Michigan assistant coach Saddi Washington met with the media yesterday to preview tonight’s conference tilt with Minnesota. The strength of the conference as a whole was discussed quite a bit during the press conference, as was Michigan’s shooting surge the last two games. As the man responsible for Michigan’s defensive strategies he had interesting insight into how the Wolverines’ defensive can fuel the offense. For a full transcript of what was said, read on.
On the difference he’s seen in the offense the last two games
I think our ability to just have some confidence in our shot-making. I felt like our defense has generated a lot of that, those opportunities for us. We’ve been a team that when we can really lock down and be in place, in position defensively it really kind of sparks our offensive drive and so I think we’ve done a pretty good job with that these last couple games. And obviously taking care of the basketball and giving ourselves opportunities to have scoring opportunities.
On whether there’s a noticeable difference in three-point shot quality or whether it’s more along the lines of water finding its level
Our guys work extremely hard individually and collectively and putting in extra time and working on their craft and putting themselves in game-like positions of the shots that we're going to see during the course of the game. And again, I think guys have just been really locked in these last couple of games. Confidence is through the roof, especially once you see the ball go through the net a couple of times, whether it's a three, whether it's a layup, whether it's one of your teammates. Coach always says 'Ball finds energy' and I think we've been able to do a good job of creating our own energy that everyone is able to feed off of.
On whether there are slight changes such as footwork that guys have made on their three-point shots or whether it's just confidence
Not necessarily. I think it's just time. Just getting in the gym like any other athlete. If you've been going through any perceived struggles, you're just going to spend a little bit more time in the gym. And like I've said before, to a man, our guys collectively do a great job of getting in the gym in their off time, getting in shots, and I think it's just we've been fortunate to be in a good headspace. Like I said, once you see the ball go through the net a time or two, then it really opens the rim up for you from a psychological standpoint.
On the health status of the team and whether Diabate will play Saturday
That's a day-to-day, weekly thing, right? We try to do our best to manage and take care of our guys from a health perspective. We're still in the middle of a pandemic. It is cold and flu season and so those things aren't lost on us. We just ask our guys to make good decisions when they're away from the court and we're going to, like we do all the time, roll with who's available, and we'll do that on Saturday.
On looking at the last two games from the outside and saying this team is good again versus what the coaches see and whether the staff feels they've fixed thing the last few games
You know, it's the ebb and the flow of the season, because if I sit here and say 'Oh, we solved it' and then we come out and not have a great shooting night sometime down the line then everybody's panicking again. But like I said, our guys consistently work on their game. As I think somebody said, at some point the boat rises to your level and you're able to see the ball go through the net, so whether it's spending extra time getting in shots, watching film, we're all about that growth mindset and whatever we need to do as a staff to put our guys in position to be successful from one game to the next, that's what we're committed to doing.
On what he has seen from Minnesota on film
Yeah, Ben (Johnson) has done a tremendous job with this group. I know him personally, I know their staff, a lot of members of their staff personally. To have I think it's 10 new players on their roster and for them to come out and play the way that they have is a testament to what Ben has done with the staff and probably more importantly how the players have bought into what they're coaching. They're a good group, man. They're very efficient in what they do. They do a good job of sharing the game, playing really good defense, and so we've got our work cut out for us in preparation.
And let's be honest, it's a league game. Even in December, these games are so important for your standing and positioning for league play, for championships, for NCAA tournament bids. We're going to be locked in and trying to execute our game plan on Saturday and hopefully we come out with positive results.
On whether he saw the result of last night's Rutgers-Purdue game and whether that speaks to the league being as tough as it has ever been
You know, I think that's still to be determined. I do believe just some of the quick blinks I have been able to watch throughout the season, I believe we're a pretty balanced league, so valuing every opportunity to get a win, every possession is going to matter between winning and losing and so obviously the teams that are most consistent and can execute their game plans offensively and defensively, you give yourself the best chance to win. No game is out of the spectrum. How many games have we seen this year where a team is down double digits and the final four or five minutes of the game it's a two or three possession game? But that speaks to the level of the competition, that speaks to the level of the coaching in this league and you wouldn't expect anything less in Big Ten basketball.
On the players saying after the Nebraska game that they felt they were playing more connected and what that means to the coaching staff and how to improve it throughout the season
I think being connected for us means everybody being in sync with one another. We always come up with a game plan, but the game plan is only as good as the execution of it and where with a team of young guys and some new faces, sometimes it takes a little bit of time for that to gel. I think off the court our guys are definitely connected in terms of just socially and how they deal with one another in the locker room. The goal is to speed up that learning curve so that also applies to on the court, which I think we've done a pretty good job of thus far this season, but we're always looking to get better and Coach is always going to challenge not just the players but the staff to continually find ways to get a little bit better each and every day.
On how things have gone with experimenting with different lineups
Yeah, the mentality of the group individually and collectively is stay ready so you don't have to get ready and like I said, these guys work tremendously hard individually on their games, they come in and watch film with different staff members or watch it collectively as a team, so the expectation is whether you're a starter or whether you're coming off the bench, one night you might play five minutes, the next night you might play 15 minutes or 20 minutes. So being dialed in to your role, being dialed in to what we're trying to get done on the floor is critical to the success of the program.
On how often he's able to check scores of or text with coaches he used to coach with at Michigan
Oh yeah, yeah. The other day Bryan Smothers, who's now with Niagara, they were here playing Eastern Michigan, so we got a chance to visit and meet with him. DeAndre Haynes is a very good friend of mine. Billy Donlon, always peeking in on his scores. I think early in the year they had a big win at Missouri if I'm not mistaken, or somewhere like that. They had a really big win. Yak(lich), the same. Pretty much everybody that I've personally worked with, yeah, when I get a chance to peek in on the score or if I have some downtime in between, getting quick blinks of their games, we're always kind of staying connected from that standpoint.
On how nice it was to see some of his former players recently in a G League game
That was awesome. Derrick Walton. It was really cool because the opportunity to really see those guys further their careers at the professional level is special. We're always talking to them whether it's through text or through phone calls periodically when they would check in with us, so to be able to see them live and in person was special and even more special to be there as Coach delivered their championship rings to them personally since they weren't able to make the even earlier in the year. All those things are special. We wish those guys well, Mike and D-Walt and Isaiah. That's the cool part of it because they're connected. You talked about a connected group; once you're a Michigan man you're always a Michigan man. We're constantly hearing from different players who've played here just checking in, checking in on the guys. That is definitely really cool.
On whether it's more difficult to draw up offensive game plans when you don't know whether your three-point shooting will be around 50% or like the games earlier this season where Michigan struggled
No because you don't go into the game not believing that we won't make shots. We trust that our guys have put in the sweat equity day in and day out, and we see it. We see it and we have confidence in them to go be who they are based on their work ethic, and so I don't think Coach has any hesitation in drawing up certain plays because again, like anything else, time tells a story and we've been with these guys since July and the time and the work that they've put in tells us that we can make shots and make it at a high level.
On whether it's a surprise to see Terrance Williams II's contributions offensively
T-Will, he's like Steady Eddie, man. Whatever--his attitude is whatever you need me to do for us to win, I'm gonna do that. So on any given night it could a defensive lockdown assignment. The next night it could be facilitator,. The next night it could be making shots, penetrating to the lane, whatever that is, T is going to do those things. His consistency is his super p--we're going to rely on his consistency to be his superpower for us.
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