Michigan won a 49-46 slobberknocker at Nebraska –– a place where road teams usually rot and wither –– on the same night when it averaged a horrifying 0.71 points per possession. It’s a staggeringly fitting feat for a Michigan club that’s somehow won eight of its last 10 games with an offense that ranks outside the top 130 nationally during that timespan, per Bart Torvik.
Unlike the first few months when the Danny Wolf-Vlad Goldin pick-and-roll deftly destroyed almost everything in its path when it wasn’t punting the ball out of bounds, Michigan’s offense is not putting on a masterclass these days.
Welcome to the dog days in one of the best-scouted leagues in the country.
Monday’s gritty three-point victory over the fightin’ Brice Williams‘ was historic in multiple facets. The 0.71 points per possession mark was the lowest offensive efficiency rating Michigan has ever had in a win in the internet era, dating back to 1997. Dusty May, who is deeply respected by his peers for building outstanding offenses, had never been that inefficient in a win throughout his six-year run at Florida Atlantic, but he certainly got some flashbacks to his Conference USA days.
“I want to shout out my good friends at North Texas who I battled with for six years,” May told reporters in the postgame press conference. “Coach (Grant) McCasland and Coach (Ross) Hodge are two of the best defensive coaches in the country year in, year out. We’ve played a lot of games like this. You’ve got to find a way to get a few in the hole and get to the line and when you do, you’ve gotta capitalize enough to win. It’s hard-fought. It’s tooth and nail. I think both teams had good looks down the stretch but you’ve exerted some much energy on the glass with the physicality that it’s not that easy to knock them down. I thought it was a legally physical game.”
May described Nebraska’s defense like putting a “safety underneath the rim in the charge circle.” That’s part of the ABCs of a Huskers’ defense that is terrific at limiting shot attempts at the rim. For the most part, it worked to slow down a Michigan team that’s made its money by bludgeoning teams at the rim with Goldin’s powerful jams and Wolf’s wizardly drives. Nebraska held Michigan to just 16 points at the rim which was easily the lowest mark of the season by a country mile.
“I thought their gameplan was excellent tonight to take away what we do well,” May said.
And yet, Michigan emerged with a monster victory to stay tied atop the Big Ten standings with Michigan State with four doozies to go. Wisconsin and Purdue aren’t quite dead yet, but this Big Ten title is almost exclusively a Mitten State battle between two hated in-state rivals.
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History says Michigan shouldn’t be in this position at all. The Wolverines’ offense ranks just ninth in efficiency in Big Ten play. That’s wildly pedestrian for a unit that had the 11th-best offense in the sport in December. Only one team in the last 15 years of Big Ten hoops has found its way to a ring with an offense rated in the bottom half of the league (2021-22 Wisconsin). Even with shots not dropping and the turnover bug not fully eradicated, Michigan has found ways to stack grimy wins on top of the next. Eleven of Michigan’s 13 Big Ten wins have come by six points or less.
This eroding offense can easily be explained by the barrage of 3s that just aren’t going in. Michigan is shooting just 28.7% from downtown in its last 10 games. That ranks 340th in the country, and it was just 5-for-27 from downtown against Nebraska.
If he’s worried, May doesn’t show it because the process is king despite offensive outcomes that remain less than ideal.
“Keep generating great shots,” May says.
