Michigan's Roddy Gayle Jr. Singled Out By Former Player Amid Rough Shooting Slump

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Nick Meyer | Last updated Mar 3, 2025 2:40 PM ET

Coach Dusty May's Michigan basketball team relinquished a golden opportunity to keep pace with the first place Michigan State Spartans on Sunday as they dropped a 93-73 game to coach Brad Underwood's Illinois Fighting Illinois at the Crisler Center.

The Wolverines' loss places them one game behind coach Tom Izzo's Spartans with a 14-4 record, second in the Big Ten with two games left on the schedule.

During the game, Michigan guard and former Ohio State transfer Roddy Gayle Jr. was singled out by a former Wolverines player for his shooting slump, which carried over into Michigan's 20-point loss to the Fighting Illini.

"Gayle has now missed 16 straight 3's," former Michigan player Anthony Wright wrote on X during Michigan's frustrating loss, which seemed like a carbon copy of the team's losing effort vs. the Spartans as the Wolverines were hammered on the offensive glass.

Gayle, Jr., an offseason transfer from Ohio State, has not made a three-point shot since January 24 against the Purdue Boilermakers in West Lafayette, Indiana.

His three-point shooting percentage has fallen from 42.9% during his freshman season with the Buckeyes, albeit in a much smaller sample of attempts, to 28.4% last season and now 20% in his first season in Ann Arbor with coach May's Wolverines.

If Michigan is to reach its potential down the stretch, Gayle Jr.'s play could become a big key.

His numbers have fallen across the board from last season in Columbus, Ohio with former coach Chris Holtmann's team, an inconvenient truth for a team that desperately needs improved scoring from its guards and forwards to supplement the stellar play of big men Vladislav Goldin and Danny Wolf down the stretch.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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