How Michigan plans to combat Connecticut’s grinding pace

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INDIANAPOLIS — One team kept coming up when Michigan’s players and coaches were prompted to evaluate Connecticut. One team that gave the Wolverines a scare exactly one month ago, before they figured it out and emerged with a slog of a road win. One team that most Michigan fans probably forgot about, but one that every Michigan player and coach likely revisited since the Wolverines cruised past Arizona on Saturday night.

That team is Iowa, and the game everyone in Michigan’s locker room remembers is that 71-68 win in Iowa City, when the Wolverines out-grinded the Hawkeyes over 65 grueling possessions.

“I think Iowa is a great example of a team that plays not stylistically similar but philosophically,” Dusty May said. “They challenge everything. Their physicality jumps out. It’s going to be a lower-possession game than we’re used to. If we’re not committed to defending the full shot clock every single possession and finding a way to rebound those long threes, then it’s going to be a tough night for us.”

Iowa plays some of the slowest basketball in the country, with 62.5 possessions per 40 minutes. The Huskies rank 319th in Division I, averaging 64.7 possessions. Michigan, with a free-flowing offense and an average of 71.1 possessions, has yet to face a tournament opponent capable of bringing the game to such a crawl.

In Carver-Hawkeye Arena, the Wolverines’ talent and drive eventually became too much for Iowa to handle. Over Michigan’s three losses, though, junior center Aday Mara thought pace played a key role.

“I feel like the three games that we lost were because we didn’t dictate the tempo,” junior center Aday Mara said. “So for us to be able to get that many possessions, getting steals, offensive rebounds, it will help us. So we know that we have to do that next game.”

Two of Michigan’s three losses this season — Purdue and Duke — came in its two slowest games of the year, at 63 and 62 possessions. The Wolverines have played 28 games at 70+ possessions and prefer a quicker pace. UConn has played just seven 70-possession games all season.

In the eyes of senior guard Roddy Gayle Jr., dictating the tempo starts from the jump.

“It starts with our starters,” Gayle said. “The first few minutes of the game, we gotta be able to set the rules of the game. We know that UConn really likes to slow down and run their sets, so we gotta find opportunities to be able to fight for extra possessions. Whether that’s offensive rebounding or being disruptive, getting some steals, being able to run in transition. But most importantly, we’ve gotta be able to defensive rebound and push in transition.”

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