DENVER — The Michigan Wolverines made a surprising run to win the Big Ten Tournament last weekend, but their reward was the No. 5 seed in the South Region and a trip West to play at altitude.
Michigan (26-9) will face No. 4 seed Texas A&M (23-10) in Saturday’s second round with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. The Wolverines are playing their fifth high-intensity game in eight days against a team that has played just once in the same span.
“It’s tough, obviously, the mental component, the emotional fatigue of playing in one-possession games like we have for so long, on so many nights,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “The way we ended our season, I think, was five games in 14 days, three games in three days. This day in between feels like a vacation compared to what we feel right now.”
“It’s a disadvantage. The flipside of it is as we’re playing ball, we’re hooping every couple days, we found a good rhythm. We’ll probably choose to go at it from that direction.”
Michigan has shown resolve over the last eight days, beating Maryland at the buzzer in the Big Ten tournament semifinals and recovering from losing a 15-point lead to beat UC San Diego 68-65 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.
The Wolverines also survived foul trouble from their 7-foot-1 leading scorer, Vladislav Goldin (16.6 points per game), to beat the Tritons. His two free throws with 20 seconds left gave Michigan a three-point lead, and their other 7-footer, Danny Wolf, played strong defense on the last shot attempt.
Even with two big men in the middle, the Wolverines will be challenged to negate Texas A&M’s ability to rebound, especially on the offensive end where it ranks first in the nation (16.0 per game). The Aggies are fifth overall in total rebounds (41.1) despite not boasting a 7-footer in the rotation.
“It’s obviously point No. 1 on the scouting report,” May said. “We have a couple of flaws that we don’t do well on. There’s a heightened awareness to fix it or you’re going home.”
The Aggies are led by guards Wade Taylor IV, who is averaging 15.7 points a game, and Zhuric Phelps (13.8). They also play tough defense, and it could lead to creating turnovers against Michigan, which has been vulnerable in that area.
“We know they turn the ball over a lot; we plan to capitalize off that,” Texas A&M senior guard Manny Obaseki said. “It’s just about our foundation, staying true to what we do, being ourselves, staying disciplined, and being really good at shrinking the floor. I think if we do those things, we’ll be just fine.”
The teams have not met this season but have seven opponents in common. The Wolverines are 5-4 in those games while Texas A&M is 7-1, and it gives both squads a starting point in scouting each other.
“There’s a lot of things that you’re trying to digest to try to see if there’s trends, not only in the common opponents but in the last five games, in league play,” Aggies coach Buzz Williams said. “I thought it was the best place to start.”
–Michael Kelly, Field Level Media
