shooting threes, if it’s a step-in three and he’s open, he’s gonna make it more than 1 out of 3 opportunities — and that’s good enough to shoot it.”

According to Kenpom, Michigan has had the easiest Big Ten schedule to this point, but it’s about to get much more challenging, starting Friday at Purdue. The Wolverines have several days in between games, which will help the preparation.

“We’re taking today off; hopefully the guys stay away as much as possible,” May said. “And then tomorrow, get back after it with a real, solid plan for what we’re gonna see and what we need to do. This is one of our longer breaks of the season. This is the most prep time we’ll have, so we’ll work on us, we’ll work on Purdue. And at this time of the year, you’re trying to fix problems, because the teams in our league, the coaching in our league is so good that they find some holes in what you do, and now we have to counter that and continue to get better.”

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