Michigan’s Akeem Miskdeen Explains What Gave Wolverines Trouble Against Minnesota
Michigan Wolverines assistant basketball coach Akeem Miskdeen broke down their first-half struggles against Minnesota, and how they adjusted.
The Michigan Wolverines men's basketball squad) bounced back from a tough loss to Duke with a 10-point win over Minnesota on Tuesday night, but the Golden Gophers didn't make it easy for them.
No. 3 Michigan (26-2, 16-1 Big Ten) staggered into halftime with a narrow four-point lead over unranked Minnesota, mainly due to seven turnovers in the first half. The Gophers forced the Wolverines to take longer-distance shots than they wanted, due to their collapsing 2-3 defense that disrupted the paint. Michigan had to adjust, and L.J. Cason and Trey McKenney stepped up, combining for 26 points off the bench as Michigan stormed ahead in the second half.
Wolverines assistant coach Akeem Miskdeen, filling in for head coach Dusty May, reacted to the hard-earned win in the newest Coffee With The Coach interview on 94.7 WCSX. Miskdeen called Minnesota slow, and meant it as a compliment, crediting the Gophers for pulling the Wolverines into their style of game in the first half.
"They're one of the slowest teams in the country, so they dictated tempo," Miskdeen said. "We couldn't get offensive rebounds. They did a good job of blocking out. They took away our transition. They didn't send anybody to the glass. If you look at our defense rebounding, we got every defensive rebound. So, we were trying to just make shots. They did a good job of collapsing in the lane, so it was hard to get our big guys the ball. So we wanted to stay confident and make some shots and get open ones, and we got a bunch of open shots."
It was a valiant effort by Minnesota, which held Michigan big man Yaxel Lendeborg to just three points on the night, his lowest scoring output of the season so far. But at the end of the day, Michigan is too deep and talented for a team like Minnesota to keep quiet for 40 full minutes.
The Wolverines will look to continue their winning ways Friday night, when they have a critical road matchup against No. 10 Illinois (22-6, 13-4 Big Ten). A victory would be a big help toward getting the Wolverines closer to regaining the No. 1 spot in the country.
Listen to Coffee With The Coach every Thursday on 94.7 WCSX.
