Over the past five games, the No. 2 Michigan men’s basketball team has blown out opponent after opponent behind its own efficient shooting. With teams unable to keep up, the Wolverines have pulled ahead early and left opponents in the dust.
But Saturday, an early blowout was nowhere to be found.
Michigan (10-0 overall, 2-0 Big Ten) continued to knock down shots like it has throughout the early part of the season. But unlike its opponents in past games, Maryland (6-5, 0-2) did too. Despite going into the break in a hole, the Wolverines turned it on late behind a run led by graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, powering them to their 101-83 win.
“Give Maryland credit for the first half, they played really, really good basketball,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “And obviously the shot making was at an elite level, and it was a night where we had to counter their shotmaking with our shotmaking to hang around until we were able to get our defense ignited.”
Both squads found early shots dropping amid a blazing pace. Led by guard David Coit and his three 3-pointers before the under-16 break, Maryland got out to an early lead. But Michigan stayed with them behind its own stellar shotmaking in transition and near the basket.
As the shotmaking continued for both sides, the Terrapins continued to attack specific matchups in order to make shots. With Coit putting defenders in a blender, Maryland often put Michigan’s bigs into switches, allowing him to hunt for open shots. He hit six 3-pointers and had 22 points on his own to power the Terrapins to a 50-45 lead by half. Maryland guard Myles Rice also stepped into rhythm, complementing Coit’s long-range shooting with multi-level scoring.
“My shots don’t come from just me,” Coit said. “It comes from everybody, this offense. Everybody knowing what they doing, and everybody being on the same page.”
In order to counter Coit’s aggressive shotmaking, the Wolverines put their bigs — specifically junior center Aday Mara — into hedges on ball screens to start the second half. The Terrapins continued to knock down shots and maintain their lead regardless.
That was until Lendeborg caught fire.
Single-handedly keeping Michigan in it during the early portion of the second half, Lendeborg knocked down shot after shot to catalyze the offense. He didn’t miss a single shot in the half, with 16 of his own while sparking the offensive with five assists.
With Lendeborg’s shots falling, the Wolverines broke open a double-digit lead as others started to heat up. Sophomore guard L.J. Cason got in on the action, draining an open three and walking into another. Michigan received strong contributions from others as well, with six Wolverines knocking down two or more shots in the second half.
Even as Coit and company tried to keep pace, their efforts weren’t enough. Though some shots continued to drop, Michigan turned up its intensity defensively, smothering Maryland’s offense as those hedges started to become more effective and the Terrapins’ previously effective iso-ball offense came back down to earth.
“When the offense starts flowing, I feel like our defense goes as well and vice versa,” Lendeborg said. “Tonight it was our offense that got us going. So it’s all kudos to coach.”
That was enough for the Wolverines to coast to the finish line, maintaining their lead and flattening the Terrapins’ hopes for a late comeback.
Though Michigan didn’t put the game out of reach early like it has in the past, it fell back on what’s continued to work so far: high-level shotmaking and a propensity to flow offensively.
