INDIANAPOLIS — At halftime, Elliot Cadeau carried an unimpressive 2-for-14 shooting clip into the break.
The Michigan junior point guard couldn’t have been more unbothered — and he didn’t even know how many misses he had.
“We were talking about it at halftime. “He came in, he was like, ‘I’m two for something. I don’t know what’s going on. I don’t know why the shot’s not falling.'” graduate guard Nimari Burnett said. “But he was excited about it because he knew that his aggressiveness was positive for the team. And he also trusts us, and we trust him to continue to make plays for everybody.”
That 14% clip obviously didn’t dampen a 16-point lead. But the most impressive part was that the blemish didn’t even ruin a well-played half from Cadeau.
It was just an outlier of a half where shots didn’t find the net for Cadeau. Every other aspect of his game during his full 20 minutes in the first half resembled a seasoned point guard playing at his peak.
“It was really surprising, and I just stayed with my shot,” Cadeau said. “My coaches wanted me to keep shooting, my players wanted me to keep shooting. So it was just nice to have an environment like that around me, and I was able to just stay level-headed and really not care about it because of the team’s success.”
Cadeau recorded six assists — putting him on pace for his eventual double-double — and grabbed four rebounds as his bigs battled foul trouble. And one of the Wolverines’ most impressive stretches came via a four-guard lineup that Cadeau headed.
“We felt like any lineup we put on the floor, we have so much chemistry,” Cadeau said. “Just because we practice with a bunch of different lineups together, and everybody on the roster is very connected off the court as well. So when you put any group of us on the court, it’ll look good.”
Ironically resembling the four-guard lineup Michigan coach Dusty May rolled out at Florida Atlantic, all of the guards in the rotation shared the court late in the first half. Sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr. was the sole paint player on the floor for the Wolverines.
“It was kind of crazy,” Trey McKenney said. “I looked around, and I didn’t know who the four man was on the team, so it was ridiculous. We never really had to play like that because a lot of guys were in foul trouble and Yax has never really been in foul trouble like that, or he hasn’t really got hurt throughout the season. So it was definitely a challenge but it was kind of fun.”
FINAL FOUR SPECIAL: 80% Off UM Hoops+
For this weekend only, you can get a year of UM Hoops+ for 80% off, just $20. Unlock access to all of our UM Hoops content, and new UM Hoops+ features like Film Room, Report Card, Live Four Factors Charts and much more.
Join the UM Hoops Community
Join the only community dedicated to Michigan basketball
Get ad-free articles, recruiting, advanced stats, member-only discussion, and the most complete Michigan hoops analysis anywhere.
Already a member? Log In
