Ann Arbor — The Wolverines checked off one of their season goals when they took home the Players Era tournament title and a boatload of NIL money.
Next on the list: A Big Ten regular-season championship.
That mission officially begins Saturday when Michigan kicks off conference play and what figures to be a three-month-long slugfest by hosting Rutgers.
“We understand what’s at stake in the long run of things. We’ve still got tons of things to play for — a Big Ten championship, a national championship,” guard Nimari Burnett said. “We feel that we have a group to do this. Although it feels good to have that early success, we feel even more motivated to go out there and more confident to go out there beat teams, whoever we step out there with.”
In coach Dusty May’s first season at the helm, Michigan came up short in the Big Ten regular-season race last year and finished in a tie for second, three games behind champion Michigan State.
This time around, Burnett believes the Wolverines have even more talent, skill, size and athleticism that will help them make a stronger push for first place. Not to mention they’re deeper and more balanced, with seven players averaging at least eight points, including five in double figures.
“I think we have a great combination of guys on both ends of the floor,” Burnett said. “We’re still learning how to complement each other and play with each other at a high level, giving each other space or helping each other when we need to.
“With the big lineup out there, when Morez (Johnson Jr.) and Aday (Mara) are at the four and the five, we’re learning how to play around those guys, and then when we go small being able to adapt on the fly is important for us.”
On top of that, Michigan is riding high into its Big Ten opener and coming off a dominant showing in Las Vegas. But as impressive as the three consecutive blowout wins over San Diego State, Auburn and Gonzaga were, Burnett’s biggest takeaway from the Vegas event was how much the group cares about winning.
The Wolverines never eased up and deviated from their game plan, even when their lead ballooned to ridiculous margins of 30- and 40-plus points. They didn’t start jacking up selfish shots and taking plays off on defense. They were focused on getting another stop, getting another bucket and playing the right way for a full 40 minutes.
As forward Yaxel Lendeborg put it, no one was playing for individual stats, and everyone was motivated to make a play for others.
“Hopefully we can continue to play like that,” Lendeborg said, “because I feel like we’ll be a force to be reckoned with.”
Assistant coach Justin Joyner pointed out that the Wolverines set a standard with their level of play at the Players Era tournament and it’s up to them to “cement” it. And they’ll have to do so with a target on their back, after rising to No. 3 in the latest AP Top 25 poll.
“We know what every single Big Ten game offers and what it presents, the type of energy that you have to come out there with every single night,” Burnett said. “Especially now, teams are going to try to come at you very hard. These guys beat some of the best teams in the country by a large (margin).
“They want to bring it to us and be one of those teams that knock us down. Our group takes that as being the hunters, instead of feeling hunted, and leaving it all out on the floor.”
That won’t be easy in the Big Ten, where nothing is given and no game is a gimmie. Just ask No. 22 Indiana, which fell at Minnesota this week and was handed its first loss by a .500 Golden Gophers team that had only nine scholarship players available.
Entering play Friday, 10 Big Ten teams are ranked in the top 40 on KenPom and six are ranked in the AP Top 25, meaning a gauntlet lies ahead.
“We have good teams and every team is a little bit different,” said Joyner, who called the Big Ten a “powerhouse” conference. “Purdue is a little bit different than Michigan State, than Wisconsin, than UCLA, than Iowa. This is a good league, and it’s a lot of different types of games.
“But what’s similar with all these programs is the toughness and the physicality. Having lived that for a year now, having felt that for a year now, I think it’s going to serve us well moving forward.”
The physical nature of the Big Ten is something May underestimated last season. He and his staff addressed that with the way they built this season’s roster. They brought in guys who have been through the rigors of Big Ten play like Johnson, who played at Illinois last season, and Mara, who came from UCLA.
Coupled with the returning core of L.J. Cason, Roddy Gayle Jr., Will Tschetter and Burnett and other additions, Joyner said they assembled a group of guys who “value physical toughness.” And the way freshman guard Trey McKenney sees it, that could be the separator.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a tougher Michigan team,” said McKenney, the former Orchard Lake St. Mary’s standout who grew up watching the Wolverines. “Just the way we go about every game, our mindset going into games, I think, is really going to help.”
The hope is it’ll lead to the Wolverines winding up where they want to be at the end of a grueling 20-game conference marathon.
“I think as you go through a race, you go through a grind, you go through a journey, it’s all about the day-to-day process and getting lost in the day to day,” Joyner said. “Not looking forward, not looking back and just living in the moment and trying to be your best on a day-to-day basis is important.
“I think your leadership is important. Your player-led teams that have been through these wars, we’re going to call on them. We’re going to call on Nimari, Will, Morez, Roddy. We need those guys to be sharp and iron-tight for us to have success and make it through this long race.”
Michigan vs. Rutgers
▶ Tipoff: 4 p.m. Saturday, Crisler Center, Ann Arbor
▶ TV/radio: BTN/94.7
▶ Records: No. 3 Michigan 7-0; Rutgers 5-4, 0-1 Big Ten
▶ Outlook: The Wolverines have won 10 of their last 12 Big Ten openers and are looking for their first 8-0 start since the 2020-21 campaign. The Scarlet Knights have lost four of five, including a 13-point home loss to Central Connecticut, and opened conference play Tuesday with an 81-65 loss to No. 1 Purdue.
jhawkins@detroitews.com
@jamesbhawkins
