ANN ARBOR, Mich. — It took nearly the entire game, but Michigan basketball finally pulled away to beat Ohio State, 74-62.

It was a special evening, not just because it was a rivalry game, but also because Trey Burke was honored with his number being raised to the Crisler Center rafters. Before the game, he and former head coach John Beilein, spoke to the media, and then at halftime, Burke addressed the crowd.

But after that, the game started and most of it was a slog, until the Wolverines went on a mini-run late to put the game away in favor of the maize and blue.

Here is everything head coach Dusty May said after the game.

Comments before the presser starts

Shout out to Yaxel Lendeborg, six offensive rebounds.

Opening statement

Yeah, I want to give our guys a lot of credit for staying the course early in the game. We couldn’t get shots to drop and we couldn’t get free throws to drop either, and the first part, I want to give Ohio State credit for that. I thought they had a really good, sound game plan. They were able to keep us out of rhythm, keep us in the half-court and so we were in a little bit of a sludge, and thank goodness our second unit and our fans really pulled us through tonight. 

I thought the energy in the building, it felt like a rivalry game. It felt like it meant something to the people not on the court, and so we’re very, very grateful for that.

On the energy

Our energy level as a whole and obviously there’s certain lineups you can get more aggressive with and there’s certain lineups you can get more aggressive against and I thought the timing worked out well but our guys, they were able to really get out and extend our defense and not give up anything on the back end and so anytime you can do that and not get punished for it at all it gives you some life.

On offensive rebounding

With our bigs, we’ve been a little bit disappointed in our offensive rebounding all year, just because we think we can be elite. We’ve been good. I think we’re top 60 in the country on the 360, so percentage-wise. We just felt like we could be a top 10, top 20 offensive rebounding team if we really put our minds to it. I think the Yax and those guys, I thought all five of his threes looked good. They were on line, they hit the back of the rim, they just weren’t dropping, and I think in the second half he just made a conscious decision to shot fake and drive it, and he has such an ability around the rim to put the ball underneath the defender’s arms, around him, whatever the case. He’s just slippery around the basket. He did a really nice job of being aggressive, attacking the rim, and when he’s not in the game with Morez and Aday, there’s even more space for him to do that, so it’s another example of him being able to adapt to what the team needs at that moment.

Was Ohio State trying to slow the game down?

Yeah, I mean our spurt ability is obviously something that we’ve been able to hang our hat on in the games that have gotten away from our opponents, but yeah, we’re seeing it every game. We’re seeing a lot of pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, pass, late clock action, and we’re trying to disrupt that, and I thought our guys did a nice job on Thornton when he was able to get in the paint. We were very disciplined on his shot fakes. We contested everythin,g and we were able to stay at home for the most part. Mobley obviously was really good, and Tilly, I thought, was aggressive and active around the basket and obviously banks in a 3 which challenges your defense with Aday in. But overall, just pleased with our defensive energy. Us figuring out a different way to win.

Trey Burke said before the game this team is national championship or bust

I didn’t know.

Did you have thoughts on that and interacting with Trey while he was here?

Yeah, we had a chance to spend time with Trey last spring, and he’s just such a good guy. You could just tell there’s a warmth to him. There’s great spirit and when you play the game as well as he does did whatever the case and then you have that warmth and whatever that factor is to you can see why he made his teams better. And he’s able to continue playing ball, and he has such a great appreciation for this place like I do, like our staff does, like our players do.

So we’re very honored to be representing the same thing that he represents and having him on our side because our guys, he’s young enough that our guys, they know him. They watched him. They were enamored with the way he played the game, and what he was able to d,o so that’s pretty cool. Obviously, I grew up and seeing Glen Rice here, Scott, was pretty cool to me being an older guy but our guys all still know Trey Burke as a player, not as a former player.

Is there a balance you have to strike getting your team too fired up in a rival game? You’ve got some big games coming up.

Yeah, he’s right, and we just looked like we were out of sync, and then the turnovers kind of spiraled. We looked more like we did last year at times with the types of turnovers. So yeah, there’s myself as the head coach, I try not to make it bigger than what it is because you still have to go out and execute, hopefully in our case 80 to 90 possessions, and raw emotion doesn’t do that for you. We can generate the emotion from playing well, sharing the ball, running the floor, and getting the put-back. But just to have that emotion in the locker room, yeah it’s part of being excited to play, but that’s not gonna get us to where we want to get to. That alone, and sometimes you make too big of a deal with all the other stuff as opposed to what’s really important and us controlling their big three was much more important than just talking about the meaning of a rivalry. That’s obviously very important to beat Ohio for us and our fans but how we execute is more important than anything.

