Dusty May Addresses Michigan's Rebounding Woes in Loss to Duke

No. 1 Michigan basketball fell to No. 3 Duke in a heavyweight matchup between two top teams in college basketball on Saturday night in Washington, DC.

The Blue Devils made it difficult to execute their offense with their tenacity on the defensive end of the floor, but ultimately got to more loose balls than Michigan did and outrebounded Dusty May's team 41-28, which played a big role in Duke coming out with the five-point win.

After Michigan's second loss of the season, May spoke with the media and said his team wasn't good enough on the glass and credited Duke for winning many of the 50-50 balls that became available.

Feb 16, 2026; Durham, North Carolina, USA; Duke Blue Devils forward Cameron Boozer (12) celebrates with Duke Blue Devils center Patrick Ngongba II (21) during the during the second half against the Syracuse Orange at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Zachary Taft-Imagn Images | Zachary Taft-Imagn Images

May on Duke's hustle plays

"One thing they do, I think better than anyone, is they get their own misses," May said. "It seems like they just have a really—obviously, it's well-trained, because they all do it. They just have a really good feel for knowing where the miss is coming off of and getting there quicker. I thought there were several times when there was one of them and there was four or five of us. Typically, we're quick to the ball, we're physical, but for whatever reason on those shots they were able to get to them quicker.

"And we just, we didn't come up with the normal 50-50 basketballs that we typically do. I don't know, sometimes you freeze the film and it's a bad bounce—there's some luck involved, but for them to get as many as they did, they were obviously quicker and more physical than us."

Aday Mara dunk — Feb 11, 2026; Evanston, Illinois, USA; Michigan Wolverines center Aday Mara (15) dunks the ball against the Northwestern Wildcats during the first half at Welsh-Ryan Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-Imagn Images | David Banks-Imagn Images

In a game where baskets were going to be tough to come by with two very good defensive teams squaring off, the battle on the glass was going to be critical in deciding the outcome of the game. The Wolverines being -13 overall in rebounding and -5 on the offensive glass is something they will have to take a look at on film and learn from as they look to finish the regular season out strong and heading into postseason play in mid-March.

Michigan turns around and hosts Minnesota for a conference game on Tuesday night at the Crisler Center for an 8:30 p.m. EST tip-off.

After that, the Wolverines travel to Illinois to take on the Fightining Illini next Friday for an 8 p.m. EST start on FOX as Michigan looks to close in on a Big Ten title.