Everything Dusty May said after Michigan's thrilling OT win over Wake Forest

After going up 13 in the first half, Michigan couldn't hold the lead against Wake Forest. The Demon Deacons would come back and take the lead over the Wolverines, but a late push from Michigan would send the game to overtime. The Wolverines would come out as the victors in an 85-84 win over Wake Forest.

After moving to 2-0 on the season, head coach Dusty May discussed his team's performance after the game.

Did Michigan show enough toughness after 3-point woes against Wake Forest?

Yeah, absolutely. We're gonna make 19 next game. I'm gonna flip this around and do something different. Hopefully that wasn't me that did that announcer jinx. But yeah, we played with a lot of heart, toughness, and togetherness. And people, you bring these guys in, you bring these guys in, and everyone comes from different directions.

We still don't know our best defensive lineups, our best offensive lineups, our best in between. And so this is a work in progress. But for us to come out of this game against a really good basketball team, that I think is an NCAA tournament team, same thing I said last year. For us to find a way to win is a compliment to our guys and their ability to just stay the course when the game got ugly.

How Aday alters the defensive end of the court

Last year, going into the game, this isn't how they play, but last year they took advantage of our ball screen coverage. And they had the personnel to do it. They had Efton Reed, and he was just wiping Vlad out. They didn't have the mass to wipe a guy out on his drops. And so his rim protection, I thought, was probably the difference in the game.

We forced a team that doesn't wanna shoot a lot of floaters and tough middies into floaters and tough middies. Because our guards' ability to sit down and defend on the perimeter, I thought our gap coverage improved as the game went on. And so, without a doubt, we're much more equipped to win a Big Ten game today than we were yesterday because of the schedule.

On what he attributed to Michigan's turnover issues

Yeah, certainly Wake Forest's defense had something to do with it. And we turned it over three times in the first four minutes. And then we, that first middie timeout, I think it went a little bit over four. And then we turned it over three more times the rest of the half. And then we took a calculated risk after halftime to play over the top to a die.

Their bigs were in foul trouble, and that goes out of bounds. And that probably sets the wrong precedent. But even now, we don't have our package in. So when you have a dead ball, a whistle, and you try to organize your team to get something easy. Because we don't know our stuff well enough to get that in the flow of the game, or to recognize that matchup advantage in the flow. So obviously, that was a poor decision on my part. Yeah, I thought some of the turnovers down, we're getting the ball in the short roll in the paint to one of our power guys.

And we got called for a couple travels. We got called for a charge late. There were some things that we wouldn't take back the execution. We just need to clean up a few things as far as with our individual improvement and schematic things. But that's what we were looking for. And if you have to be honest, one of them I don't think was a travel. It looked funny, so they called a travel.

Did the close game help Michigan grow

Yeah, without a doubt. I think each time you win one of these, it gives you belief and confidence that you're gonna find a way the next time you're in this situation. Hopefully, we're not in as many as we were last year. But credit to our guys on last year's team and then the returners. Obviously, our poise under pressure is something that we can hang our hat on. But once again, if you're in a lot of one possession games, you're probably, at our level, you're probably gonna win half of them. And we don't wanna be in a position where you're gonna win half your games. So we definitely need to find a way to separate and take advantage of our runs and have a little bit more than playing the last possession each game.

On Yaxel not playing his A-game

They're a good team. They're scrappy. They push off their spots. They challenge everything. I thought Yaxel generated some really good looks. His three point shots, I think three or four of them, I thought they were going in and they just didn't drop. It's a new environment for him. It's a new experience where we're not counting on him to carry us. He just has to be another spoke in the bike tire. We got a lot of good spokes in our locker room. So we just gotta just stay with it and figure out ways to impact the game when the ball's not dropping. He missed a couple shots around the rim. I mean, the ball is, this game's funny, man. You go up and you're at the rim.

We'd like to have a little more power, but the ball just doesn't drop in sometimes. And you just gotta keep going and keep putting one foot in front of the other. I thought he learned that tonight, that we're not basing his performance on whether that three point shot's going in or whatever the case. So he made some plays to contribute to winning. Obviously, he's gonna play much better than he did tonight.

On What Aday Mara can do

Yeah, absolutely. And I'm gonna give Aday credit, the two exhibitions and the first game. He struggled guarding on the perimeter. The opposition Spigs had their way with us. I don't think he played the first one, the last couple games, whatever the case. And even in practice, he struggled in that regard. And the staff has challenged him, and I thought he did an A plus job, without looking at the film, an A plus job of contesting threes.

He blocked a couple of them. He defended the drives. And Spillers, man, he's quick, he's got some game. And so he cut them off, he used his size, his length, and challenged the shots. And Spillers is a borderline all-league guy, could be an all-ACC guy. And so for him to be able to sit down and keep his body in front of him, that's very, very refreshing going forward. But I didn't think he could play that much. I mean, he's capable of a lot, and I still, he's just scratching the surface, man.

Obviously, his stat line is impressive, but he made so many more invisible plays and changed so many shots. Now, some of our guards have to do a better job of getting in the fight when he tips the ball to go in and clean it up. I think we were anticipating that we were gonna turn those into leak out dunks. And so just another reason we have to change some habits and practice better. But I'm very proud of our guys for simply staying together and not getting rattled.

On Roddy Gayle's late 3

We want guys to take good looks, and I thought during that 12th stretch, most of them were paint-touched threes. They were in-rhythm threes, and like I said, several of them looked good. Now, there were times I thought the seas parted, and we should have tacked the rim. And I probably didn't express that with as much, I guess, authority, or whatever you wanna call it, when we were talking about their plan and the timeouts and in front of the bench or whatever.

But it's also, I don't want our guys overthinking. When they're playing ball, man, get your eyes up, know where to look, and play off your instincts and off of your training. And so I don't want those guys thinking we're gonna tack the rim. I want them to read the defense and their space. They attack it if they're open in rhythm, I want them shooting it, and then trusting that we're gonna go get the offensive rebound if we don't knock it down.