After a first half that looked more like a track meet than a Big Ten basketball game - 98 combined points on 62% shooting - Michigan didn’t need fireworks to finish the job. The Wolverines leaned on grit and timely execution in the second half, needing just six made field goals after the break to edge past Nebraska Tuesday night at Crisler Center.
Morez Johnson Jr. was the engine, putting up 17 points and pulling down 12 boards in a physical, high-effort performance. Trey McKenney added 11 points, including a go-ahead layup with just over a minute remaining - a clutch bucket in a game that demanded poise down the stretch. Aday Mara and Yaxel Lendeborg also chipped in with double-digit scoring nights, rounding out a balanced effort for a Michigan team that continues to find different ways to win.
With the victory, Michigan moves to 19-1 on the season and hands Nebraska its first loss after a 20-game win streak. It’s a statement win in a crowded Big Ten race and sets the stage for a high-stakes showdown at Michigan State on Friday - a rivalry game that now carries even more weight.
This Michigan squad is every bit the contender its record suggests. They’re chasing a Big Ten title, eyeing a No. 1 seed in March, and sit just behind Arizona in national championship odds. But as the competition stiffens, a couple of cracks are starting to show - and if the Wolverines want to stay on top, they’ll need to tighten things up in two key areas.
Turnovers creeping back in
Turnovers were a glaring issue during Dusty May’s first season in Ann Arbor - Michigan coughed it up on nearly 20% of its possessions last year, worst in the Big Ten. This season started with real progress: a 17% turnover rate that was right around the national average. But lately, the Wolverines have slipped back into bad habits.
Over the past five games, Michigan's turnover rate has ballooned to 19.7%, nearly identical to last year’s struggles. Against Nebraska, they gave it away 19 times - a 26.8% turnover rate, their second-worst of the season behind only the TCU game. The Ohio State and Oregon games weren’t much better, rounding out a troubling trend.
Head coach Dusty May didn’t sugarcoat it after the win: “If we continue to turn the ball over like we have the last couple games, we're going to be playing from behind a lot. That's got to be priority number one moving forward - valuing the basketball much better than we did tonight.”
The biggest concern is at point guard. Elliot Cadeau, the team’s lead ball-handler, has a turnover rate of 24.9% - the highest on the roster and even higher than Danny Wolf’s team-worst mark from last season. Over the last five games, Cadeau’s turnover rate has spiked above 30%, a number that simply can’t hold for a team with championship aspirations.
LJ Cason isn’t far behind with a 22.3% season turnover rate, climbing to 26.9% over the last five games. Roddy Gayle’s recent stretch has been rough too - a 33% turnover rate in that same span, making it tough to trust him as a primary initiator.
Michigan’s up-tempo offense asks a lot of its guards, but the cost right now is too high. When you’re giving away one out of every four possessions, it’s hard to keep control of games - especially with a tougher schedule looming.
Shooting slump from deep
Coming into the season, perimeter shooting was one of the few question marks on a roster built around size and interior dominance. For much of the year, Michigan has held its own from beyond the arc, hitting 34.5% as a team. But lately, the outside shots just haven’t been falling.
Over the last five games, the Wolverines are shooting under 30% from three. That’s a steep drop from where they were after 11 games - a red-hot 38.9% from deep after beating La Salle. Since then, a string of cold nights has dragged the season average down by nearly five percentage points.
The Nebraska game was another rough one: 6-for-26 from three. Ohio State (5-for-23), Washington (5-for-23), and USC (6-for-30) were similarly inefficient. When the threes aren’t falling, defenses can clog the paint - and that’s exactly what Michigan saw Tuesday night.
“Tonight we pretty much had to muck it up,” May said postgame. “You're 6-of-26 from 3. If you're sitting there and you're 11-for-26, the court just looks different, and so they had us packed in.”
Yaxel Lendeborg, once a 40% shooter from deep, has slipped to 30% since the end of December. His offensive rating is still elite at 134.8, but it’s dropped to 112.7 over the last five games - a noticeable dip that impacts spacing and shot selection.
Roddy Gayle hasn’t hit a three in his last five games (0-for-5), and while that’s a small sample, it’s a continuation of last year’s inconsistency from the arc. Nimari Burnett is still a reliable option at 36.7%, but even he’s cooled off a bit.
Given the way Michigan plays - big, physical, and inside-out - adding just one or two more made threes per game could open up the floor in a major way. Right now, the margin for error is shrinking.
The road ahead gets steeper
While Michigan has taken care of business so far, the schedule is about to get real. The first half of Big Ten play was front-loaded with teams in the bottom half of the standings - Penn State, Maryland, Oregon, Rutgers, Washington, USC. That stretch gave the Wolverines a chance to build momentum, but the back half is a different story.
What’s left includes a non-conference date with Duke and two rivalry games against Michigan State, plus showdowns with Illinois and Purdue. According to ESPN’s Basketball Power Index, Michigan faces the 17th-toughest remaining schedule in the country - and the third-hardest among Big Ten teams.
There’s no easing into the postseason. As May put it, “There's not going to be an easy button for this stuff, but we're going to have to elevate our play.”
And with a jam-packed February, practice time will be limited. That means adjustments have to happen on the fly.
It all starts Friday in East Lansing - a rivalry game, a road test, and maybe the biggest challenge this group has faced yet. Michigan has the talent. The question now is whether they can clean up the execution and keep their foot on the gas as the pressure mounts.