Michigan Basketball: 3 keys to beating Loyola-Chicago

Shut down Custer

Everybody on Loyola aside from Krutwig can drive, shoot and facilitate, but Clayton Custer is the best at doing it. Custer shoots 58.4 percent from two, 46.5 percent from three and posts an assist rate of 25.7 percent. He’s also decent at taking the ball away.

Once again, Zavier Simpson needs to step up to the occasion against another

Luckily for Simpson, Custer’s big assist numbers are anchored by some legitimate turnover issues. He posts a 19 percent turnover rate on the season. He’s better than Trent Forrest was for Florida State and especially better than T.J. Starks was for Texas A&M, but we know what Simpson can do to facilitators like Custer.

Loyola in general likes to pass the ball a lot, obviously. Michigan and especially Simpson have been great at getting in opponents’ pockets and turning that into points.

Breaking down Loyola’s offense starts with shutting down Custer. The other starters may be able to do many of the same things as him, but they can’t do it quite as well. If Simpson can make Custer irrelevant and the Wagner-Krutwig matchup goes the way it should, Loyola will have a bad time trying to get things going.