Going into Saturday’s matchup, the No. 2 seed Michigan women’s basketball hadn’t played a game in 13 days — its longest break of the season. Beyond an extended period to rest their legs and scout No. 15 seed Holy Cross, the break gave the Wolverines the chance to refine their offensive sets. For a team built around fast-paced transition offense, Michigan’s ability to convert in the half-court complimented its fast-paced play as it cruised past the Crusaders.
Make no mistake, the transition offense was still potent. 10 points off turnovers in the first quarter alone jumpstarted the Wolverines’ offense. But when Holy Cross started to break Michigan’s stifling press and limit turnovers, the Wolverines’ offense had to pivot to running more sets.
Michigan introduced a new action with five minutes left in the first half. As sophomore guard Syla Swords initiated the play at the top of the key, she dumped the ball into the middle of the floor to sophomore guard Olivia Olson. Junior forward Ashley Sofilkanich flared up to set a high off-ball screen, and chipping enough of Swords’ defender, Olson had an easy dump off to Swords down low for a layup.
The Wolverines know that Olson draws a lot of attention, and often a double team, when she gets a post touch. So getting Sofilkanich up high spread out the Crusaders’ post defense and helped Olson find a wide-open Swords.
“Our ball-screen action in the beginning was really good,” Swords said. “We got a lot of looks with our post kicking out like that.”
Swords also ran two different actions in the first half where she ran off a sophomore forward Kendall Dudley screen for a 3-pointer. Swords doesn’t need a lot of space in order to get a shot off, so she can generate good looks with ease when she runs dribble-handoffs or uses ball-screens.
Beyond rigid set plays, though, the break also allowed Michigan the opportunity to practice flowing through one set to get different looks.
“We’ve been trying to work on playing through the second or third option,” junior guard Macy Brown said. “Making the defense work so that we can read off each other.”
The Wolverines have long-flaunted their balanced scoring attack where anyone has the chance to be dangerous. The break just refined it.
Coming out of the half, Michigan ran a set where Swords found senior guard Brooke Quarles Daniels cutting to the net from the backside. But she wasn’t open so the Wolverines reset. Staying patient, Quarles Daniels swung the ball to Olson who caught it after an off-ball screen and sucked in the defense. From there, Holloway cut to the corner and Olson found her for a wide-open look from deep.
The three didn’t fall, but the look was there for a shooter that had been red hot all night. More importantly, Quarles Daniels’ patience to reset the play, and Olson’s unselfishness to pass up a pullup midrange jumper — her bread and butter — shows the composure that Michigan had all game.
“We’ve worked a lot during the past week on playing off our sets and setting something up.” Olson said. “… And so in the second half I think we had really good ball movement. In the first half it was like one pass then shot.”
The transition offense is dynamic for the Wolverines, but it isn’t always consistent. Sometimes Michigan can’t turn teams over 20 times a game like it did against the Crusaders. Other times, the frenetic pace can lead to more of a track meet than a scoring clinic. That’s why the half-court offense matters.
Throughout the rest of the NCAA Tournament, the inherent volatility of transition offense could lead to scoring droughts — if the Wolverines become overreliant on it. But on Saturday the offense was balanced; Michigan got good looks and shot 47% from the field and 44% from 3-point land because of it.
The Ides of March can turn inefficient offense into scoring droughts, and droughts into upsets. But refined and composed, the Wolverines ran a balanced attack with a striking transition game and fruitful looks.
