Michigan basketball knows it can't afford to take McNeese State lightly
Juwan Howard is itching to get back on the basketball court following Michigan basketball's 106-101 loss to Florida on Dec. 19.
The Wolverines (6-6) went on holiday break following that game and will have 10 days off before hosting McNeese State on Friday night. The Michigan head coach said while his holiday was great because players could visit home, he could spend time with his family and watch his son Jett play for the Orlando Magic, he could not stop thinking about the double-overtime loss.
"Unfortunately for us, it left a sour taste in our mouth after losing the game to Florida," Howard said. "You had time over the break to think about it and I know for me, I thought about it every day, every hour on the hour."
Howard said players are feeling "refreshed and ready to go" for its final nonconference game of the regular season before beginning the two-month grind of the Big Ten schedule.
Michigan is looking to avoid a letdown before the start of conference play after showing struggles against non-Power Five teams in the past. Last year, U-M lost its final nonconference game this time of year on a last-second 3 to Central Michigan. This season, the Wolverines fell at home to Long Beach State for their first loss this season.
"We don't look at the name of the jerseys (or) if a team is in a Power Five conference or not," Howard said. "We have been there before where we've played teams that are not in the Power Five conferences and they've given us trouble. We are not going to take any team lightly."
McNeese State, led by former LSU head coach Will Wade, has opened the season 10-2, including a five-game winning streak. The Cowboys have not played a Power Five team to this point — their best win coming over VCU (No. 88 in KenPomeroy's rankings) in their season opener.
McNeese generates 41% of their points from 3-point range and shoots 38.9% from deep, 19th-best in the country. They have three guards that average double digits in scoring — Shahada Wells (18.5 points per game), Christian Shumate (12.3) and DJ Richards (11.7).
The Cowboys are third in the country in scoring defense (57.8 points allowed per game) and employ a multitude of different defensive coverages including a matchup zone and 1-3-1 zone in the halfcourt along with man-to-man, as well as both man and zone full-court pressure looks. It's a similar defense to what Wade used at LSU when he and Howard last met in the second round of the 2021 NCAA tournament.
"It will be important for us to take care of the basketball (and) at the same time be patient offensively where we can try to get some rim attacks," Howard said. "Lastly, I will say at the end of the day, don't try to live by the jump shot. There's going to be moments where we will get some open looks but let's put emphasis on getting finishes at the rim."
Hints at more depth
Along with giving Howard something to gnaw on for over a week, the holiday break also gave more time for Michigan players returning from injury to continue to improve and find their footing and for young players to continue developing.
U-M has primarily stuck to a seven-man rotation featuring Will Tschetter and Tray Jackson in the frontcourt, while giving some minutes to Jaelin Llewellyn in the backcourt as he returns from injury. The tight rotation has led to four Michigan starters, Dug McDaniel, Olivier Nkamhoua, Terrance Williams II and Nimari Burnett, to average over 30 minutes per game.
Howard declined to provide an update on the status of his other son, Jace, who is recovering from a knee injury, but said the health Llewellyn and Youssef Khayat off the bench will be an important factor to the second half of the season. Llewellyn has appeared in the last four games after returning from a torn ACL, while Khayat is dealing with an ankle injury that has sidelined him for six games.
"Jaelin's health is always going to the key and then when it comes to Yo-Yo (Khayat's nickname), (it's) his health as well," Howard said. "Unfortunately, we haven't had a healthy Yo-Yo yet, but we're looking forward to seeing that this next run that we're going to have starting tomorrow."
Howard also mentioned freshman guard George Washington III as another player who is showing strides in practice after taking some time to find his footing at the collegiate level. Washington has appeared in five games, never playing more than five minutes, but is garnering attention for staying true to his role and being a "gym rat" by constantly working on his game.
"George Washington is a Michigan man and he's going to help us win ballgames throughout the season," Howard said.
Next up: Cowboys
Matchup: No. 1 Michigan (13-0) vs. No. 4 Alabama (12-1), CFP semifinal.
Kickoff: 5:10 p.m. Jan. 1; Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California.
TV/radio: ESPN; WXYT-FM (97.1), WTKA-AM (1050).
Line: Wolverines by 11/2.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball knows it can't take McNeese State lightly
