Elliot Cadeau shakes off slow start to spark Michigan’s second-half surge

There was bound to be some focus — and some extra pressure — on Elliot Cadeau the night former Michigan star point guard Trey Burke’s jersey raised into the rafters, as the Wolverines’ current floor general wears the same No. 3 jersey.

Coming off of some of his highest scoring games in Indiana and Oregon, the stage was set for Cadeau to perform as Burke watched courtside, one Michigan guard to another. Before the game, former coach John Beilein reflected that among his best teams, amid the squads that went the farthest, a common theme was “really good guard play.”

No pressure.

But Ohio State limited Cadeau to zero points and three assists in the first half, and the junior guard picked up two fouls in ten minutes.

“Part of (his slow start) was the zone,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “Part of it was that he was battling foul trouble; he picked up two fouls in the first half. They were putting two on the ball on his ball screens. They were trying to take it out of his hands.”

With the Wolverines’ offensive spark snuffed out, the whole engine sputtered. Michigan’s offense was mostly ineffective in the first 20 minutes, 10 of which Cadeau spent on the bench.

Cadeau contributed two of the Wolverines’ eight first-half turnovers, and couldn’t find the rhythm or flow that has elevated Michigan’s offense in games prior. The Wolverines weren’t making threes or free throws at a high level, and without Cadeau on the floor, Michigan never pulled ahead.

Even at the start of the second half, a period that the Wolverines have controlled recently, Cadeau struggled, misplacing a lob for senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr. that clanked off the rim. But in the final ten minutes of Saturday’s win, Cadeau really made a difference.