Even with breakout game, Michigan's Aday Mara 'just scratching the surface'

DETROIT – The Michigan Wolverines moved past the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 85-84 in overtime on Tuesday night, led in large part by junior center Aday Mara, who was a force of nature in the victory.

Mara finished the night with 18 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks and altered several more shots at the rim. He was plus-17 on the night in 37 minutes, and the Wolverines got everything they could have asked from him and more.

So how do you prepare for a 7-foot-3, rim-protecting big man that does not even need to leave his feet to make an impact?

“Get the badmintons out, I think. Anybody ever play badminton?” Wake Forest head coach Steve Forbes said after the game. “You don’t. You can’t emulate that in practice. You can’t really tell how tall he is until you sit out there and you walk out there. That’s why I didn’t come out for warm-ups; I didn’t want to see him. I stayed in the back.

“I don’t know. You can’t. I mean, I’ve done that [with badminton] in the past. I didn’t do it this time. A long time ago, I think I was at A&M, and we played Syracuse in the tournament; they had the zone. We’d stand there with badmintons. I think pickleball is overtaking badminton now, so I don’t know if anybody even has a badminton racket anymore. I digress.”

Despite Michigan’s size advantage, Wake Forest held up on the boards, only getting outrebounded 50-43 in the game and having a 24-19 advantage in the second half. The Deacons did their part, but Mara was too much for them to overcome.

“Last year, they took advantage of our ball screen coverage and they had the personnel to do it,” Michigan head coach Dusty May said after the game. “They had Efton Reid and he was just wiping Vlad out. They didn’t have the mass to wipe Aday out on his drops and so his rim protection, I thought, was probably the difference in the game.

“We forced a team that doesn’t want to shoot a lot of floaters and tough middies into floaters and tough middies because our guards’ ability to sit down and defend on the perimeter. I thought our gap coverage improved as the game went on. And so, without a doubt, we’re much more equipped to win a Big Ten game today than we were yesterday because of the schedule.” 

May has not been shy about challenging his players, and Mara’s ability to guard at each level has been a push from the Michigan staff. The Wolverines got everything it could have asked for and more out of its starting center.

“I’m going to give Aday credit,” May said. “The last couple of games, he struggled guarding on the perimeter. The opposition bigs had their way with us. Even in practice, he struggled in that regard. The staff has challenged him. I thought he did an A-plus job, without looking at the film, an A-plus job of contesting threes. He blocked a couple of them. He defended the drives. 

“[Wake Forest’s Tre’Von] Spillers, man, he’s quick. He’s got some game. He cut him off. He used his size, his length, and challenged the shots. Spillers is a borderline all-league guy. He could be an All-ACC guy. For him to be able to sit down and keep his body in front of him, that’s very, very refreshing going forward.

“I didn’t think he could play that much. He’s capable of a lot. He’s just scratching the surface, man. Obviously, his stat line is impressive. He made so many more invisible plays and changed so many shots.”