WATCH: Dusty May, Michigan players react to exhibition game against Cincinnati

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Michigan Wolverines basketball head coach Dusty May, graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg and senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. met with the media following a 100-98 loss to Cincinnati in Friday’s exhibition opener. Watch video of May in the player at the top of the screen and the players in the embed below.

Key quotes from Michigan coach Dusty May

On his overall thoughts following Michigan’s exhibition: “Any time you have a chance to play in front of your home fans — and I want to shout out the students, they showed up for an exhibition game on a Friday night — you want to perform better and you want to lead with a win, but this is why we scheduled the game.

“We know a lot more about our team than we did two and a half hours ago, and Cincinnati was able to expose some things that we didn’t know if they were going to be weaknesses or not. And so, very happy that they came up here to play and we were able to learn probably more about our team than we thought we would going into it.”

On the lessons he learned about his Michigan team tonight: “The game is different every night, and I was optimistic that we would simply look around and realize we’re playing a big strong team and we were going to set the tone early.

“And the opposite happened where they threw their first 4 baskets, if I remember correctly, were on the offensive glass and that sets a different tone than you want and our vets have to do a better job of establishing that mindset early that we’re going to get hits, we’re going to find the ball and then get out in the open floor.

“We played against this set defense a lot in the first half, and we’d never practiced with some of those lineups before, but yeah, we just, we didn’t start the game like we needed to as far as the discipline piece of the game.”

On Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg exploding in the second half after a slow start: “Yaxel was anxious to play in front of our fans in a Michigan uniform, but I think we saw glimpses of what he’s capable of.

“He’s a unique talent. I think that he left some stuff on the floor that he’s capable of, even with 12 rebounds. I think there’s going to be nights when he gets 18 or 20 if he’s really locked in.

“So, our standards for him are extremely high. But yeah, I think all of our fans saw what he’s capable of and, you know, we’ve got to continue to find different ways for him to be successful.”