Dusty May has a well-earned reputation as an offensive wizard, but his first Michigan team is winning with its defense. On Wednesday night, the Wolverines put Xavier through the wringer, suffocating a high-flying offense loaded with experience, shooting, and depth.
Every Xavier possession was grueling and laborious. Even some of the shots the Musketeers made felt worthy of ending up on a Wolverine defensive highlight reel. Xavier made 20 shots, missed 38, and turned it over 19 times.
College basketball fans love Feast Week because of the memorable back-and-forth bouts of shot-making brilliance and clutch playmaking. This was anything but. It was outright defensive domination in a 78-53 win that was supposed to be a pick-em.
I wrote in the game preview that this was the kind of game that would come down to which team could play their style against leveled-up competition. Michigan left no doubt about which team that was.
Peacock Deal of The Year
Sign up for Peacock for the monthly $1.99 option or the annual option for $19.99 to claim the limited Black Friday Peacock offer.
In this recap
- Player bullets on all 9 players: Danny Wolf, Tre Donaldson, Vlad Goldin and 6 more
- 800 more words of analysis
Recap
Keep reading with UM Hoops
Read this story and every game preview and recap, in full.
UM Hoops
$60/year
Every preview and recap, plus the forum.
- Every game preview and recap, in full
- The members' forum
- All the games
- Ad-free reading
First-year offer
UM Hoops+
$80 $100 /first year
Everything, including the Data Hub and Locker Room.
- Everything in UM Hoops
- The Extra Pass every Thursday
- Game Day Live and the Data Hub
- Film Room and the complete Locker Room
Cancel anytimeAlready a member? Log in
Join the conversation · 81 replies on the forum
