Michigan basketball's defense an emphasis as it prepares for 2022-23

Michigan men’s basketball has the same lofty goals it does every year. It wants to compete for a Big Ten Championship and make a run in the NCAA Tournament. But that will be tough to pull off if it does not improve on the defensive end of the floor.

The Wolverines had plenty of struggles last season on defense, finishing 74th on KenPom in efficiency allowing 97.2 points per 100 possessions. That was a major dropoff from the 2020-21 Elite Eight team, who finished 4th (87.9).

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Michigan is hammering defense hard in camp, and should inherently be better with some of the pieces on the roster. Coming into the season, KenPom rates them 53rd. It needs to be better than that.

“I wasn’t too happy with the defensive numbers last year,” head coach Juwan Howard said at the team’s media day last week.. “And that’s something that I don’t take and give all the blame to the players. You know, I’m the first person and there’s something that I can do a lot better to prepare them, whether it’s defensive schemes, teaching, the technique and also with preparation.”

It seemed like whenever Michigan would fix something on defense, something else would lag. One game they would get torched from the perimeter, the other they could not get a stop down low. Every team in the Big Ten presents its own challenges, but U-M can go a long way in fixing itself by better communication on the defensive end of the floor.

“Absolutely, positively we have to become better communicators,” associate head coach Phil Martelli said. “But it is insisted on. You’re not getting into a game unless you communicate.

“Probably our depth will help us be a (better) defensive team. There are a lot of guys, there are just options. When there were two freshmen in that top seven guys, they’re going to bump on defense. Now there are young guys in this group, but when you take a young guy like Jett, and he’s on the floor, and then an old guy Joey.

“Joey has more defensive experience than Jett, so I think the depth and the insistence from the staff that we will communicate. Not communicate like, ‘oh wow, they’re doing a great job communicating and it’s a home game.’ We have to communicate to a level that will win in East Lansing. To a level that will win in Charlotte against Carolina.”

Michigan wants to be more aggressive on defense, but Howard stopped short of spilling the secrets on what is to come next.

“It’s always about growing and growing on the offensive end as well as the defensive end,” Howard answered. “We will continue to keep working and we will put the work in today.”