By TYLER HATHAWAY
BUFFALO, N.Y– After taking down Howard in the first round, No. 1 seed Michigan is advancing to take on No. 9 seed Saint Louis in the Midwest Region Round of 32 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo on Saturday.
“We’re obviously very excited to prolong our stay in Buffalo and have a chance to continue competing,” said Michigan head coach Dusty May. “Saint Louis is an excellent basketball team. We’re excited to see if we can see if we can solve some of the challenges that they’re going to represent.
The matchup will be like playing against themselves, according to the Wolverines.
“They play a very similar style to us conceptually,” said guard Trey McKinney. “They don’t really play out of half court sets, just in flows. They have a really good feel for the game and good shooters, and a good big man. It’ll definitely be a really good game.”
“They’re like us,” May explained. “They have a lot of really talented unique players who play to their strengths. They present a number of challenges. I think most of the year both of us were top 10 in two-point percentage on offense and top three on defense. When you look at a lot of our metrics and analytics we mirror each other in the final result.”
The Billikens are entering the matchup after a blowout win against No. 8 seed Georgia on Thursday. Saint Louis had six in double figures and scored 102 points, with 66 points in the paint.
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“We just need to play hard on defense,” said guard Elliott Cadeau. “We feel like we are the best defensive team in the country, so just going out and playing with a lot of intensity. We feel like we also have a team that can have a lot of players in double figures (like Saint Louis). Going against each other in practice every day has definitely prepared us.”
“Having urgent communication,” said guard Nimari Burnett on what will help them the most Saturday. “I think it will allow us to be in the right spots defensively and understand, especially with our switching defense being on the same string. Offensively communicating to each other where we need to be our spots. I think it will allow us to dictate pace and just dictate the tempo of the game.”
There will be a personal factor in the game. May and Saint Louis coach Josh Schertz first met a few years ago while May was at Florida Atlantic trying to recruit a graduate transfer from Schertz’s team, Division II squad Lincoln Memorial. May was impressed with how well-coached Lincoln Memorial was while scouting.
The two struck up a close friendship, and have spent hours together in each other’s offices in offseasons just talking about the game.
“He’s an absolute basketball junkie,” said May of Schertz. “I’ve learned so much from him. I wish now we didn’t have each other’s practice databases from all summer, our playbooks and what not.”
“I think we have a lot in common,” Schertz explained. “We’re both obsessed with basketball and trying to figure out ways to do it better. It’s always nice when you have somebody in the same chair as you. It’s hard sometimes being a head coach.”
Part of the reason they believe they’ve been able to connect is because their basketball minds operate so similarly.
“He’s been an incredible resource for me over however many years it’s been,” said Schertz. “He’s like me where we’re always looking at how we can do better and how we can handle situations better. We’re always picking each other’s brains, obviously not here, but on what we can do and how we can do our jobs better.”
“When you look at the way we play, we get to the same thing differently because of personnel but we’re both hunting for the same thing,” said May. “I have a lot of respect for him and his journey and how he goes about developing players and teams.”
The Wolverines will be looking to play a complete game after a first half against No. 16 seed Howard that saw them lead 50-46.
“I think it was a good wake-up call for us,” said Cadeau. “That wasn’t the position we wanted to be in going into the half. We just realized that every team in this tournament is extremely talented and we shouldn’t take any moment for granted.”
Michigan was able to pull away in the second half and won by 20.
“I thought in the second half we really settled into taking advantage of our size and playing through that, using that to generate offense,” said May. “I thought we shot the ball well. They did a good job in the first half of taking away the paint and collapsing on our bigs. We made the extra passes and made open shots.”
A 12:10 tip-off is scheduled Saturday. The game will be broadcast on CBS.
“They present a number of challenges,” May said of Saint Louis. “Hopefully our size and length can disrupt their timing just enough.”
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