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A new type of test
The next time Michigan basketball takes the court, it will represent a different type of test.
The No. 19 Wolverines travel to Minneapolis for Thursday’s clash at “the barn” against Minnesota the league’s doormat thus far in 2024-25.
While conventional wisdom would lead one to believe U-M (13-3, 5-0 Big Ten) should handle this game with little trouble, coach Dusty May has been around the block one too many times to think about this game any more or any less than any other league game.
Instead, he’s implored to his team that it must approach the game the same way they have the first five league games; all against teams with winning records, many of whom like UCLA and Wisconsin had designs on competing for league supremacy.
“Hope that they’re keeping level head and as excited to play this game as they would if Minnesota was 6-0,” May said of the expectation for his team’s. “Just turn on a game, (Minnesota) has had some tough breaks…played well enough to win several games, just the margin is small for really all of us.”
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It’s been even smaller for Ben Johnson (no, not the Lions’ offensive coordinator) and his Gophers who after starting the year 5-1 have dropped eight of their past 11 games to fall below .500.
Frankly, there’s not much Minnesota (8-9, 0-6 Big Ten) does well. As a team the Gophers are No. 97 in turnover rate (16.2%), No. 170 in 2-point shooting (51.0%), No. 233 from long range (32.2%), No. 201 in overall effective field-goal rate (50.2) and are particularly bad from the free-throw line (63.3%), No. 350 nationally.
Fifth-year forward Dawson Garcia is back for a third season in Minneapolis and putting up big numbers at 18.6 points and 7.3 rebounds on 49.0% field goals and 36.9% from long range, but Minnesota only has two other players averaging better than eight points per game.
That’s senior Mike Mitchell, putting up 11.3 points per game on impressive long-range shooting (41.0%) and Charlotte fifth-year transfer Lu’Cye Patterson; though his 10.6 points per have has been rather inefficient shooting just 33.2% from the floor and 25.3% from long range.
On the other side of the ball, Minnesota is No. 82 in 2-point defense (47.9%), No. 95 in defensive efficiency (102.0), No. 112 in effective field goals against (48.9); numbers which likely should be better considering it’s the ninth most experienced roster by age (average D-1 experience of 3.04 years).
As for Michigan, May wants his team to focus on itself and not get too far ahead as it starts to climb in the polls or as its winning streak extends near half a dozen games. Besides, U-M has its own minor concerns, like the healthy of Danny Wolf who appeared to tweak his ankle in the Wolverines’ 91-75 victory against Washington over the weekend.
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The expectation is he will play, though it’s too soon to say one way or the other.
“As of now, just day by day,” May clarified of his status Monday. “He came back in and squeezed off a three, so he seemed fine a couple minutes later.”
While the Wolverines have showed to be impressive in road games, going a perfect 3-0 as an away team against Wisconsin, USC and UCLA all three of U-M’s losses have come outside of Crisler Center, just all in neutral sites: vs. Arkansas in NYC, vs. Wake Forest in Greensboro, North Carolina or vs. Oklahoma in Charlotte.
May said teams need defense and rebounding to travel on the road, two things U-M has done well ranked No. 30 in offensive rebounding (35.8%), and No. 18 in defensive efficiency (94.8).
This time, Michigan will also need to bring the right mentality and not overlook a team that led Purdue and Maryland on the road in the second half and pushed Ohio State to double overtime before losing by 1.
“(Minnesota is) a good basketball team that just hasn’t found ways to win,” May said. “If we don’t go up there with the mindset that it’s going to be 40 minutes of fight, intensity and us having to play really, really well, then we’re going to walk out of there with a loss.”
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
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