Go back and read the quotes from Big Ten media days — it feels like Michigan basketball must have been talking about another team.

On that October afternoon in Minneapolis, assistant coach Saddi Washington and three player representatives at Target Center looked at the season ahead with an unblemished record, and though they came off of a trying season, optimism was high.

Particularly on one end of the floor.

“We feel that we've added some size, length and athleticism to this group,” Washington said. “We want basketball players. We want guys who are able to play multiple positions, defend multiple positions, because it lends to the creativity of Coach Juwan (Howard). We'll be able to do maybe some things offensively and defensively that we haven't been able to do.

"For us, that's exciting. That's refreshing."

The Wolverines missed the NCAA tournament in 2023 in large part because of their defense, which finished No. 11 in the Big Ten in scoring (69.6 points per game) and allowed 0.974 points per possession, the worst rate of the Juwan Howard era.

However, those in the program said they addressed it by adding "versatility" to the roster.

Everybody, with the lone exception of Dug McDaniel, was expected to play multiple positions on offense, and seen as capable of guarding multiple positions on defense.

However, instead of mixing-and-matching in a variety of ways to create mismatches for the opposition, each new combination on defense seems to struggle more than the one before.

The Wolverines (7-13, 2-7 Big Ten) this season allow 1.087 points per possession (No. 311 nationally), have fallen to the bottom of the Big Ten standings in defense by allowing 79.2 points per game (No. 338 nationally), and are the only team in the league with a sub .500 record.

And while it has felt as though U-M has bottomed out multiple times already this season, it grabbed a shovel once more on Saturday vs. Iowa and got to digging.

Michigan gave up a 10-0 run to start the second half, and later simply didn't follow the game plan as it allowed the Hawkeyes' two best scores, Tony Perkins and Payton Sandfort, to get hot.

The two combined to make 19 of 26 field goals and 8 of 12 from long range as they scored 50 points by themselves, 34 of which came after the break.

'JUST GOT TO FIX IT': Frigid finish sends Michigan basketball to 8th loss in 9 games

"We talked about it on film, 'Sandfort can't get any open looks'," Howard repeated postgame. "Yes, one of them he made was well-contested. If you make it well-contested, when he's falling back, going left to right, then that make is on me.

"But those open looks, that is on them."

After the game, Nimari Burnett said the team allowed its defensive struggles to leak over into the offensive end, and that's why the team currently No. 4 in the Big Ten in scoring (78.7 points per game) finished 1 of 12 from the floor over the final 10:06 of the game and U-M fell 88-78 at Crisler Center.

This came on the heels of a 32-point beatdown at Purdue, when U-M allowed 99 points, the program's most lopsided defeat in 17 years.

And that one came after U-M allowed 88 points to Illinois the week before, when Howard said postgame it would require some "soul-searching" from his team to respond from. The search continues as U-M has lost eight of nine with a defense (No. 168 KenPom) on pace for its second-worst finish this century.

“We have a team full of guys that can produce,” Burnett said, head in his hand. “That’s why it’s super frustrating right now. Things shouldn’t be like this. (Our record) shouldn’t be 7-13. We’re way better than that.”

So what is it about the defense that needs to change? The list of what doesn't would be shorter.

“Rebounding, contesting shots, drives, keeping the guy in front, no blow bys,” Howard began of the issues. “There’s ball screen defense, making sure that we keep the guys out of the paint.”

The Hawkeyes have long been one of the top offensive teams in the league, however to allow them to shoot 53% (31 of 56) from the floor and 50% (8 of 16) on 3-pointers is "unacceptable" according to Burnett.

He cited communication and camaraderie within the moment as two things that must change, before he said at a certain point, it just comes down to playing with heart.

"Having pride," he said. "Let's get a stop."

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Howard spoke to his team about a number of problems in various huddle as he attempted to get U-M back into the game in the second half.

Staying tight in transition defense, speaking clearly on ball screens and active hands in passing lanes were all points of emphasis, but none of those factors bothered him quite as much as the body language he saw displayed from his players on the court.

"I saw it, guys were upset," Howard said. "Just got to fix it."

A fix feels quite hard to imagine at this point, with the NCAA tournament seemingly long out of reach unless U-M either runs the table in the regular season or makes a miraculous run the next time it returns to Minneapolis for the Big Ten tournament in mid-March.

It hasn't helped matters that McDaniel hasn't played in road games for three weeks and that the team is without its former strength and conditioning Jon Sanderson, who stepped away from the program after an altercation with Howard. Both situations were preventable.

No matter the circumstances, it's up to Howard and Washington, long tabbed as the orchestrator of the defense, to solve something, anything, ahead of Tuesday's matchup vs. Michigan State (9 p.m., Peacock) to avoid going 1-7 in January.

It starts with fixing the body language. Perhaps the defense, and the rest will follow.

“It’s been a down season for us,” Burnett said. “We can definitely be better. But we won’t be better if we have the mentality where the energy is down. We have to right the ship game by game, possession by possession."

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan basketball desperate for answers for pitiful defense