For Trevion Williams, aggressiveness and patience key in Michigan rematch
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Last time Purdue and Michigan met, a 50-minute game ended in Ann Arbor with Trevion Williams having scored 36 points, very nearly carrying the Boilermakers to a double-overtime win.
He did it almost entirely against the Wolverines' Jon Teske, almost exclusively against a single defender. Afterward, Michigan coach Juwan Howard said this: "At the end of the day, the 36 points that was on me. That wasn't on Jon Teske. He scored that on me."
That would strongly suggest Michigan could take a different approach to defending Williams Saturday when the Wolverines visit West Lafayette for a game of crucial importance to the Boilermakers' NCAA Tournament chances.
Michigan comes to Purdue riding a four-game winning streak and having played well defensively for a longer stretch than that. Whether its view on defending the post — prior, it put Teske one on one in hopes of taking away teams' perimeter shooters — has changed, it doesn't seem to have. Purdue, though, says it does see the Wolverines bringing more ball-side help to swipe or dig at the ball, particularly if they can help off a non-shooting threat.
Michigan has been vulnerable to post scoring all season. It may not be a coincidence that its aggregate record vs. Iowa and Luka Garza, Minnesota and Daniel Oturu and Ohio State and Kaleb Wesson is 1-3 to this point. Of those games against those players, the three highest-scoring low-post centers in Big Ten play have averaged 32.5 points vs. the Wolverines on 60-percent shooting.
And that says nothing on Williams' 36 on 16-of-28 shooting.
Williams says he's expecting Michigan to do something different, and suggests this could be more of a "kickout, find-an-open-teammate" game for him, playing to his strengths as a passer.
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But Purdue's long-standing rule in the post has been this: Against single coverage, score; against double-coverage, pass. It's a rule Matt Painter wants Williams adhering to each and every time.
"I talked to Coach Painter about it and he said, 'You're a very good passer, but sometimes it hurts you,'" Williams said. "He said that when you're a great passer, you can think that you have to pass all the time or make the superhero play to find an open teammate. But sometimes being really aggressive and going at guys opens things up more for teammates."
Painter has used the term "too unselfish" in regard to Williams, who sometimes has passed out of single coverage to try to set up a shooter, for a team hasn't shot the ball as consistently as Williams has scored around the basket.
"Sometimes being too unselfish, it hurts me," Williams said. "I kind of miss out on points. He tells me he'd often take my jump hook over me kicking it out for a three, because it can be a better percentage shot and he trusts me to make that shot. It's a good thing to be a good passer but it can also hurt me."
Closer-range shots, too, may lend themselves to being more reboundable misses, which would play to Williams' strengths, too, even though he's rebounded many, many missed three-pointers this season.
Purdue struggled mightily to score to begin the Wisconsin game. When Williams checked in after coming off the bench, the Boilermakers didn't necessarily shoot better, but Williams cleaned up a couple messes and got Purdue on the scoreboard.
In a Big Ten full of excellent, excellent big men — several pros, in fact — it's Williams who leads the conference in offensive rebounds per game, at 4.1, doing so in an average of only 23.8 minutes per game and he splits minutes with Matt Haarms. According to KenPom, Williams ranks fifth nationally in offensive rebounding percentage at 17.6 percent.
Williams' offensive rebounding prowess reflects his improved conditioning over last season, but also an improved motor.
"I feel better and I feel more confident," Williams said. "I feel like I can get every rebound. I have that mindset."
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