How Michigan basketball nuked Florida State's size advantage en route to Elite Eight

Michigan basketball discovered the discussion about Florida State.

About the way the Seminoles were extended — they’re the greatest team in the country based on average elevation, based on and athletic.

The Wolverines listened to all. They then put their heads down and went to work.

“We heard it ,” said trainer Juwan Howard. We did a excellent job of planning for this.”

Florida State’s span was not the sole matter Michigan did a great job of preparing .

U-M advanced to the Elite Eight at the East area on Sunday night with a persuasive 76-58 win over the Seminoles in Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

They grabbed nine offensive rebounds and gamers such as Scottie Barnes showed their athleticism.

Nevertheless the Wolverines understood exactly what to expect.

“I believe everyone understands, I believe that they’re the greatest team in the nation, so we know that they press a whole lot,” explained Franz Wagner. “So that is 1 thing we sort of went in practice a good deal. And like I said previously, the shifting and how we could strike those close-outs. Yeah, look at some flaws they have on movie. I presume, just like we always dowe examine what the other group does and try to see we could exploit it.

“I mean, that the scout team did a fantastic job . I believe that the coaches had a fantastic game plan. I believe everyone who played with watch movie, such as they always do. We also spoke about what to do if they read this article, when they front the article, and things like that. That is something they have seen all year with Hunter (Dickinson) being good down there. So those are likely the key things we spoke about.”

They broke the media easily and, in their own half-court crime, attacked switches together with all the guards and rear cuts.

It turned out to be a balanced operation by a crime that nonetheless has firepower even without prior forward Isaiah Livers.

Despite creating a few of 11 3-pointers, Michigan nevertheless scored 1.15 points each possession. The Wolverines scored on drives, at the article and off cuts into the rim, totaling 50 points in the paint from a team that was averaging 5.1 cubes (No. 11 total ) and had the country’s 12th-best 2-point defense.

“I meanI love to provide the coaching team some charge,” Wagner explained. “I believe we made some excellent plays that actually put us in great positions on the market. I mean, as I saidwe essentially knew how they were going to play all of us game with all of the post and shifting everything. We sort of knew what to expect and did this in training.

“Then I believe we did a excellent job, as I mentioned, of not letting them speed up us and dribble from the change . That is the way we got moving and got them to proceed and to adapt to us. And we assaulted our close-outs. That is if they stress so much and may strike the paint. That is how I received my aid now, and that is when great things happen for us.”

The Wolverines have fielded a top-10 defense, based on KenPom.com, for a lot of the year due to their capacity to shield 1-on-1 and induce opposing teams to wasteful shots.

U-M funneled Florida State’s guards and play-makers into hard shots, contested downwards in the rim and scarcely fouled, as the Seminoles tried only six complete free throws.

“Defense was one of our principles of our individuality,” Howard stated. “We’ve customs how we developed it last year after I arrived, and if we returned to the campus in June, very first thing which we met as a team, and the very first meeting when we had the ability to get our first official training, we spoke about how we are going to be much better defensive team.

“Lots of drills which we worked (were) based on creating that defensive art, where we could, clearly, be disruptive on the ball and then the ball off. Therefore, in the event that you examine the field goal percent, yes, we held them to 40 percent in the field. It was a fantastic defensive effort.”

After the match, Howard told colleagues he was”hoping and praying” that Michigan’s prep over the last week interpreted to Sunday night’s match.