No. 22 Xavier, Michigan credit teamwork ahead of Fort Myers final

Michigan and No. 22 Xavier made good strides through the grind of their first games in the Fort Myers Tip-Off.Both programs are feeling positive as they get ready to meet in the title game Wednesday night in Fort Myers, Fla.Xavier (6-0) beat South Carolina 75-66 on Monday with five players scoring in double figures.”I think we took a step forward,” Musketeers coach Sean Miller said. “I think our bench can play better. … I know they can give us more and we’re going to need more from them (vs. the Wolverines).”Michigan (5-1) beat Virginia Tech 75-63 in the first semifinal on Monday with a boost from Roddy Gayle Jr.’s 20 points. The Wolverines overcame a small deficit in the second half.Gayle has given Michigan a lift at times.”Roddy is stringing together some consistency,” coach Dusty May said. “He has been awesome in practice. He’s a great leader, and when he speaks, his teammates listen, because he’s about the team. And he deserves the success.”Michigan has tried to find diversity on offense because the team is prone to attempt lots of 3-point shots. The Wolverines’ ability to work for other looks against Virginia Tech was notable.”I still don’t think we converted as well as we’re going to in the future around the rim, but credit our guards, our bigs did a nice job of long roll and putting pressure, and our guards found them several times,” May said. “Credit for that camaraderie and teamwork.”Michigan post player Danny Wolf has had three games with 10 or more rebounds. Still, there’s an emphasis on better rebounding overall from the team.”We shouldn’t be getting outrebounded by these teams. We all know that,” May said. “But sometimes it’s quickness, sometimes we’re in different positions than we’ve been. But overall we have a group that wants to get better and they compete at a high level. It’s not bad for us to have that in our locker room as a little bit of a care for motivation.”For Xavier, Miller said he saw better commitment to teamwork in the South Carolina game.