For whatever reason, Michigan men’s basketball hasn’t been able to find consistency so far this season. They’ll go from winning a game by 35 points one week to scoring just 53 points the next. If Michigan wants to find some consistency, they’ll need to find a winning strategy of some sort and find it soon.
Here are three potential changes the Wolverines could make that might improve their chances of winning going forward.
Space out Jace Howard and Terrance Williams II’s minutes
I love watching both these men play for Michigan men’s basketball, and this is not meant as a dig at either of them.
Both Jace Howard and Terrance Williams II play basketball with a passion that this Michigan men’s basketball team needs in a significant way. In a sense, they represent everything college basketball is supposed to mean. It’s all about the love of the game.
Still, with all that said, coach Juwan Howard should never have these two playing simultaneously on the court. They both serve as valuable pieces of the team, and both are captains, but they also do the same function in terms of how they play on the court.
Both could be better on offense. To say so isn’t a breaking story, and most Michigan basketball fans are well aware of it at this point. On the year, Williams II and Howard are averaging 7.3 and 1.4 points per game respectively.
What they do bring to the team, however, is defense and rebounding. Not to mention, they both play a key leadership role on the team, one of the many reasons each was chosen as captain for this season.
Having as many stud defenders on the court as possible will always be a good idea. Still, if it creates a situation where you cannot score on offense, it might be time to make some changes.
While it isn’t the sole reason for Michigan’s inability to score their last outing versus Michigan State, it might be time for the Wolverines to look to make a change regarding who they have out on the court together.
Get Will Tschetter on the court
In a way, this one goes hand-in-hand with my last point. The more time Tschetter sees on the court, the less likely it is that Howard and Williams II will be on the court together.
It also helps, considering Tschetter is a much more offensive-oriented player. On the year, he averages around 6.5 minutes per game, and in those sparing minutes, he has found a way to average 2.1 points per game. He’s making his shots around 41.2 percent of the time and is more than capable of hitting the occasional 3-pointer.
In a typical year, Tschetter would have been an excellent piece to have coming off the bench during blowouts, and he’d be in the running to have a breakout junior season the year following. Unfortunately for Michigan, this is no longer a typical year.
The Wolverines are struggling, and it’s becoming abundantly clear that depth is the number one priority, considering how little there is.
Michigan men’s basketball needs to improve its depth issue and create more spacing on the offensive side of the ball. Getting Will Tschetter on the court could be a brilliant way of making that happen.
Find a way to get Joey Baker in the starting lineup
Historically, Michigan men’s basketball is at its best when they have an elite 3-point shooting specialist in the starting lineup.
During the 2020-21 season, Michigan had a slew of elite 3-point shooters, but none were better than senior star Isaiah Livers, who shot a whopping 43.1 percent from beyond the arc. What made that even more impressive was he shot around 5.0 3-pointers per game, 1.4 more than anyone else on the team. That year, the Wolverines would go on to compete in the NCAA Final Four.
Going back to the last time Michigan made it to the National Championship, during the 2017-18 season, players like Duncan Robinson and Mo Wagner had themselves breakout years beyond the arc. Robinson shot the ball behind the 3-point line 5 times per game and made around 38.4 percent, while Mo Wagner shot it 4.1 times, making 39.4 percent of his shots.
Now, you might be asking, who is that player for Michigan men’s basketball in 2023? Look no further than former Duke Blue Devil Joey Baker. Baker is shooting an incredible 44.7 percent on the year.
The only problem with this is he’s not on the court nearly enough and, in turn, can’t shoot the ball anywhere near the rate he could. On the year, Baker is averaging 14.5 minutes per game and only hitting 2.5 3-pointers per game. With an increase in minutes, I could easily see an up-tic in the Wolverines’ offense, and he would do wonders for spreading the court, allowing more space for Hunter Dickinson to do his thing down low.
Michigan and coach Howard want to win basketball games. The coaching staff is constantly thinking of new ways to help the team succeed, but if the Wolverines want to compete in the postseason this year, some significant changes will be needed.
Michigan men’s basketball returns to action this Thursday, January 12, at 7:00 p.m. EST versus the Iowa Hawkeyes.
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