Video & Analysis: Howard Explains Why Michigan Did Not Double Williams

The only thing that mattered Thursday night was Michigan earned an 84-78 double overtime victory. Had the Wolverines lost, Juwan Howard would have had a lot of explaining to do, as Purdue big man Trevion Williams doubled up his previous career high of 18, with 36 points, largely matching up one-on-one with U-M senior Jon Teske. In the aftermath of a win, Howard could jokingly talk about his decision.

As the night unfolded, and Williams scoring 16 first-half points, members of the media were asking the same question fans were clamoring for - why was Michigan refusing to double-team or send a help defender against Williams?

Howard's post-game explanation - mainly that he was concerned with leaving Purdue's three-point shooters alone - makes sense in theory, but this is a team that shoots just 33.2 percent from behind the arc (ranking 168th nationally) and for the game, shot 31.6 percent (6 of 19).

Williams, on the other hand, was carving up Michigan's defense, finishing out regulation by scoring 11 of Purdue's final 13 points. He added all six of the Boilermakers' points in the first overtime. Eventually, Williams wore down battling with Teske, but that was a massive gamble to take, one that would have blown up on Howard if the contest had ended in regulation or the first overtime.

Williams' performance on its own might not raise concern levels, but in four Big Ten contests, Teske and Michigan's centers have struggled in single-coverage assignments against Illinois' Kofi Cockburn (19 points, 6 of 13 from twos), Iowa's Luka Garza (a career-high 44 points, 17 of 29 on twos) and now Williams.

Howard has demonstrated complete confidence in his players, and gave Teske credit for giving everything he had, but his strategy backfired, and as Michigan gets set to move forward in conference play, the coaching staff must seriously give consideration to help defense, as the trend of defending an opponent's talented big man is not in U-M's favor.