Growing Pains: Michigan MBB Still Figuring Itself Out

Michigan men’s basketball (1-1) took its first loss at the hands of Wake Forest on Sunday, 72-70. The Wolverines held a lead for a majority of the game, but it slipped away in the second half. 

Growing Pains for Michigan MBB

Nearly every player on the Michigan roster is new, whether they came from the transfer portal or high school. Head coach Dusty May spoke with the media on Monday and said the players are still getting used to each other. 

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“We don’t know our team well enough (and) our team doesn’t know us well enough,” May said. “When I say well enough (I mean) to compete at a championship level right now. It’s November, so our job as coaches is to figure out solutions for our problems. Some things we know, you just don’t know the extent of it.”

Michigan had 16 turnovers in the season opener and still won. Against Wake Forest, 16 turnovers was a few too many. May said it’s on both the players and coaches to clean it up. 

“We probably tried to do it a little bit too much individually,” May said. “The most disappointing part was the plays. We spent so much time on our concepts, and it seemed like under those adverse conditions we didn’t do the things that we’ve practiced a lot. And that’s on us as coaches that it wasn’t hammered home to an extent where we can do it in the most stressful situations.”

Where’s Goldin?

7-foot-1 center Vlad Goldin played for May at FAU prior to joining Michigan. Goldin averaged a double-double last season, and coming into this season he was named to the Abdul-Jabbar Award preseason watch list. 

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Through the first two games, Goldin has a total of ten points, seven rebounds and three blocks. If Michigan is going to compete on a national level this season, Goldin will likely need to have much more of an impact. May said the coaches could help, but Goldin also has to be more aggressive. 

“It’s a combination of the staff being more intentional to get him some touches, keep him in the flow, (and) our players looking more for him when he’s done the work,” May said. “Some of its been schemes. We’ve tried to attack in different ways, and once we’ve lost our flow it hurts him the most because (the other teams) not broken down. The other thing is, when he has position, he’s got to demand the basketball.”

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