Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's 102-50 win over La Salle

Opening Statement

Want to start by thanking you guys for being here. We have a good group, and then also our fans. Pretty cool to see a sellout. You look up, and there’s no empty seats. I think our guys don’t take that for granted. And regardless of how we’re playing, we take the responsibility of giving all that we have and play with maximum energy and intensity. And part of that is to honor our fans and all those that are watching us. So it was great to see our guys, especially in the second half, play with a lot of joy. And they played the game the way it’s supposed to be played for the most part.

On the defense to start the game

It got us going. I thought the second group, the first set of subs, we have eight or nine starters, whatever the case, guys that play starter minutes. But I thought that group of Roddy and those guys really ignited the press and got us going. And then once we got the game loosened up, because they were doing a nice job early. They were getting it over half. They were getting organized, burning five or eight seconds before they even initiated their offense.

And then we weren’t doing a good job of rebounding the long caroms. And so it was kind of a perfect storm. And by us getting them sped up a little bit, they weren’t able to control the tempo like they were in the first five minutes of the game.

On what analytics analyst Jacob Kohn brings to the program

He brings a number of things. He brings, first of all, with our staff. They’re all extremely different as far as personality traits and people. But they all share some of the things, as far as really wanting to add to the group, bring their secret sauce to the group. And Jacob is very, very talented in his field, much like all of our staff is. They’re very, very talented in certain areas.

And then they’re all growing, including myself, at the areas we’re not great at. So I think our staff as a whole, we all complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses well. And we work extremely well together. There’s not much silo. There aren’t any silos in our office space. We all value each other’s opinions. And we work well together. And I think we have a good understanding of what our strengths and weaknesses are. And so we just try to live in the strengths and develop our weaknesses. And a lot of that is having guys that do things well, not in your strengths. So very appreciative of those guys.

On why the three-point shot was falling

Well, we have good shooters. I was bothered in the offseason. It seemed like every article talked about how we couldn’t shoot. And we felt like we signed Trey and Winters and these guys that were good shooters. And Roddy Gayle, he went in the slump last year. You take the slump away, he was a good percentage shooter, shot well in practice. Yaxel just hadn’t shot volume.

And I think also the culture of work in our program. Our guys are in the gym working on their shooting. And usually over time, when you put in consistent, intentional work, then you’re rewarded. And LJ shooting the cover off of it, Trey came in and banged in a couple, which allowed us to separate a little bit. So I think we have really good shooters, but most importantly, we’re taking good shots, and we’re working together to generate good quality shots.

On what Trey McKenney, Elliot Cadeau and LJ Cason’s effort in the first half

Yeah, I thought they got out in transition. They made shots. Once again, we saw something defensively that we haven’t seen yet this year tonight. And we didn’t adjust that well early on. And our plan wasn’t great. I don’t think the plan that I had for them was that great.

But the guys did a really nice job adjusting on the fly and figuring out solutions to what they were doing. Hey, La Salle plays hard. Those guys are scrappy, they’re athletic, and they were excited to play. And so they did a really nice job, especially the first 10 minutes of the game. But I think our depth and our numbers and size was able to overwhelm them later on. But those three guys, they’re all three dynamic playmakers that can make shots. And so that’s going to present challenges for a lot of teams.

On how unusual to have the instincts McKenney has as a freshman

Yeah, I think first of all, he was coached well growing up in his travel programs and also his high school team. And then he played USA basketball. And usually, the USA basketball component is, in our staff’s opinion, a good indicator of being able to produce early because they played on teams with really good players when it wasn’t about them.

And there’s a few high schools that are like that where the winners played at one, where there’s a number of Division One players on his team. So he’s not getting all the shots, all the attention, all the everything. He has to figure out a way to bring what he does to a specially talented group. And so it’s the same thing with Trey. So I think all of those cumulative experiences, but also he’s just a really bright person and well-rounded individual. So that certainly helps.

But anyone that acts and behaves like our guys do, I’m going to give a lot of credit to their support system and their circle of parents and coaches and whatnot. And you guys have done something, right? I mean, we’ve tried to contribute the best we can. In our staff, they live it. They walk the walk every day. I mean, we’re all fighting for a team identity, and we have no personal agenda in our locker room. And that’s why we’ve been able to play the type of basketball we have over the last month.

On what sets McKenney apart as a shooter and the strength in his legs

That’s it. He’s got a great base. He works on his game. It comes out of his hand clean. And he can shoot it off the dribble, and he can shoot it off the catch. So those things all kind of rolled into one will allow him to be a very efficient basketball player for us.

On identifying things to work on during a blowout win

Well, we have a couple of days off and then obviously the rebounding. We knew La Salle was going to rebound like they did. That’s their identity. We spent most of this past eight days on ourselves. And so we’ll come back after break, and we’ll spend the first couple on ourselves. And then McNeese State is one of the better, I mean, they should be an NCAA tournament team. They’ve been top 50 KenPom and the metrics because they were able to go win some really good neutral site games against Atlantic 10 schools and whatnot. So those teams will present a number of challenges and maybe they aren’t the challenges that we’ll see in the Big Ten play because of size and strength and whatnot. But we’ll see a team like that.

If we continue to perform like we have, we’ll see a team very similar to McNeese and La Salle in the first round of the NCAA tournament. So we’ve got to be able to refer back to what we’re learning, but also just continuing to reinforce our pillars, our daily habits, and whatnot, and just work on getting better. Work on us because we’ve played well, but this team still has another gear that we can shift into and take it to another level. There’s no doubt.

On the team chemistry

To be honest, they came together chemistry-wise much quicker than most teams do, especially in this era where people are coming from different directions. And I think a lot of it is because when you come in with the accolades and the reputations that they have, and then they play unselfishly, it’s just a lot easier for those guys to work together. There’s magic in sharing and moving the ball and having guys that enjoy passing it.

And I’ve never been a part of a team as a young player, as a coach that had guys that enjoyed passing the ball, that didn’t have good team chemistry. And so that, in addition to just the simple mutual respect for each other’s games, we have some players that deserve a lot more minutes. And anytime you even try to have a conversation with them about it, they say, hey, I understand. We’re really talented. And so there’s a lot of sacrifice going on. And as long as we stay with that and we continue to share the ball and defend at a high level, we’ll like where we are when the time’s right.

On what else the team needs to do to get the number one ranking

We’re not worried about that. Obviously, I think Arizona’s number one. I don’t pay that close attention. I watched Arizona play last night. They’re very deserving. I think we’re deserving. I think, Iowa State, I think they’re deserving. So I don’t get into all that. I certainly respect anyone that votes someone else. We can’t control that. We can control how we play.

And anything that gives us a little bit more of an edge, we’ll take it. But we’re not concerned with that at all, not in the least. But if we’re number one in April, then we’ll be much more content than we are now.