The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1510053
[ 2023-24 BASKETBALL PREVIEW ] NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 37 at those ACLs, this is about the time. There's no benchmark. I'm not giving a date. We are anxious for him." At shooting guard, Burnett — a for- mer four-star, top-40 prospect out of Chicago — comes to U-M after a year at Texas Tech and two at Alabama. He's joined by freshman Washington, the Gatorade Player of the Year in Ohio, and both have been shooting the ball ex- tremely well in practice. Burnett is known more for his defen- sive abilities, but he'll have the ability to play with the ball some this year. Wash- ington could be a zone buster, but he's striving for more than that in Year 1. He knows there's a role for a shooter, and he wants to be that guy and more. "The biggest thing for me is figuring out what does and doesn't work at this level," Washington said. "What defend- ers are looking for, what's being baited, what's not. Right now, those are the fastest things. "I've been making a lot better reads coming off a ball screen and reading the low man, reading if that defender helps over, who he's leaving, who's sliding back up. That comes from a lot of film, a lot of getting in with our coaches and go- ing over play by play to make sure I'm improving." Burnett shot 32.1 percent on 84 three- point attempts with the Crimson Tide last season. Twenty-two of his 27 triples came in catch-and-shoot situations a year ago, according to Synergy. "Nimari Burnett is making a lot of shots," Martelli praised. "George Wash- ington can make a lot of shots, and Will Tschetter can make a lot of shots. [Senior] Terrance Williams II is shooting the ball really well. We have to keep looking for that go-to guy, though, because he has to have the courage and the willingness to miss the shot." Williams has lost good weight and worked on his form in the offseason, to the point he could be a reliable option on the wing. He shot 38.5 percent from long range in 2021-22 but his accuracy dropped to 25 percent last season while averaging 6.1 points per game. "He went home and whoever he worked with changed his shooting form. He is a much more confident, willing and able shooter right now," Martelli said. "We have to see how it all fits together. He might be a bigger small forward. He has changed his form and dedicated himself to that form. He has stayed consistent." Sophomore wing Youssef Khayat hopes to be a bigger part of the rotation this year after playing sparingly last year, and ju- nior Jace Howard brings energy when he's on the floor and will compete for min- NOVEMBER 2023 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 37 PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL THEY SAID IT "Defense is going to be our strong suit, our identity. You can't win games without playing defense. Last year showed … I think we were the most skilled team I've ever been on offensively, but we struggled defensively, and that's why we didn't make the tournament. These guys, they're great defenders, and we've all embraced that. You can't win games without playing good defense. That's our identity." — Junior guard JACE HOWARD "He's the OG, and he's only been here since July 1. He's very vocal, and he has a deep voice so you hear him. He's cerebral and intentional. He's here for a reason. He's not here to play his fifth year of college basketball. He's here to win big in college basketball. I've been blown away." — Associate head coach Phil Martelli on graduate for- ward Olivier Nkamhoua (via HoopsU) "We're so excited for what he's going to bring to the University of Michigan, and I think Olivier has done a great job of immersing himself into the Michigan culture. He brings a great deal of leadership. He has been tremendous in terms of using his voice in the locker room, but also balancing the concept of learning our new system, our new culture, and we're really excited he's on our team." — Assistant coach Saddi Washington on graduate for- ward Olivier Nkamhoua "I love that. I love that a lot, because ex- pectations are low, and I think we're going to rise. I know we're going to rise. I'm excited about this group, especially because we have a lot of similarities in the fact that we're all hungry, we're all hungry to do it together. We're going to show a lot of toughness throughout the year in those situations when we are in close games. With the experience that we have and the places that a lot of us have been, we're going to come and bring that to this year, together, and really write the narrative the way that it should be." — Graduate guard Nimari Burnett on Michigan being picked 11th in the Big Ten preseason media poll "A quote that [associate head] Coach [Phil] Mar- telli has given us is, 'score and a stop.' That's going to be big for us, getting on both ends of the floor, score, get a bucket, and then come back on the other end and get a stop. That's how you wear teams down, you keep attacking them on both ends of the floor — you keep scor- ing, you keep stopping them from scoring. It's a 40-minute game." — Graduate forward Olivier Nkamhoua "As long as my family is comfort- able with it, I can keep doing this. And as long as [head coach] Juwan [Howard] and the rest of the staff feel like I can make us 1 percent better every day, then this is what I'll do." — Associate head coach Phil Martelli, 69 years old, on his future in coaching "He's great. He's a worker. He wants to learn; he wants to get better. George is an incredible shooter." — Assistant coach Saddi Washington on freshman guard George Washington III, while appearing on the "Defend The Block" podcast