Michigan Basketball vs. Northern Kentucky: Interior Defense will be Key

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Michigan basketball has to take care of its business tonight against Northern Kentucky, and the biggest key to that will be improved interior defense.

Between a plethora of injuries and Spike Albrecht electing to end his playing days early because of bad hips, Michigan has gone through a lot this season.

The Wolverines are 7-3 but just hanging in there. D.J. Wilson is out of his walking boot but won’t be available tonight against Northern Kentucky. Derrick Walton Jr. however will be good to go after missing the last three games with an ankle injury.

The real key to tonight’s game though won’t be shooting the lights out from deep or getting the score up into the 80s. The real key will come on the other side of the court where Northern Kentucky is going to try to take advantage of Jalen Billups down low.

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Billups is Northern Kentucky’s best shot at pulling an upset against the Wolverines.

The 6-foot-6 fifth-year senior is deceivingly good. Over half of Michigan’s roster is at least 6-foot-6, but Billups is an incredibly strong and efficient finisher at the rim. At 14.9 points per game, Billups is the Norse’s leading scorer, in large part because he takes about two-thirds of his shots at the rim and converts 75.4 percent of the time.

Michigan hasn’t yet had a stellar defensive performance this season (unless you want to count Delaware State, but that was never going to be close), and that’s especially true in the post. Ricky Doyle, Mark Donnal and Mortiz Wagner are routinely taken advantage of by better big men.

It’s not all bad news tonight though. Billups can be a dominant force in the post, but he has a few weaknesses.

Teams like to take hacks at Billups before he can even get going because of his low 38.9 free throw percentage. Billups also usually won’t go more than 25 minutes because of foul trouble and his recent recovery from a potentially serious heart condition.

By the way, you’ll want to check out that story:

Even if Billups is able to stay on the court, there’s been a large disparity between his performances. Against teams outside the KenPom top 150 he’s averaging 20 points per game, but against teams inside the top 150 he’s averaging only 8 points per game.

Michigan’s height advantage is a good start, but it isn’t going to be enough. It’s not like the Wolverines will be the first team to throw a taller player at Billups.

What will make a difference for Michigan tonight is the fact that Northern Kentucky is limited outside of Billups.

Cole Murray is going to be the Norse’s best shooter from deep. Michigan is going to want to bottle up Billups with a good team effort on defense, but whoever draws Murray is going to have a big responsibility too.

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If Michigan can take away Billups and then make sure Murray doesn’t go off, this isn’t going to be a very close game.