Beilein Says Transition Defense Key For Wolverines

By Ashley Dunkak
@AshleyDunkak

ANN ARBOR - With better transition defense, Michigan might have defeated rival Michigan State on Sunday, Wolverines head coach John Beilein said Tuesday.

As the team currently plays, however, Beilein believes Michigan's upcoming opponents can beat the Wolverines just like the Spartans did.

"If they watched our transition defense against Michigan State, whether we make a shot or not, they're just going to attack us right down the floor, and that's got to be a big emphasis for us going forward," Beilein said. "Defensive transition is the thorn in every coach's side, I believe, because you're trying to get better at it in practice to really get good at it high-speed. You can wear your team out practicing it so much, but these next two opponents, Iowa and Indiana, if you don't have good transition defense, you have no hope, just like Michigan State.

"We stayed in there with Michigan State," Beilein added. "Boy, if we had better transition defense, we could have stole that one."

The coach said the Wolverines (13-9, 6-4 Big Ten) had a hard time with the style of play of the Spartans after facing the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their previous game.

"Nebraska does not take the ball out-of-bounds quick, pitch it up the floor and attack you, but you just guarded them and you held them to 40 points," Beilein said. "'Well we must be good at this,' and then - and even in practice the next two days, we're not emphasizing transition defense because you get fooled. You think, 'Okay, we're okay in that area.' Then you get exposed like we did against Michigan State.

"Boxing out - Nebraska sent nobody to the offensive boards," Beilein said. "'All right, we're okay, we run,' and now, all of a sudden, [Michigan State is] sending guys that can really, really rebound. They did a great job of getting to the backboard. Sometimes we boxed out and they just threw us away and went and got the rebound anyhow, so those are the things I'm talking about."

Improving in transition requires high-speed, high-intensity practice. Beilein believes strongly that the Wolverines must get better in that area, but on the other hand, he does not want to wear his players down.

"It is hard to balance those two things because then you have a blockout at the end of it, then the other thing that we have not liked is our transition offense - when we do get a clean rebound, getting our guys really sprinting the floor, which has been a big part of our offense [the past] couple years," Beilein said. "In order to do that, you've got to really have hard practices to get that, and ... experienced teams, you do not have to go over that over and over and over again. When they're young, they need to be reminded of those three things - sprint back on defense, find a man, contest the shot, block out, and now ... if they fast broke down, it means you have an advantage coming back. If it was a five-on-four, now you have an advantage going back down the other end. You are five-on-four.

"That's difficult because fatigue makes cowards of us all," Beilein continued, "and when you get tired, you stop going, and that's what we're trying to balance."

Michigan hosts Iowa (13-8, 4-4 Big Ten) on Thursday.