Michigan Basketball: 3 predictions for Wolverines at Michigan State
Whoever wins the 3-point battle wins the game
The showdown between Winston and Simpson will go a long way towards deciding the outcome between the Wolverines and Spartans, but on a larger scale, the 3-point shot will be another critical indicator.
In the first meeting, neither team shot the ball very well and both were around 25 percent. Michigan State made 5-of-20 and the Wolverines were 7-of-26, although some of their makes came very late.
Michigan is 13-0 when it shoots better than 35.0% from three.
— Drew Hallett (@DrewCHallett) March 7, 2019
MSU is 18-0 when its opponent shoots worse than 34.5% from three.
In the past, shooting the deep ball has been a consistent strength of Beilein teams but this season, the Wolverines have been up and down. Yet, when Michigan shoots 35 percent from deep, its undefeated this season.
However, on the opposite side of things, according to a cool tidbit from Drew Hallett, Michigan State is 18-0 when it holds teams to less than 34.5 percent from three, as it did to UM in the first game.
That means that 3-point shooting percentage is going to be a key stat to watch and unless Michigan absolutely dominates defensively, it is going to need to make some perimeter shots to win.