Five takeaways from Michigan’s blowout win over San Diego State

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In its first game of the Player Era Championship, the No. 7 Michigan men’s basketball team looked dominant all night long. Although there was a slight surge from San Diego State towards the end of the first half of Monday night’s game, the Wolverines’ offense in the first half and defense in the second half led them to victory.

In a tournament setting, Michigan is using each game as an opportunity to prepare for what a tournament will feel like in March, but also to tune up the rotations and lineups and take a run at winning the whole event. The Aztecs provided for a first glimpse of that ahead of a highly anticipated matchup with No. 21 Auburn.

Here are five takeaways from how the Wolverines were able to dominate in game one:

Michigan plays resounding defense in the second half

Throughout the entire second half, San Diego State scored 21 points on 17.8% shooting from the field. Although the Wolverines had a comfortable halftime lead, they expanded it by continuing to do what they do best on offense while making the necessary adjustments on defense.

Last year, Michigan coach Dusty May often emphasized the importance of scoring on offense through high-percentage shots, such as layups, drives off the pick-and-roll, or open threes. Defensively, it’s the exact same but reversed. And against the Aztecs, Michigan forced them to take those tough, contested mid-range shots that have little benefit in May’s eyes.

“You have to make a lot of those (mid-range shots),” San Diego State coach Brian Dutcher admitted. “And those are the ones they want you to take, those are the ones they’re willing to give up. So they’re big. They don’t help a lot, so you don’t drive in there and get threes, because they know they’re trying to stop ball screens with two players, and they’re giving you some of those (mid-range) shots.”

The Wolverines will adjust if a team gets hot in the mid-range or has exceptionally talented pull-up scorers, but May said that his entire staff could only remember one or two games where they lost because of the plan of what to give up.

“We’ll show film first thing in the morning, and then we’ll talk about contingencies, and we did tonight, where we had a couple of contingencies to the mid ranges when they really got going,” May said of adjusting to San Diego State’s mid-range shots. “Whether it’s a different coverage or different matchup, we used a few (contingencies) tonight, but we also feel like they’re not going to make enough (mid-range shots) to beat us.”