Michigan's John Beilein: Good road teams need star more than system
U-M's 2-7 road record will need to improve in season's final week
As Michigan enters the final week of the Big Ten basketball regular season, the road nemesis awaits.
The Wolverines head on the road for the final two games, at Northwestern on Wednesday and Nebraska on Sunday.
Neither is a power home team but Michigan's road record is just 2-7, with the wins over RPI No. 89 Indiana and No. 173 Rutgers.
When asked on his Monday radio show what makes a strong road team, Beilein spoke more about an emerging incarnation of his team, the one that is starting to embrace his season-long mantra: Don't think. React.
It sounded like a version of the speech he may be giving his team, hoping they can become more like this.
"You’re going to have some teams that are better on the road," he said. "That have guys with a little wiggle, guys that can get their own shot, guys that when the crowd is really going crazy, can really create their own. If you’re just about a system -- only about a system -- on the road it’s really tough. If you don’t have good post play, it’s tougher on the road. You’ve got to be able to get easy points that the coach doesn’t draw up. You just throw it in or a guy can get his one shot."
The post game still needs work and getting their own shot is not a regular occurrence. But there are enough players who have that one-shot potential in spurts -- Derrick Walton Jr., Zak Irvin, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, Moe Wagner when he's shaking a big man at the top of the circle -- that Beilein can have hope.
Related:
'A lot of drama' in Moe Wagner's game, but Michigan will take it
There were enough times earlier this season on the road when a player finishing like that might have made a difference.
That's what they imagine saddled with overtime road losses at Iowa and Minnesota and a at Wisconsin with 5 1/2 minutes to play. Getting a split in these next two probably will ensure an NCAA tournament berth, yet completing it, even against two reeling teams, is still uncertain.
Beilein knows what that success feels like because he lived it. In Michigan's conference title years and NCAA tournament runs from 2010-11 through 2013-14, they won at least five road games per season. This year can only max out at four, but that would be a dramatic finish, winning four of the final five.
“We had a pretty good road record when we had Trey (Burke) and Tim (Hardaway Jr.) in the backcourt and Nik Stauskas," Beilein said. "It was pretty good. This year we’ve been so close, those two overtime (losses), that’s going to change a lot in our season. Or up six with 6 (minutes) to go at Wisconsin. Those are all games we would be right in there, we would be slated as a top seed in the NCAAs if we had gotten those road wins. But we weren’t good enough to do that. Sometimes it’s coaching, it’s personnel. Sometimes it’s just dumb luck. An official call, a technical foul, anything can happen to make a difference in a season.”
While that last bit was a sly dig at the lopsided officiating against U-M at Wisconsin and Iowa changing the game's complexion, Beilein's point about creating players is forcing the action.
If there was a lesson learned from those maddening road scenarios, he's sharing it: Force the action.
Closing these games will close the season with momentum heading into the Big Ten tournament and beyond.
Contact Mark Snyder: msnyder@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @mark__snyder. Download our Wolverines Xtra app for free on Apple and Android devices!