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DETROIT — Probing against Oakland’s signature 1-3-1 zone, junior guard Tre Donaldson saw an opportunity — he tossed a lob to the paint for senior center Vlad Goldin who brought the alley-oop down hard to start the scoring.
The Dusty May era at Michigan had officially begun.
In an exhibition bout at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit, the Wolverines men’s basketball team picked apart the Golden Grizzlies, winning 92-48. Michigan surgically maneuvered around the zone and Oakland had no response in the 40-point blowout.
The alley-oop was conspicuous foreshadowing. The Grizzlies’ zone wasn’t going to hold a Michigan offense full of willing sharpshooters quiet. Oakland’s zone notoriously creates havoc against teams since it is seldom used at the college level, but it also leaves fairly large holes — most notably on corner 3-pointers.
Just over six minutes into the game, the Wolverines quickly swung the ball around the top of the key, getting the Grizzlies’ defense stretched out to the wings. With the zone spread thin, junior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. whipped the ball to sophomore forward Sam Walters in the right corner, who, fresh off the bench, knocked home a triple, putting Michigan up 13-7. The flood gates creaked open.
Another three from Walters, a layup from redshirt senior Will Tschetter and a 3-pointer from freshman guard L.J. Cason gave the Wolverines a 24-12 lead. If the flood gates weren’t already open before, they certainly were now.
Walters made himself particularly comfortable in both corners, knocking down three 3-pointers from below the break in his 12 first half minutes. But Michigan’s entire offense was comfortable. Donaldson consistently pushed the break earning several easy layups in transition, and Gayle got to the middle and converted close to the rim.
For emphasis on a fairly dominant first half, Gayle hoisted a left-wing 3-pointer and watched it sink through the net as the buzzer sounded, giving his squad a commanding 48-26 lead entering the break.
The Wolverines’ offense returned right back to form out of halftime. Graduate guard Rubin Jones swooped in through a confused zone box out for a put-back dunk and hit a wide-open corner three for his first five points of the evening, extending Michigan’s cushion.
Michigan appeared to be making a statement in the second half: Instead of the onslaught of 3-pointers — the Wolverines had already shown they could do that much — they attacked the rim. Getting the ball to the high-post flasher for dump-downs to Goldin and crashing the glass hard, Michigan’s intent to get the ball inside for easy buckets in the paint was clear.
The Grizzlies didn’t deviate from their zone, though, so Michigan didn’t stop picking it apart with corner threes. With just under ten minutes remaining, Donaldson found Walters in the corner. He, once again, hit nothing but nylon. Donaldson joined in on the action too, hitting a three from nearly the same spot on the very next possession to put the Wolverines up by 28.
Michigan coasted home, punishing the discombobulated zone. The Wolverines played with pace and poise, just as May had hoped. They may not face many more zones this season, but if they do, they just proved they can pick one apart.
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