ANN ARBOR — Michigan men’s basketball assistant coach Drew Williamson watched on TV as Rutgers’ Ace Bailey dropped 37 points in a win at Northwestern on Wednesday night.
“I struggled to get some sleep last night because of him,” Williamson said on Thursday morning.
Michigan will face Rutgers next, on Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, FOX), and Bailey is just one half of Rutgers’ sensational freshman duo. Whether the other half suits up on Saturday remains to be seen.
Michigan (15-5 overall, 7-2 Big Ten) heads to New Jersey coming off Monday’s bounce-back win at home over Penn State, 76-72. The Wolverines had a disastrous performance in the game prior, a 27-point loss at Purdue, and were determined to respond the right way.
Point guard Tre Donaldson addressed the team during a film session between those games. “Guys, I’ll be better,” he said according to Williamson. “That’s not the Tre Donaldson that you’ll see going forward.”
That accountability went a long way with his teammates and coaches. Just as important was how he played on Monday: 21 points, including clutch baskets in crunch time, seven assists, no turnovers, four steals.
“When Tre plays with that type of confidence and swagger, you can see our entire unit is feeding off of his energy,” Williamson said.
Speaking of feeding and energy, Michigan starting center Vladislav Goldin is feeling better than he was earlier in the week. Flu (or flu-like) symptoms limited him to 17 labored minutes against Penn State. He practiced on Thursday morning and is tolerating food again and getting his wind back. “I think he’ll be ready to go by the weekend,” Williamson said.
Rutgers point guard Dylan Harper dealt with a similar issue earlier this season but it was an ankle injury that kept him out of Wednesday’s game. Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said after that he wasn’t sure if Harper would be ready for Michigan.
“We hope to get Dylan back soon, but he hasn’t practiced in a boot,” Pikiell said, per NJ.com. “We want him back at 100 percent. I don’t know what that means.”
Williamson said Michigan will prepare two game plans to be ready for either scenario.
Harper, a 6-foot-6 freshman averaging 18.6 points and 4.1 assists per game, is the second-best prospect in the 2025 NBA draft according to ESPN.
The third best? Bailey, a 6-10 forward with an incredible assortment of offensive skills.
He’s leading Big Ten players with 20.7 points per game, while adding 7.8 rebounds and shooting 41 percent from 3. Bailey has shined the brightest when Harper has been out, evidenced by Wednesday’s output and a 39-point game (in a loss) at Indiana earlier this month.
“It’s not going to be a one-person deal to guard him,” Williamson said. “We need to take the challenge as a group. He’s just a legit scorer at all three levels.” Williamson also praised Bailey’s passion and care for his teammates, evident even on film.
The Wolverines are excited about the opportunity to face a pair of players who might be taken among the first three picks of the draft.
“We talked about it today a lot,” forward Will Tschetter said. “They’re obviously ridiculously talented players. … Our team’s really juiced up to play those guys.”
The NBA scouts that have flocked to Jersey Mike’s Arena have seen a team fighting to stay above .500 all month. The Scarlet Knights, ranked in the preseason AP Top 25 (at No. 25) for the first time since 1978, enter Saturday’s game at 11-10 (4-6).
This Rutgers squad is better offensively but much worse defensively than any of Pikiell’s previous eight seasons as coach.
Even so, this matchup is currently a Quad 1 game for Michigan. The Wolverines will try to build on a couple of things from Monday’s game: the season-low nine turnovers they had, by eliminating as many of their “pick 6″ giveaways as possible; and matching Rutgers’ physicality because, as Williamson pointed out, Big Ten teams are “not going to let us play finesse all the time.”
The Rutgers crowd has been hostile towards Michigan in recent years and Tschetter expects a loud arena on Saturday. The Wolverines came unglued almost immediately in their last road game.
“It’s a tough place to play,” Tschetter said. “We’ve talked about it. I don’t think after last Friday we’re taking any game on the road for granted or underestimating any environment. So we’ll be ready to go.”
