Brian Dutcher on Michigan basketball defense: ‘We couldn’t beat them’

Many knew Michigan basketball’s length this year should be a difference maker, especially on defense. We’d been waiting for it to really come together, though, and so had head coach Dusty May. 

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Monday night in Las Vegas was when it all materialized in a 94-54 win over San Diego State. Former U-M assistant Brian Dutcher’s team had beaten May and Florida Atlantic in the Final Four a few years back, but it had no chance against the Wolverines’ length.

“I think it’s safe to say Dusty May got his revenge against me [from] Florida Atlantic,” Dutcher quipped. “He took it out on me; took it out on all of us. Michigan’s got a very good team. Hats off to them.

“When you’re bad, you’re bad from the top-down and I’m the top. So, I didn’t have us ready to compete at that level against a very good team. I told them after the game that we can’t think one thing about Michigan when we walk out of the arena or we’ll have no chance to play against Oregon [today]. As much as it can serve as a learning experience, this is not the time to learn from it. It’s the time to put it behind us as quickly as we can, know that we’re good, get our swagger back up …”

But there was none of that against Michigan, at least not after the Aztecs ran to a 5-0 lead. The Wolverines dominated in every facet after that, leading by as many as 17 in the first half before settling for a 12-point edge at the break. They then broke it open in the second half by taking away the rim and the three-point line and making the Aztecs beat them with “tough twos.” 

The result — 26 percent inside the arc, 5 blocked shots, and several altered in the paint.

“We knew that’s what they’d be in, drop coverage. That’s what they do against everybody,” Dutcher said. “So, we had to get in there and make some plays. The hard thing is they’re in drop coverage, and because they’re so big they don’t help in. You think you can drive in and you kick out and get a shot, but they’re not helping. They’re leaving the big at the rim and they’re saying, ‘make as many mid-range twos as you can. We don’t think you can beat us with that.’

“They were proven correct tonight. We couldn’t beat them. We couldn’t get threes, because they weren’t helping a lot. They switch everything. So, they’re a talented defensive team.”

The success teams have had against the Wolverines this year was with the same game plan they tried to play, Dutcher noted … get into the mid-range area and try to make those shots.

“If you can’t, get on to the next thing and keep attacking until you find opportunity to score,” Dutcher continued. 

Not so easy, Aztecs guard Miles Byrd added.

“Most times when you’ve got taller dudes like that trying to guard wings, the main goal is to really just beat them off the dribble,” he said. “I thought they had a good mix of making us drive with [center Aday] Mara down low, clogging the paint. It’s not a lot of open shots to shoot. We definitely schemed for their size. We have some tall dudes that we threw on scout this week that kind of helped us prep for it, but it’s a little different when you’re on the court with it.

“It was just credit to Michigan. I think they came out, punched us in the mouth multiple times. They had 15 more rebounds than us as a team. That’s something we stressed a lot in practice. So, when we stress it in practice and we still come out and get outrebounded by 15, you’ve got to tip your cap to a team like that. That’s what they do. That’s what they take pride in, and they just played better than us tonight.”

And made just enough triples (11, 34 percent) to turn a comfortable win into an absolute blowout. As a result, Dutcher and his team fell to 2-2 while Michigan improved to 5-0. 

“They did a good job. They made more threes against us than they had made since the Oakland game, so they really shoot the ball well, too,” Dutcher said. “And that’s what we want them to do. We wanted to make them shoot three against us, contested.

“But obviously, they shot well and they even banked a few in. They shot well enough where everything started going.”

Keep that up, and this Michigan team will continue to be hard to beat.