Notebook: Michigan ironing out rotation, McKenney’s role and Lendeborg’s production

The No. 7 Michigan men’s basketball team is 3-0 after two close wins over TCU and Wake Forest, and, according to coach Dusty May, playing nowhere near its potential.

May spoke to the media on Monday about working with such a deep lineup, Trey McKenney’s emerging role, and how Yaxel Lendeborg can be more productive.

Michigan still determining its ‘cheat codes’

On paper, Michigan’s lineup goes nine deep, and the Wolverines have played at least nine players double-digit minutes in every game this season. The Wolverines are brimming with talent, and May is still trying to turn it all into a cohesive, comprehensive team.

On the court, Michigan’s wealth of talent has had its pros and cons. The Wolverines have shown early that they can win a basketball game in several different ways with several different lineups. That depth can impact the game through the first 30 or so minutes, but May’s still figuring out the plan for crunch time.

“Our ways of scoring when the game slows down, we call them cheat codes in-house, like, what are our cheat codes going to be?” May said Monday. “(Last season) we knew what they were going to be because we coached Vald. We didn’t know that Danny was going to be as proficient as he was late game. But right now, we’re still trying to figure out what our cheat codes are going to be.”

Against the Demon Deacons, it was junior center Aday Mara and junior guard Elliot Cadeau who Michigan leaned on down the stretch for scoring. The Horned Frogs negated both of them for the most part on offense, and the Wolverines turned to guys like senior guard Roddy Gayle, graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg and sophomore forward Morez Johnson to get the job done.

In both games, Michigan’s defensive intensity was significant and game-changing down the stretch. Offensively, the Wolverines are still looking for a set rotation to close games.

“We have some combinations that have played really well together on both sides of the ball,” May said. “And then we have some other lineups that have been really good on one side of the ball, but not so efficient or proficient on the other side of the ball. So, yeah, I could see us tweaking for longer than we would like to, but that’s part of it.”