The Michigan Wolverines suffered their first loss of the season in a 91-88 defeat to the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday. Dusty May’s team doesn’t have much time to lick their wounds though, as they head to the West Coast for the longest road trip of the regular season this week to face the Washington Huskies on Wednesday night and the Oregon Ducks on Saturday afternoon.
Even though a coast-to-coast trip can be daunting for some Big Ten schools, the Wolverines found success last season by winning at USC and UCLA last January, outscoring those opponents by a combined margin of 179-149. Now, Michigan will attempt to channel that same focus and mindset in order to rebound from the recent loss and get back in the win column.
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“I’ll begin by expressing excitement to get on the road and regroup and refocus as a unit and see if we can get back to playing much, much better basketball,” May told the media on Monday morning. “We have to get better this week, much better prior to playing Washington, and then use that to learn more about ourselves as we prepare for Oregon. It will be two tough environments to play in.
“If we respond the way that we did last year and the way that we have the majority of time this year, then the loss will be a good thing. But if we don’t, if we start to lose a little bit of confidence, we don’t play with the same edge or we start pointing fingers and let the outside noise get into our locker room, then it’s going to be a bad thing.”
These road trips can often be an opportunity to further develop chemistry and grow closer, as was the case when Michigan dominated in Las Vegas back in November. May has previously talked about how quickly the team became a cohesive unit, and now that will be put to the test yet again.
“We have such good guys that really like and respect each other, and simply being forced to spend more time together is healthy because they develop an even greater bond and trust amongst each other,” May said. “We just always felt like because we have good guys who are committed to getting better, being together in different environments will help us grow.”
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May also explained they need to increase their intensity in order to bounce back from the Wisconsin loss.
“We’ve played at a high level of intensity until recently, so will we ever be satisfied with our intensity? Probably not,” May said. “Part of being a championship team is the focus, concentration and intensity that goes into winning at a high level. This team has played with more intensity than our team last year, and most of the teams that we played against this year.”
It certainly won’t be easy for the Wolverines to go into raucous road atmospheres at Washington and Oregon and come away with wins this week. But they have proven time and time again they have what it takes to beat any opponent if they play up to their full potential. To do so, May knows it will take an increased level of focus and intensity.