Wolverines Explain How This Basketball Game Got Away

Martelli, Nkamhoua, McDaniel discuss 94-86 loss to Long Beach State after squandering 16-point lead, take 'ownership' of shortcomings

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Michigan forward Olivier Nkamhoua, who scored a team-high 22 points, said “communication errors” need to be addressed for improvement.

By Steve Kornacki

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – What happens when a favored team loses a home game that it appeared to be putting away early?

The Michigan basketball team had been flying high by opening with three wins, but lost Friday night to Long Beach State, 94-86.

So, Wolverine acting coach Phil Martelli’s top concern was how his team will react to the reality and disappointment of playing well below its expected standards.

“It was about our trust in each other,” Martelli said of the team’s biggest downfall in the game. “It’s not surprising. It’s a cliché, but you’re never as good as it seems [in wins] but you’re never as bad as it seems [in losses], either.

“The trust factor didn’t go the whole game, and it isn’t something that is going to linger with us. But some of it was in body language, and it started with communication, and we lacked communication.”

Martelli said there are drills he will employ in practice to correct the problems, but then he smiled and added, “But it really comes out the next time we get challenged…It has to come the next time we face this challenge.”

The end of the game was particularly tough to take.

Wolverine point guard Dug McDaniel had cut the lead to 87-85 for the Beach with a clutch three-pointer, and then fouled Messiah Thompson to send him to the free throw line with 21 seconds remaining. Thompson missed the front end of the one-and-one free throw situation, but then Long Beach’s Aboubacar Traore grabbed an uncontested rebound for a put-back bucket.

And just like that, the maize and blue were down by four points with 16 seconds remaining.

“We had it,” said Michigan forward and co-captain Olivier Nkamhoua, “and I let a box out go through. And I had some communication errors in the second half that I need to clear up with my teammates. We’ve got to do a better job of communicating.

“[Traore] was out of there quick, I thought I had him. I fell and he basically dunked it. It was a terrible block-out on a free throw like that.”

Martelli said the game also featured “the worst basket that we’ve given up in our five years together here [under Coach Juwan Howard, who is on the mend after heart surgery].”

Martelli said players taking “ownership” is important after a first loss, and Nkamhoua and McDaniel did that in the post-game press conference.

When I asked what he saw as the biggest problem in the loss, McDaniel said, “I’d say taking the one-on-one challenge. I let a guy go baseline on me and get a layup. A couple other guys gave up some one-on-one baskets. You have to be a fierce competitor on both ends, and generate offense with our defense.”

There was no flow for the Wolverines, and Martelli pointed to the 16 turnovers being crucial. McDaniel had six turnovers with six assists to go with 20 points. He also scored just 6 points in the second half.

Forward Tray Jackson came off the bench to score 15 in the first half, but finished with only 17.

Nkamhoua scored only 6 in the first half, but fired up a comeback to finish with a team-high 22 points.

“The biggest problem we had was every time we scored we wouldn’t react equally fast to get back,” said Nkamhoua. “We were letting them get too many transition breakouts, and that’s the lack of communication.

“Whoever sees it needs to be on his horse and the person has to get back. We’ve all got to be on a string. There were some layups we gave up. We’ve got to bounce back every time we had a good play or a bad play. We’ve got to be able to bounce back.

“We let our highs get a little too high and our lows get a little too low. We let the ebbs and flows of the game get to us. We weren’t a cohesive team and that starts with me being a better communicator on and off the court.”

McDaniel agreed, adding, “Our transition defense has to be way better. We let up a lot of easy ones.”

This game wasn’t supposed to be a big challenge for Michigan, and it took a 23-7 lead out of the gate. But it got outscored, 87-63, the rest of the way.

Long Beach State was 17-16 last season, and played three road games and was 1-2 entering this game. It had beaten DePaul (77-73) and lost to Portland (78-73) and San Diego State (88-76) – which reached the NCAA championship game last season.

McDaniel added that Long Beach’s zone defense “caught us off guard,” and he couldn’t keep scoring or making great passes when the double-teams came.

The Wolverines now head to play Memphis (3-0) Wednesday (ESPN, 5 p.m.) in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas before playing two more games in the tournament.

What they learned from this loss will become evident in three challenging games.

“I’m glad it happened this early so everybody can see what they need to work on,” said McDaniel, “and have everybody step up on Wednesday.

“This definitely hurts, but it was good to see guys get mad about it [in the locker room]. You know they care, and guys want to go to war for you.”

Martelli concluded: “It’s terrific that it’s November and not March. We’ll see how we answer this coming in on Sunday to practice. Forget about going to Atlantis to win it. We have to be better on Sunday than we were today.”