With another second-half meltdown looming on Wednesday, the Michigan men’s basketball team needed anything to shift. The Wolverines’ usual second-half approach hadn’t been effective in any of the games, and as Michigan’s advantage began to evaporate, the same patterns kept coming up.The typical suspects weren’t present on the Michigan court this time. Both of the Wolverines’ top scorers, Olivier Nkamhoua, a graduate forward, and sophomore guard Dug McDaniel, were sitting on the bench. And that’s where they would stay for the majority of the last lap.
Instead, Howard substituted three bench players and two starters during the final seconds of a one-point game against the nation’s 11th-ranked squad.
In addition to redshirt sophomore forward Will Tschetter, graduate forward Tray Jackson, and graduate guard Jaelin Llewellyn, the starting lineup included sophomore forward Tarris Reed Jr. and graduate guard Nimari Burnett.According to Howard, “we had a great group that was doing some good things out there on the floor where they were getting good offensive opportunities on the other end and getting defensive stops when needed.” “Also, Jaelin, Nimari, Tray Jackson, Tarris Reed, and Will Tschetter formed a really strong group that I was unable to separate from while also having a successful run.”
Michigan has depended a lot—often unsatisfactorily—on McDaniel and Nkamhoua throughout the season. But in front of the Badgers, under intense criticism following an underwhelming season, Howard didn’t think twice to stick with what was effective and leave his best players off the court and next to him.With 12:30 remaining in the second half, McDaniel was 0 for 5 from the field, prompting Howard to decide to make a change. Howard also called Nkamhoua to the bench a minute later. With 3:26 remaining in the game, Nkamhoua made his comeback, and McDaniel returned even later, with 1:22 remaining.
And during McDaniel’s 11-minute absence—eight of which were played without Nkamhoua—Michigan reestablished its lead to prevent yet another collapse.Terrance Williams II, a senior forward who started but was benched for five minutes during the crucial period, stated, “I just told them to stay locked in.” “The group we were playing with was excellent.” Coach Howard simply followed them for a considerable amount of time. They definitely increased that lead for us and played really effectively. When it’s time to go in, I basically told them to stay locked in and finish the game since they weren’t going anywhere.
Especially Llewellyn’s minutes are noteworthy. Due to McDaniel’s away game suspension, Llewellyn has played a lot of minutes on the road but not much home Crisler Center.Howard made the decision to avoid interfering with a group he noticed was clicking for as long as possible. He didn’t want to risk putting out the flames to insert his usual go-to men while his bench was already blazing. While he waited for the fire to naturally go out, he continued to feed the flames.
After a few minutes, McDaniel returned to the game, and Nkamhoua returned, and Michigan closed out the win.
