The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1530730
JANUARY 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 33 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL was looking for from his twin towers. They combined for 44 points (Goldin 24, Wolf 20), and Wolf "wowed" with his passing and drives and finishes. "Early in the season, they were trying to figure out ways to stay out of each other's way," May said in his postgame interview. "Just recently, we've tweaked a few things, and they've just been a lot more aware of what's working, what's not and how they can play off each other. "Our ball screen angles have been much better. Danny simplified his game, and he's playing at an exceptionally high rate offensively. He's guarding the ball … our individual defense was probably the difference down the stretch [against Wisconsin]." Wolf and Goldin were the difference on offense, and Badgers head coach Greg Gard lamented not being able to do anything with the two Michigan bigs. "Goldin and Wolf at the rim," he said when asked for the difference in the game. "Goldin went 7 for 9, Wolf goes 4 for 6. It was at the rim. We didn't do a good job of handling that. We still ended up with them under a point per possession, 67 on 70 possessions. Even with that, we were able to negate most of their threes and make them have to go to twos … the first time all year they've done that. They did a good job of that, taking advantage of that. … "When they did the big-to-big pick and roll, we didn't get under the roller well enough. Wolf hit the one three in the second half, but in order to keep the ball in front of us, they do a really good job of seven feet to seven feet. When you have a seven-footer that can handle the ball and throw it over the top, you have to prevent the roll coming downhill." They couldn't, and May and Co. es- caped with a rare win in Madison. U-M was next slated to play Okla- homa at the Jumpman Invitational Dec. 18 in Charlotte, N.C. U-M SHOWS GRIT IN FORT MYERS TIP-OFF TITLE The Wolverines played in their first nonconference tournament of the Dusty May era in the Fort Myers Tip-Off event in Florida during the week of Thanks- giving. Michigan walked out as the last team standing, taking down both Vir- ginia Tech and No. 22 Xavier in the two- game bracket. The 75-63 win over Virginia Tech saw U-M fall into a bit of a hole early, down at one point 21-10 in the first half before its defense got them back into the game and sparked the offensive resurgence that allowed them to surge the rest of the day. "I feel like we answered a lot of ques- tions and had a good time," said junior Roddy Gayle Jr., who had a season-high ❱ 2024-25 Michigan Men's Basketball Schedule Date Opponent (TV) Result/Time Nov. 4 Cleveland State W, 101-53 Nov. 10 vs. Wake Forest* L, 72-20 Nov. 15 TCU W, 76-64 Nov. 18 Miami (Ohio)# W, 94-67 Nov. 21 Tarleton State W, 72-49 Nov. 25 vs. Virginia Tech## W, 75-63 Nov. 27 vs. Xavier## W, 78-53 Dec. 3 at Wisconsin W, 67-64 Dec. 7 Iowa W, 85-83 Dec. 10 vs. Arkansas% L, 89-87 Dec. 18 vs. Oklahoma^ (ESPN2) 9 p.m. Dec. 22 Purdue Fort Wayne (B1G+) 1 p.m. Dec. 29 Western Kentucky (BTN) 8 p.m. Jan. 4 at USC (FOX) 8 p.m. Jan. 7 at UCLA (Peacock) 10 p.m. Jan. 12 Washington (BTN) 2 p.m. Jan. 16 at Minnesota (FS1) 7 p.m. Jan. 19 Northwestern (BTN) 2 p.m. Jan. 24 at Purdue (FOX) 8 p.m. Jan. 27 Penn State (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Feb. 1 at Rutgers (FOX) 3:30 p.m. Feb. 5 Oregon (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Feb. 8 at Indiana (CBS) 1 p.m. Feb. 11 Purdue (Peacock) 7 p.m. Feb. 16 at Ohio State (CBS) 1 p.m. Feb. 21 Michigan State (FOX) 8 p.m. Feb. 24 at Nebraska (FS1) 8 p.m. Feb. 27 Rutgers (Peacock) 9 p.m. Mar. 2 Illinois (CBS) 3:45 p.m. Mar. 5 Maryland (BTN) 6:30 p.m. Mar. 9 at Michigan State (CBS) 12 p.m. Mar. 12-16 Big Ten Tournament** TBD All times Eastern; * Deacon-Wolverine Challenge at Greensboro, N.C.; # Fort Myers Tip-Off on-campus matchup; ## Fort Myers Tip-Off at Fort Myers, Fla.; % at New York City; ^ at Charlotte, N.C.; ** at Indianapolis Head coach Dusty May's first U-M team stormed out to an 8-2 record through mid-December, including a 2-0 start in the Big Ten. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL