The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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34 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2025 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL 20 points against the Hokies. "As far as Michigan basketball, I feel like the narrative was that we were soft. And I feel like we were able to answer that question and rise up to the challenge and show that we have some toughness. "Even like some of these past games, being realistic and having criticism for ourselves, I feel like after that Wake Forest game and even games where we weren't able to defensively get going pretty well … I would say to myself, like, 'We're playing weak,' so I feel like we were able to rise to that challenge against a very physical team." May's style inherently lends itself to fi- nesse labels given the pace the team plays with in addition to the volume of shots it takes from three-point range. But he saw his group answer the call when the shots were not falling and needed to play physically to claw back toward a win. "We shoot a lot of threes," May said. "We play in space. We err on play- ing with freedom and confidence and sometimes with that, you want the game to loosen up in a certain way. And when teams don't allow it to be that way, you've got to meet the challenge with physicality, with aggression on the glass. And I thought our guys did that. "Yes, there have been people who have implied that we're not the toughest team. And one of our sayings in-house is the only difference in criticism and feedback is how it's received. That's how people feel. That doesn't change how we feel, but we are aware that there are some things we have to get better at and ad- just through. We're so big, we shouldn't get outrebounded by these teams. We all know that. But sometimes we're in dif- ferent positions than we've been. "Overall, we have a group that wants to get better and they compete at a high level. So, it's not bad for us to have that in our locker room as a little bit of a care for motivation." U-M's second game in Fort Myers, a 78-53 blowout over previously unbeaten Xavier was wire-to-wire dominance that saw the team take care of business on both ends of the floor. "That was an extremely gritty per- formance, especially defensively against a Xavier program that we have the ut- most respect for," May said after the win. "Sean Miller is one of the best coaches in our game. They're a veteran group, and this wasn't their best game, but a lot of that, I think, did have to do with our size and our tenacity on the defensive end. "We were as active as we've been. We were as physical as we've been, and it's a good starting point for us as we have a long season in front of us and a lot of room to grow. Hats off to our guys. They fought like warriors tonight." The defense has been the strongest aspect of the team through its early stretch of games, sitting at No. 15 in the country on KenPom as of Dec. 12. That is a strength May hopes to maintain. "We think to be a championship level of the program — and we're a long way from that — you have to be sound on both sides of the basketball," May said. "Cer- tain nights your defense has to carry you; other nights your offense can carry the load. I thought we defended the first half. "We feel like we defended even better than the score indicated. But even us botching the last 30 seconds of the half, us not capitalizing on the free throws, just shows how we still have a lot, a lot of room for growth." The need for more improvement in the Michigan program is an emphasis, and U-M is not resting on any one per- formance as being satisfied. "Coach May said in the locker room, [we have] big-time games right around the corner, and getting to play in envi- ronments like these where games really matter, and you build habits late game, down the stretch," Wolf said. "It was a back-and-forth game I think mid- way through the second half, and guys stepped up, Will Tschetter got a few big- time offensive rebounds and found guys and it felt like those threes were going in. "Just being able to get those late- game situations that you can't get in practice … it's just very exciting," the Yale transfer said. — Anthony Broome Redshirt senior forward Will Tschetter has scored in double figures four times in the first 10 games, including back-to-back 13-point performances against Iowa and Arkansas. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL