Two minutes and 56 seconds into Michigan's Monday night contest against Miami (OH), Dusty May made a move basketball coaches rarely make. The Michigan head coach made a wholesale change, substituting all five of his starters for five bench players.

Committing four turnovers in less than three minutes of game action clearly ticked off May, and he sat all five of his starters on the bench. He explained the move in the postgame press conference.

"I just thought we didn't have much spark," May said. "We looked a little bit dazed. And so, we just wanted to throw some guys in there and see if they'd bring some fire and spark — and they did that. ... That second group did a nice job of giving us a spark."

"It just was a feeling. It was just, 'Hey, let's get these next guys in there and give them a shot; see if they can start a spark.'"

The five substitutes turned the ball over on their first possession on the floor, but May is correct — they settled in nicely, and they sparked a huge shooting night for the Wolverines.

Nonetheless, Michigan still committed 18 turnovers just one game after coughing it up 21 times against TCU. Turnovers have been the biggest area of weakness for the Wolverines this season, and it appears that if Michigan eliminates the excessive number of turnovers, it will have a dominant offense.

May has admitted on multiple occasions that there are some turnovers his team can live with. He recalled a number of turnovers in which the player at fault made the right decision with the ball, but the execution simply wasn't there.

Traveling violations, May said, are acceptable when the team has a backdoor cut available. He feels confident that over time, as his team grows closer together, they will sort out those inadequacies.

The ones they can't live with, though, are live ball turnovers, in which Michigan gives the ball away freely.

"The ones where we hit the other team in the chest — those are the ones we have to fix immediately. because that's just not a recipe for success."

Michigan is averaging nearly 18 turnovers per game through four contests this season. The Wolverines have a respectable record at 3-1, but by the time Big Ten play rolls around, the Wolverines' record may not be as attractive if they continue to turn the ball over at this clip.

---

Discuss this article with our community on our premium message boards

Not a subscriber to Maize & Blue Review? Sign up today to gain access to all the latest Michigan intel M&BR has to offer

Follow our staff on Twitter: @JoshHenschke, @Berry_Seth14, @TrevorMcCue, @DennisFithian, @BrockHeilig, @JimScarcelli, @Jerry_Diorio

Subscribe to our podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Spotify

Check out Maize & Blue Review's video content on YouTube

Follow Maize & Blue Review on social media: Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram and BlueSky