“Jarrett’s over there.”
Those were one Texas Tech player’s words when reporters entered the Red Raiders locker room Wednesday looking for interviews, and they elicited a round of laughs.
Texas Tech is no one-man team by any means, but Culver is the straw that stirs the drink. The future lottery pick averaged 18.8 points per game in leading Tech in points, rebounds (6.5) and assists (3.8).
"He can score at all three levels,” Michigan assistant Luke Yaklich, the man charged with the plan to slow him down, said. “He can get you an offensive rebound. He can score in the post. He can beat you off a ball screen with his pull-up jumper, or getting to the rim. He can beat you off the ball screen by passing it out to open shooters. Then he can beat you off the ball screen by getting it to the rim to their bigs.
“He is as talented a player as we've played this year. He's got good size and length. He can see over the top in your ball screen defensive coverage. He's everywhere on the floor. Obviously, he's a focal point of what they do throughout the game and then in late clock, late game situations, as well.”
He’s like Indiana’s Romeo Langford in some ways, only more experienced and skilled, Yaklich added.
So it stands to reason it will take a team effort to slow him, but that starts with one guy — Michigan redshirt junior wing Charles Matthews.
Matthews, an elite defender, is always at his best when going up against someone who gets more acclaim. He took the Langford challenge personally, will take this one the same way and usually rises to the occasion.
"He's tough, and you hope you’ve got a guy like Charles Matthews," Beilein told the Jamie and Stoney Show on 97.1 The Ticket Tuesday. "What I've learned a lot as I've matured as a coach here is sometimes there are great players, and then there are great defenders. When they match up, anything can happen.
"Charles Matthews is an elite defender, and he takes it personally. We’ve got some other guys that if you need to switch on to them you can do some things, too, or give Charles a rest. But he's really a good player, and Charles has faced really good players. Sometimes it works out; sometimes it doesn't. But it should be a great battle between two great players."
NOTES
• Beilein knows Texas Tech’s defense is capable, too — there’s a reason the Red Raiders are No. 1 in defensive efficiency to Michigan’s No. 2. Tech makes everything go baseline, taking away the middle, and it’s worked to their advantage.
This well-made video sums it up in great detail.
They’re much different than U-M in that respect, Beilein said.
“They have more pressure on the ball than we do,” Beilein said. “They create more steals. They have more steals … create more turnovers. They're going to not let you run some things. They switch every screen everywhere,at least what we've seen they switch every screen. That's hard to score against.
“It's a really good plan. It's similar to others that we've seen in the past, and sometimes we've done really well against that and sometimes it's been a struggle. I hope we can find ways to score some points tomorrow because it is difficult against them, and most teams have found that out.”
• Good coaches are those who are able to adapt, and Beilein has proven he can. He’s become more defensive-oriented in the last two years, necessitated by his personnel.
“What I learned is you have to continue to change. It is amazing,” he said. “A couple of things happened this year and I said, ‘it took me 44 years to realize that?’"
He wouldn’t go into detail, always wary of giving too much away.
“There are things that people do in today's game that you would never do. There was only one way to play as I started,” he said. “Then you went to a John Wooden and Dean Smith and Bobby Knight clinic and that's what you did, and their word was law. Then you realized, ‘I've got to get better players.’ Then all of the sudden you realize you don't have better players, and if you want to win you better evolve.”
He then apologized to some of his past teams.
“They probably could have been better if I had known what I know now. Same with this team if I was a smarter coach,” he said. “The geometry is amazing, but you have to be receptive to both, keep your fundamentals. Important things — communication, stance, great attitudes, having guys that can shoot the ball and pass are all important. But schemes, you’d better continue to change or you won't hang around. That computer changed everything. Everybody is on everything.”
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