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ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It hasn’t been pretty as of late, with Michigan’s defense allowing teams to gash it inside.
Multiple players now have seen their best games come against the Wolverines, particular the bigs. Recently, Minnesota’s Daniel Oturu and Purdue’s Trevion Williams posted career bests. As did Iowa’s Luka Garza, who posted 44 points the last time Michigan saw him back in December.
But there wasn’t a problem back in December. There is now.
The maize and blue defensive attack went from being one of the best in the country all the way down to No. 40 in the KenPom ratings. Centers and forwards have, at times, seemingly had their way with the Wolverines, as they were matched up one-on-one with center Jon Teske. Ultimately, it’s led to either tight games or losses outright.
However, Michigan has become that much more effective in not allowing three-pointers, allowing 29% of attempts to be made (ranked 25th nationally), but teams aren’t even attempting to shoot from three much. The Wolverines are 12th in the country, with teams only attempting 16.2% of their shots to be from deep.
While the philosophy has shown its tangible drawbacks, the Wolverines are sticking with it. And guard C.J. Baird explains why he feels it’s the right choice.
“There’s a lot of emphasis in the one-on-one, that coverage, and if you look at our defense, obviously you have the one guy in the post guarding their big man and everybody’s glued to the perimeter guys,” Baird said. “Kalscheur, for example, against Minnesota, I think he only hit one three. He’s one of the best shooters in the Big Ten, at least percentage-wise, besides (Purdue guard Sasha) Stefanovic.
“That emphasis for us has really helped us stay out of rotations, keeping confusion out of our defense. I think there are some growing pains with it – it’s a completely different style than last year, but I do believe as the season goes on, we’ll be more adjusted to it. And as you can see, we’re taking away three-pointers at a really good rate right now. I hoping that can continue as we go on into Big Ten season.”
And, with Iowa coming up on Friday night, boasting a big man in Luka Garza, who already put up a career-high 44 points against center Jon Teske in a lopsided Wolverines victory, what’s to stop him from doing the same thing over again, this time in Iowa City?
Head coach Juwan Howard is aware of Teske’s recent struggles defensively, but says it’s not all on him. It’s a team effort.
“In practice, we’ve worked extremely hard to get better at overall defense and not just the post,” Howard said. “Yes, it’s easy to point out Jon, because Garza, as well as Oturu, Kobi and – Williams – they all had big games, and it’s like, ‘Jon’s not getting the job done. Jon’s not defending them.’ Well, no, Michigan, as a team defensively, we could do a better job defensively. It’s not just relied on one individual.”
So, the question is, if all the players are on an island, if one is struggling, how does the defense just ‘get better?’
Baird points to specific techniques that allows each player to be aggressive without fouling that could allow them to improve as they get more acclimated to the new system.
“There are some stuff, especially when we talked about fouling earlier, that’s one of the main things that can really get people going,” Baird said. “Guys that are struggling can see the ball go through the rim on a free throw. Guarding one-on-one without fouling is probably one of the hardest things to do in basketball, and I’d say, in my opinion, the post is one of the hardest things to do in basketball. But there are some certain things you can do technique-wise, where you can say, ‘Look at the technique. This will help you in this situation.’ Or: ‘Make sure you keep your foot planted here and stay down on a second jumper.’ You’re not fouling. There’s a lot of stuff that goes into technique, especially in the one-on-one defense that you can improve upon rather than just saying: ‘Be better.’”
Michigan takes on Iowa on Friday night at 9PM EST in Iowa City. The game will be broadcast nationally on FS1.