The No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team doesn’t have many weaknesses. Still undefeated two months into the season, though, one negative trend is becoming clear.
The Wolverines’ four worst performances of the season have all come away from home. An overtime win against Wake Forest in Detroit, a 4-point victory at TCU and a shaky first half that turned into an 18-point road win over Maryland make up the first three of those. Then Tuesday, back on the road for the first time in three weeks, Penn State took Michigan to the brink without its leading scorer.
Outside of the Wolverines’ dominant three–day run at the Players Era Championship in Las Vegas, they’ve underperformed every time they’ve left Ann Arbor. And for a team with 11 wins by 25-plus compared to three by single digits, that seems like the easiest place to poke holes.
“You see teams go on the road and look like different teams,” Michigan coach Dusty May said Dec. 6. “Undefeated teams go on the road to a team they’re supposed to beat by double digits and they lose because it’s difficult to win on the road, especially in the Big Ten.”
May is no stranger to difficulties away from Crisler Center, even in his short time with the Wolverines. Last season, Michigan’s first five losses were either away games or played at neutral sites. But the Wolverines cleaned things up, finishing 4-1 on the road in Big Ten play and finding success in the postseason.
A similar trend could be unfolding this year. The narrow wins over the Demon Deacons and the Horned Frogs in November came very early in the season, and Michigan decreased its turnovers and found a more consistent rhythm on offense since then. Even against the Terrapins, the Wolverines figured things out in the second half.
But Tuesday’s game against Penn State can’t be as easily explained away. Michigan was virtually healthy and coming off one of its most impressive wins of the season, and yet a team with zero Big Ten wins still took the Wolverines the distance.
While there aren’t any obvious trends across all four underperformances, both Maryland and the Nittany Lions seemed to expose a potential defensive flaw for Michigan. Neither opponent mustered more than 10 assists in their matchup, instead successfully utilizing more isolation offense.
With Michigan’s tendency to switch constantly on defense, opposing offenses can be left with advantageous matchups. For the Terrapins, that was guard David Coit using his speed to create space from bigger defenders on the perimeter. For Penn State, forward Ivan Jurić similarly capitalized on mismatches, and the Nittany Lions also took advantage of several open 3-pointers from defensive lapses due to switching.
“We know that you have to be incredibly disciplined and prepared when you go on the road,” May said Monday. “Because every team is much, much different at home for obvious reasons.”
Maryland and Penn State hold the two highest-scoring performances against the Wolverines in their last eight games. Ultimately, though, May hasn’t seem too worried about his team’s disappointments on the road. There haven’t been any overarching themes through those games, and there was no trouble at all in Las Vegas. But the trend is becoming harder to ignore.
After a home matchup with Wisconsin on Saturday, Michigan hits the road again to play Washington and Oregon next week. As the Big Ten season ramps up, the Wolverines will have less time to iron out any kinks. They’ve only played three of their 11 true road games on this year’s schedule, and four of the remaining eight are against current top-20 teams.
As May said, every team is different at home, and that’s been especially true of Michigan. Its average margin of victory at Crisler Center is over 37 points per game. The Wolverines have shown how good they can be, but to achieve their goals, they’ll need to prove they can be just as consistent away from home.
