After winning the Fort Myers Tip-Off, the Michigan men’s basketball team begins Big Ten play with a road contest at No. 15 Wisconsin on Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET, Peacock).
The Badgers have earned eight wins in as many games to start the season, including claiming the Greenbrier Tip-Off against UCF and Pitt. They’re led by John Tonje, a Missouri transfer who the Wolverines saw in the 2022 NCAA Tournament when he was at Colorado State. A 6-foot-6 wing, Tonje is averaging 22.9 points while shooting 42% from deep and boasting a 61.3 effective field goal percentage.
Michigan head coach Dusty May met with the media on Monday afternoon to preview the Badgers. Here’s what he said:
Dusty May’s opening statement
We’re excited to start Big Ten play after where we played our best basketball down in Florida, especially against Xavier. We showed what we’re capable of doing when we’re not turning the basketball over. And so we’re excited to see where we stand against one of the best teams in the country on the road this early, but it’ll be a great test.
Dusty May’s impressions of the Wisconsin Badgers
They have a really unique mix of downhill drivers that get to the line and convert at the line better than anyone else in the country. Their post guys can shoot it. They can score one-on-one after the dust settles, but they’re really, really efficient as passers, which I think gives the cutters even more confidence to cut, the shooters even more space.
And so it’s going to be fun because they play the game the right way. They’re playing with great tempo. They share the basketball. They live in their strengths. Hats off to Coach Gard. I don’t think anyone expected them to be where they are right now, but they’ve done a nice job and they’re obviously playing extremely well together.
Dusty May on what still needs to improve for Michigan
There’s a number of things that we need to improve on. The glaring improvements need to be on the defensive glass. We have to rebound the ball better on the defensive end, especially with our size. It’s not as if that should be a weakness for us.
I don’t think anyone’s unaware of our turnover rate and we have to do a better job. Some of it have been bad fortune. We get two offensive goaltends where we’re active on the glass and you tip it in. Some things just kind of happen. Or we get an offensive rebound and we get bumped and lose our balance because maybe it’s a freshman or whatever the case.
It looks worse than it is. We do think we’re a lot closer to cleaning it up than some teams in this situation, and it’s not as if we don’t have what we need to get it fixed. We have good guard play. We have steady wings. We have bigs who are good decision makers and ball handlers as well. We think we’ll get it fixed.
We’ve tried some different things in practice. We’ve been really focused on it the last several weeks, and to see us not turn it over against Xavier is a good sign. We think we have a really smart group so we should be able to get this fixed.
Dusty May on how much credit Mike Boynton deserves for the Michigan defense
Coach Boynton’s done a great job. The implementation, it’s been in bits and pieces. It’s been nuggets and when you see it come together, obviously it’s been layered properly.
But most importantly, it’s our players. They’re fighting like crazy. They’re giving great effort. They’re communicating better. They’re moving. They’re staying intense for longer periods. It’s been a lot of work by a lot of people and now we get a chance to see where it stacks up against an elite offense.
Dusty May on what his Big Ten background taught him about playing at the Kohl Center
You know how tough it is to win at Wisconsin and how infrequently teams win there. But as far as anything else, it’s been a long time. The game’s changed a lot. Personnel’s changed. Coaches have changed. Everything’s changed.
We’ve leaned on Roddy Gayle in some of these situations, and the returners here, about what they remember about playing Wisconsin, what they remember about playing at Wisconsin and things like that. It’s a cumulative effort. As far as my experience at Indiana, nothing more than just sitting in the first row thinking, ‘Man, this is very daunting’ at times.
But we built this roster to be in position to win games like this. We’re confident, yet excited.
Dusty May on Michigan football’s win over Ohio State, and Buckeye transfer Roddy Gayle Jr.’s reaction to that
In the group chat, there was definitely a reaction from Roddy Gayle. He’s a Wolverine, so he was excited about that.
And what an inspiring performance by that group to go on the road in that situation against a team that’s stacked with talent — obviously, they’ve played at a very high level this year. And for us to go in and be consumed with winning and doing it together like they did, it was an inspiring performance by our football team.
