Michigan just keeps rolling. The idea that the Wolverines are simply peaking early in the season is rapidly losing steam, because they didn’t even play their best game against Villanova and still exited with an 89-61 win.
The Wolverines didn’t play poorly by any means, in fact, they took a 53-23 lead into halftime. Rather, they simply weren’t hitting their shots at the same clip that they have been for the past few weeks. But that almost makes Tuesday night’s win more impressive.
They aren’t a team reliant on making all of their shots all of the time — though it certainly doesn’t hurt — instead, they are a team that prides itself on defense, energy, and pace. They can control those three things, night in and night out.
Here are five key takeaways from Michigan’s win over the Wildcats…
Elliot Cadeau Shows Off Scoring Chops
The Wolverines aren’t particularly reliant on one singular scorer, which is a good thing. Seemingly each game, someone new steps up and has a nice performance shooting the basketball. So far, junior guard Elliot Cadeau hasn’t needed to do much scoring, but he stepped up Tuesday night.
He finished the game with 18 points and four assists, shooting 7-for-13 from the field and 4-for-8 from deep. Cadeau scored 15 of his points in the first half, which isn’t surprising given he only played nine minutes in the second half.
Throughout his college career, Cadeau has never been much of a shooter. In his two years at North Carolina, he shot just 29% from three, but through his nine games as a Wolverine, he’s shooting 39.5% on higher volume.
Michigan won’t always need Cadeau to score, but if he can continue to improve his outside shooting, it’s a massive bonus.
There’s No Fall Off With Bench Unit
When head coach Dusty May takes his starters out of the game, there’s almost no drop in effectiveness. Against Villanova, May put his subs in the game, and they tore off a 15-0 run to make the score 39-16.
Senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. provides an immediate spark on both sides of the ball, and freshman guard Trey McKenney brings a consistent 3-point threat. L.J. Cason has vastly improved his playmaking and has turned into quite a nice backup point guard, and graduate forward Will Tschetter brings leadership, energy, and an outside scoring threat.
Michigan has plenty of top-end talent, but when the starters aren’t on the court, it is still able to place immense amounts of pressure on the opponent.
Michigan Dictates The Pace
Villanova plays at one of the slowest paces in the country. Its games generally feature longer possessions and less transition play, taking an average of 18.5 seconds per possession. Michigan, however, plays at one of the fastest paces in the country, taking just 14.8 seconds per possession.
On Tuesday, the Wolverines made the Wildcats play much faster than they wanted to.
Michigan’s constant pressure on defense and willingness to run in transition on offense set the tone early, and Villanova fell into the trap: It tried to match the Wolverines’ tempo. Michigan forced the Wildcats out of their comfort zone, and it paid off, as they were never truly able to find a rhythm.
Michigan Won Without The 3-Point Shot
Over the last few weeks, Michigan had been making 3-pointers at a near unsustainable level, shooting a combined 44% in its last three games. Against the Wildcats, though, the Wolverines came back to reality a bit — and even over-corrected — shooting just 9-for-33 (27.3%) from behind the arc.
Yet, Michigan still won in dominant fashion. The 3-point shot is undoubtedly a nice thing to have working, but the Wolverines have established their identity as a paint-dominant team. In the first half alone, they outscored Villanova in the paint by a ridiculous 30-to-2 margin. Even if Michigan isn’t shooting the ball at a great clip, it still can find ways to dominate.
Crashing The Boards
Another thing that the Wildcats were known for was their ability to class the offensive glass. Coming into Tuesday night’s contest, they averaged 15.6 offensive boards per game. Against Michigan, they came away with six.
The Wolverines’ size and physicality was overpowering, and they were able to limit Villanova to one shot a possession. In the game as a whole, Michigan dominated the rebounding battle as well, collecting 53 rebounds to the Wildcats’ 33.
Michigan’s ability to snag rebounds is no small part of its early-season success. Especially moving into Big Ten play, whichever team wins the rebound battle puts itself in a better position to win and can dictate the way the game is played.
The Wolverines have been quite good at crashing the glass this season, just as they’ve been good at just about everything on the basketball court, and it has all combined to fuel their dominant start to the season.
