Michigan dropped a buy game to Long Beach State on Friday, despite 86 points with an adjusted offensive rating of 115.7 per Torvik. Needless to say, the defense was a huge letdown after looking much improved through three games. 

With the Wolverines holding an 80-76 lead with 4:28 remaining, much has been made of the late-game errors, particularly an offensive rebound off a missed FT. While I'm not excusing the closing time woes, this game was lost in the middle portions of the contest. From the 12:30 mark in the first half to 10:00 left in the second, Long Beach scored no less than 22 points in transition. That's literally 1 point per minute............in transition exclusively. 

The primary culprit? Turnovers on the offensive end. Long Beach State came into this game as the fastest team in the country per Evan Miya, with a 75.2 True Tempo rank. Let me tell you, Long Beach made the Wolverines pay dearly for those TOs by turning this game into a track meet. 

Lack of Effort

Dug will get credit for the TO here, but this is on Nkamhoua in your author's opinion. He has the seal initially, but fails to hold the seal as the entry pass is coming. That allows the LB defender to get around him far too easily, particularly when he doesn't make an effort to meet the pass. 

To understand transition defense, one must understand that your first two strides changing ends are going to be the most critical. Look at Dug McDaniel and Tray Jackson in the clip above. LB clearly gains possession at the :05 mark, as both guys lack the requisite urgency. Dug fully stops/pauses near the logo to spectate, while Jackson's first two strides leave a lot to be desired. Long Beach has an easy 2-on1 advantage because of it, but somehow fails to execute for an easy layup. No matter, as the LB point guard stays in trail position and becomes the default outlet for an easy attack versus a closeout + dumpoff. 

And here we have the most egregious lack of effort. Michigan running Zoom action to get Dug in space on the right side of the court. He doesn't use the two off-ball stagger screens or the ballscreen properly (will definitely have more on that in the next week) and attempts to snake his way through three defenders before turning the ball over. 

Long Beach has a 3-on-1, but Nimari hauls ass to help Nkamhoua and the Wolverines force a miss at the rim. Tarris Reed and Terrance Williams are jogging back slowly, while Dug McDaniel barely bothers to cross half court. Easy putback for Tsohonis. Absolutely unacceptable. 

[AFTER THE JUMP a few more issues with effort, crossmatches and communication]

At times, it only requires a lack of intensity on behalf of one player to completely compromise the transition defense. We saw that more than once against LB. For this possession, that player is Tarris Reed.

Burnett misses an easy layup, and to exacerbate the matter he falls and can't get back on defense. It happens. Look at Reed jogging back............and completely stop at the FT line as his matchup is left wide open at the rim? This was definitely the most head-scratching lapse of the day. 

On this possession, Dug McDaniel is the lone culprit. The sophomore PG misses a late clock pull-up. Long Beach gains possession at the :05 second mark in the clip below. Dug is approximately 26-27 feet ahead of the ballhandler at this point.

McDaniel's first two strides are about as casual as it gets for a guard. Despite a 27ft head-start, the LB guard pulls even with Dug at the 3pt line and McDaniel is completely confused as to his assignment. You can clearly see Nimari attempt to direct him twice. Michigan wasn't able to match up properly because Dug didn't get back in time to allow for communication. Tsohonis for three. 

Crossmatches

Perhaps the most common transition defense blunder comes via a crossmatch. This occurs when the defense gets back adequately, but is often faced with a mismatch because time doesn't allow for proper slotting. Dug McDaniel falls victim to that here.

Tschetter misses a wide open layup, but the Wolverines do a good job getting back. But Dug is stuck defending 6'10 Amari Stroud. TWill directs him to switch (good process), but McDaniel stays there for a nano-second too long and this leaves AJ George wide open for three. Hard to fault Dug there, as the effort is what you want to see. This sort of error improves with experience. 

McDaniel throws a nifty off-hand entry pass to Olivier, but he fumbles it as he attempts to drop-step before gaining possession and LB comes up with a steal.

The game is getting tight and Michigan does a good job getting back. But Tray Jackson and Will Tschetter are now the two guys tasked as the primary defenders against a red-hot Marcus Tsohonis. The Long Beach guard chooses Tschetter with the ballscreen and promptely exploits the mismatch once he identifies Will giving him space. 

Lack of Communication

Another common mishap comes in the form of communication lapses. It's not enough to get back at times, it's also necessary to get the communication done early to avoid unnecessary doubles while ensuring matchups are optimal.

Here, Michigan does a really good job at getting back after Reed can't handle the dumpoff from Washington. But Dug + TWill are in the same spot and don't communicate assignments until Long Beach is well beyond half-court. That won't get it done, Wolverines concede an open three. Again, applaud the effort, but the mental execution here is a bit frustrating for two experienced starters. 

Transition defense is a teamwide effort, but Tarris Reed and Dug McDaniel were a bit too relaxed for your author's liking. It comes as no surprise that both are underclassmen. Hopefully this serves as learning tool and both come out better for it moving forward.