How Michigan basketball broke Minnesota's zone to beat Gophers
Not only did Michigan basketball have to come down from the emotional highs and lows of traveling to Washington, D.C., to face Duke over the weekend, in a game that ended up being ESPN’s most highly-rated college basketball regular-season game in seven years, but it also had to contend with a Minnesota team that was a stylistic mismatch.
The Wolverines want to run and gun, get the ball inside, move fast, get fast-break points, and control the tempo of the game in a more of a speedy way. However, Minnesota, shorthanded as it was, wanted to do the opposite, and that it did.
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With a mixture of slowing the game down and deploying a two-three zone, the maize and blue struggled to get into much of a rhythm on Tuesday evening. While there were physical mismatches, including Aday Mara and Morez Johnson down low, attacking the paint wasn’t quite as simple as it may be in other games. Thus, the Wolverines were going to need to hit from the perimeter in order to put the game in their favor.
Among those who hit some big shots from outside the arc was true freshman Trey McKenney, who hit two key 3s midway through the second half to help lift Michigan above Minnesota for good after a back-and-forth affair. After the game, he spoke about what the Gophers did to slow the Wolverines and why it worked for a time.
“I just think the zone, it really slowed our tempo down,” McKenney said. “I think we wanted to play a high-tempo game, but tonight just wasn’t the night for that. I think we made shots when we had to, so that was the biggest thing.”
With the two-three zone defending the vaunted Wolverine offense, it certainly caused some frustration for the maize and blue. So, in-game, how did Michigan try to break the zone and get the game back into its favor?
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“I would say really just trying to get advantages, two-on-one,” McKenney said. “Heading down, open 3s, or getting into the middle, and finding Aday and Rez in the paint.”
Michigan went 9-for-18 from 3 in the second half, putting a ton of pressure on the Gophers to match — something that they were unable to do, despite shooting above 30% from 3 in the game overall. Though Cade Tyson was 50% from deep, his prowess couldn’t touch McKenney and Cason late in the game, as they combined for four-straight 3s to put the game out of reach.
That 12-2 run ended up being the difference in the game, and McKenney says that the team was ready to find a way, given all of the work they do on shooting from downtown.
“Yeah, I mean, all of our guys, we’re in the gym, working on our games, and getting a lot of reps up from the 3-point line,” McKenney said. “So I think when they do that, we have the confidence to knock them down.”
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Up next, the maize and blue will face Illinois in Champaign on Saturday with a chance to clinch the Big Ten outright after having won a share of the conference title on Tuesday.
This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Wolverines react to breaking Minnesota zone, hot hands from 3