The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1513253
40 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2024 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL tember heart surgery, and strength coach Jon Sanderson (who did not make the trip to Iowa Dec. 10) were reportedly being investigated by the athletics department. The Athletic's Brendan Quinn reported that according to a university official with direct knowledge, a confrontation between the two the week before the Iowa contest (a 90-80 Michigan win) was being explored and "going through a university review process." It is university procedure, Quinn re- ported, for such a review to be conducted outside of the athletics department. "Worth noting: Howard remains un- der a zero-tolerance policy instituted by U-M after striking a Wisconsin assistant coach in February 2022," Quinn added. Sanderson has been considered one of the best strength coaches in the business since arriving at Michigan in 2009. He is the only one in his profession to both play in a Final Four (Ohio State, 1999) and coach in one, having done it twice (2013 and 2018). — Chris Balas OLIVIER NKAMHOUA: 'WE HAVE TO KEEP FIGHTING AND GETTING BETTER' U-M forward Olivier Nkamhoua made his way to Ann Arbor to help be a part of a turnaround and get the team back to the NCAA Tournament. So far, a 5-5 start to the season has put a damper on those plans. But there is still plenty of basketball to play, and nobody in that locker room is looking to mail it in or call it a season. Big Ten play is a nightly chance to grab wins that can add to your résumé, and the Wolverines took advantage of a huge one at Iowa to snap a three-game losing streak. "[We have to] focus on the fact that right now we've lost one-possession games that have all been down to the wire," Nkamhoua said ahead of the team's 90-80 win over the Hawkeyes in Iowa City on Dec. 10. "We've been in all those games and [are] just understand- ing of the fact that it is important to play hard. It is important to follow the game plan, but it is also important to just be better in those moments at the end of the game. "When you're up six with five min- utes left in the clock and then give up back-to-back buckets and let the other team tie the game up, [we have to] focus on trying to be better, trying to learn from mistakes, but also understanding that it's not the end of the world." The group is still looking to find con- sistency and is committed to going back into the lab to fix the late-game woes that have plagued them. Nkamhoua hopes that he can keep setting that tone for Michigan. At the end of the day, it will take a complete buy-in from everyone to han- dle the task of turning around a Mich- igan season that has been marked by inconsistency. "That doesn't go for just one or two guys, or four guys … because if four guys are doing what they need to do and one person gets back cut, it doesn't matter that the four guys are doing what they needed to do," Nkamhoua said. "It takes discipline from every single person that steps onto the court. It's simple, but that's what makes it hard." The native of Finland feels that as long as the team stays together and has a burning desire to win, these early-sea- son struggles will turn into success after tough lessons are learned. "As long as we have guys in the locker room that want to win and want to do the right things, that are play- ing for each other, this is going to turn around," Nkamhoua said. "We have what it takes to win a lot of games. We have what it takes to be a very com- petitive team. I have no doubts about that, and I'm going to keep saying the same thing whether we go on a 10- game losing streak or a 20-game win- ning streak. "We're going to have our highs and we're going to have our lows, and we have to keep fighting and getting better and improving through anything that we go through, all the bumps on the road. I told everybody before the season started that every single team we face is going to have to prove to us that they're better than us. "That goes the other way around, too. Every single team we face, we're going to have to prove to them that we're bet- ter than them." — Anthony Broome Grad transfer Olivier Nkamhoua leads U-M in rebounding (7.1 per game) and is second on the squad in scoring (16.5 points per game) through the team's first 10 games of the season. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL