The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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36 THE WOLVERINE ❱ DECEMBER 2024 H ead coach Dusty May promised his first Michigan team would be competitive, setting high goals for his team despite last year's 8-24 record un- der Juwan Howard. His Wolverines have shown promise early, getting off to a 1-1 start in the regular season with a blowout win over Cleveland State in the Nov. 4 opener and a tight, 72-70 loss to Wake Forest in Greensboro, N.C., Nov. 10. U-M showed out on both ends of the floor in a 101-53 opening night win over the Vikings, shooting 68 percent from the field and holding CSU to 30 percent. The Wolverines played without gradu- ate guard and projected starter Rubin Jones (minor leg injury) and started ju- nior guards Tre Donaldson and Roddy Gayle Jr., graduate guard Nimari Burnett, junior forward Danny Wolf, and graduate center Vlad Goldin, but went nine deep in an elite showing. "Cleveland State is different from the other two teams we played [in the pre- season]," May said when asked about his team's defense. "They have downhill- driving athletes, and the first couple minutes of the game, they got into the paint. They made a couple tough shots. They banked in an 18-footer or whatnot. "I thought our guys then adjusted and kept their bodies in front of the basket- ball. They supported each other in the gaps. We were much more active off the ball than we had been up to this point, and sometimes you just need game reps to improve on weaknesses." Michigan nearly broke a record for field goal percentage in a game, finish- ing at 68.4 percent, just shy of the 69.2 percent mark set by the 1986 team versus Alaska-Anchorage. Wolf led all scorers with 19 points and posted a double-dou- ble with 13 rebounds. He was joined by Donaldson (16), redshirt junior forward Will Tschetter (15), frosh guard L.J. Ca- son (14) and Gayle (13) as players scoring in double figures. "You're trying to build to have the best habits by January, February and March when it really matters," May said. "As far as our unselfishness in sharing the ball, I would grade us at an A-. We have guys that enjoy passing the ball ... "For our team, I don't think anyone was hunting numbers. They were simply trying to take what the game gave them, and that's a good sign as long as we don't change. We should be able to score on most nights." They got off to a great start on the of- fensive end, too, in the loss to Wake For- est, jumping out to an early 13-point lead (25-12) in the first 12 minutes behind a pair of triples from Jones in his first game action of the year. The Demon Deacons chipped away, though, cutting it to four at the break, and took a lead early in the second half. They expanded it to six late, but U-M battled and had a chance to tie when Donaldson missed at the rim on a break. Wake Forest closed it out at the line ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Dusty May's Wolverines Get Off To A Solid Start Junior big man Danny Wolf led all scorers with 19 points and posted a double-double with 13 rebounds in the season-opening win against Cleveland State. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL