Michigan Basketball: 3 things we learned from loss to Minnesota

Howard’s defensive plan isn’t working

The idea behind Howard’s plan of allowing Teske and other bigs to handle their opponent 1-on-1 makes sense, with the idea of limiting teams 3-point attempts, however, when you are consistently giving up 30 points to a single player, it’s time to rethink the strategy.

Howard talks about forcing tough shots, yet Daniel Oturu went 13-of-18 from the field. Minnesota’s other bigs had a field day inside, so obviously, those inside shots aren’t proving very difficult and seeing that Michigan has the worst 2-point field-goal percentage defense in the Big Ten, it’s safe to say the strategy isn’t working.

Part of that is that Teske has just been dominated down low and that’s the curious part. Maybe we overestimated his ability as a 1-on-1 defender down low, it certainly seems like Howard did, yet offering no help is a pretty big departure from the way most teams defend.

Through five games, the Wolverines are allowing 80.4 points a game, which is the worst of any team in conference play. Howard’s team is fifth in 3-point percentage allowed, but with the way Michigan is defending the paint, it hasn’t mattered.

Each time Minnesota really needed a bucket, it went inside and Michigan seemed powerless to stop it. That has to change and soon with Iowa up next.