Trey McKinney had some extended runs the second half of the night. What did you like about his game?

I thought he was really sound. He looked comfortable, and it’s tough. You look at their guys, and I thought we were able to wear them down a little bit. They’re playing 35-36 minutes, their main guys, and because of our depth, and because each game requires something different. Our guys, they don’t play that many minutes, and so you really have to make the minutes count, and sometimes young players think you have to score. And Trey’s floor game, obviously, he made a big 3 late. He made his free throws down the stretch, but he just looked really comfortable, and he was able to recognize a couple of matchup advantages in our favor and take advantage of those, but he’s just getting better. 

He’s just such a good person who happens to be a guy that you’re just proud of all the things that he does on a daily basis. He works, he’s a great teammate, and it is hard when you’re playing well. Roddy Gayle, same thing. He plays well, and he doesn’t play 35 minutes. It’s the sacrifice of being on a team that’s capable of doing what we’re capable of doing.

On the Trey Burke honoring

I think as a coach, you just savor those things later when you’re able to bring back groups of people that did something special together that did hard things together, and then you’re able to meet their wives and their kids and whatnot. 

Next week

Right now, it’s on to the next thing. I mean, we have a monster week coming up. Monster three, four, five, whatever, seven weeks coming up, but this, you know, just being near, looking at the immediate future. Nebraska’s one of the best teams in the country, and so it’s going to be a challenge to get ready for that one. They’re playing at a high, high level, so when you’re getting ready to play Nebraska, Michigan State the following week, you don’t have a lot of time to savor past performances, at least from my perspective.

Just how important is Cadeau to you guys reaching your ceiling?

Incredibly important, and part of that was the zone part of it. He was battling some foul trouble. He picked up two fouls in the first half, and they were putting two on the ball on his ball screens. They were trying to take it out of his hands, so that’s also part of being a smart veteran player, that you take what the game gives you, and then you saw once the game loosened up, he was able to get in the pick and roll. 

He was able to, I think his 3 might have been off Yax’s. We made a big 3 off of Yax’s offensive rebound. I can’t remember if it was Elliot’s. That play was gigantic because it just felt like that allowed us to continue the momentum that we were building, but yeah, we trust him as a shooter, trust him as a floor general, and then defensively he’s such a pest. He plays with discipline. He’s as impactful as any guard in our conference.

John Beilein said elite guard play was the key to his best teams

Yeah, every team is built different. I mean obviously, if one of our guards is the national player of the year, the guard play is very significant, right? I think our front line has to be good.I think our guard play has to be exceptional. He’s absolutely right. He knows if Elliot and LJ and Trey and Roddy and Nimari don’t play well we’re not going to be a national title contender. But we’re a pretty balanced group and our guard play continues to improve and the nights when the shots aren’t going in, when we can find other ways to generate offense and generate good play, then we’ve got to keep just staying with it.

Ohio State played Puff Johnson tonight. I’m curious what preparation was like for him, and maybe your thoughts on teams adding impact players or out of eligibility.

We have no — we just talked about what he is. We played against him. We scouted him last year, so we knew him. We didn’t know if he’d been practicing since the summer or practicing in the fall. We didn’t have those, I guess, internal questions answered. I don’t have enough time to I guess analyze everyone else’s decisions and what’s best for their program.

I mean the fact that there’s 360 or whatever of us that are competing under the same umbrella is wild enough to know that I can’t keep up with all that stuff. I can’t imagine any scenario other than an emergency situation that we would do it, but that’s kind of where we are. I think when coaches take a hard stance, and then circumstances force them to change their minds, then they look like hypocrites. That’s something that I don’t really want to do, but I don’t have a strong opinion on it. 

We’re not doing it. That’s all we can really control are the decisions that we make. When the courts come out and say everything that we’ve been doing is illega,l I’m also not going to sit here and say we need to do this and do that if it is, in fact illegal. I’m not an attorney either. I’ve always kind of been in a company line, stuff that I’m not that passionate about. I believe in our group. I love competing with them, and if someone adds a player, then that’s their right as the coach or the administration or whatever. I’m just not up here to judge everyone else.

On the game

I think Coach Diebler is a very good basketball coach. I think they had a great plan. I think they’re an NCAA tournament team, and they’re going to win a lot of games, assuming Bruce is not too injured. They’re tough out. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

This article originally appeared on Wolverines Wire: Dusty May on Michigan’s win over Ohio State: ‘We stayed the course’