Of course Dusty May wants to win the Big Ten regular-season title outright.
But even if that doesn’t happen, he fully understands the significance of clinching at least a share of the title, which his Michigan basketball team did with a 77-67 victory over Minnesota on Tuesday, Feb. 24, at Crisler Center.
It means his players – these players – many years from now will come back to Crisler and celebrate what they accomplished: Michigan’s first conference title (or at least a share, for now) since 2021.
“But I do know that something like this brings a group together,” he said. “I see the reunions when our guys come, when our former players here come back and you see the bond they have from doing something really difficult together.”
Difficult? For a team off to its best start in program history, at 26-2 overall and 16-1 in the Big Ten? For a team that just relinquished the No. 1 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Yes, difficult. Because the Wolverines clearly looked like they were suffering a letdown following their high-profile loss to then-No. 3, now-No. 1 Duke in Washington on Saturday. It showed in U-M’s strange struggles against the undermanned Golden Gophers (13-15, 6-11), whose rotation Tuesday featured just six players, with one playing a mere seven minutes.
U-M had a grueling trip to and from the nation’s capital, getting in late and getting home late while dealing with flight issues and illnesses. It showed up against the Blue Devils on Saturday and against the Gophers on Tuesday.
Minnesota’s 2-3 zone frustrated the Wolverines’ ability to get the ball in the hands of their elite bigs and forced them to commit a season-high 14 turnovers. Elliot Cadeau led U-M with 15 points, but Yaxel Lendeborg had just three points, part of just 19 points combined with Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara.
“And so there we did seem a bit slow these last couple games, just not as quick to the ball,” May said before he quickly pivoted to turning the struggle into a teaching moment for the struggle his team could likely encounter in the near future.
“And you know what? We might have weather issues going to the NCAA tournament,” he said. “We might have weather issues and whatever’s next. So that’s, we have to be good enough to overcome that on a given night.
“But yeah, I mean, we didn’t look our best. But you’re not always going to be at your best. And that’s, you know, we’ve been able to win the games when we haven’t had our best stuff. But I know this, the further we get into it, our guys have a different gear that they can kick into. And fortunately, L.J. [Cason] and Trey [McKenney] and Roddy [Gayle Jr.] will these guys off the bench can get it done when some of the other guys are still stuck in neutral.”
Neutral might be kind. Michigan looked like it was in reverse for a good chunk at the start of the game, surrendering the lead to the Golden Gophers several times.
The Wolverines finally pulled away late in the second half with much better shooting and penetration, punctuated by Cadeau’s head-fake and driving layup for a 70-52 lead with 5:21 left that drew a gasp from the sellout crowd of 12,707 that braved frigid temps for an 8:30 p.m. tip.
The Wolverines just need to win one of their last three games before the Big Ten tournament – at Illinois, at Iowa or the home finale against Michigan State – to clinch an outright conference title. But even if they lose them all, they’ll have accomplished something impressive; the burgeoning size of the conference makes the scale of the achievement all the greater. When ichigan last won the conference five years ago, the Big Ten had 14 teams. Now it has 18.
In just his second season at Michigan, May has his team matching the size and scope of the competition it faces in one of the country’s best conferences. That’s what brought fans out Tuesday night and what May wants to keep building on with regular, consistent winning. He already envisions families planning meals, or skipping them altogether, to come to Crisler.
“So I felt like two years in a row we can have some consistency and some expectations for them,” he said. “And so I think we’ve done our part. They’ve done more than their part. They’ve been here. They’ve been loud each game. Each game they’re more engaged in than the last.
“So yeah, we finish this thing this year and then I think even next year the crowds will be even better. They’ll be more energetic and they’ll be a much greater part of our success than they even are now, and we’re going to need them because we’re setting expectations high.”
It sure sounds like banners aren’t the only thing May wants to keep raising at Crisler Center.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
Next up: Fighting Illini
Matchup: No. 3 Michigan (26-2, 16-1) at No. 11 Illinois (22-6, 13-4).
Tipoff: 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 27; State Farm Center, Champaign, Illinois.
TV/radio: Fox; WCSX-FM (94.7).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Big Ten title is nice, but Dusty May eyeing more than banners
Reporting by Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
