3 Predictions for Michigan Basketball against Ball State

Michigan will bounce back

It would be easy to get concerned about the showing against Oakland and there could be worrisome trends that come out of that game, such as turnovers.

I don’t expect it to though. Michigan was sloppy and just played like it overlooked Oakland, which at 0-3 and fresh off a 50-point loss is probably understandable. Forget playing during a pandemic and in front of no fans, as well as on the Sunday night of Thanksgiving weekend.

Looking back, in my opinion, it will just be a blip and hopefully, this team will learn that as talented as it is, even against lowly competition, you can’t just turn it on and off.

And with just three more non-conference games to go, it’s time to make sure that Michigan basketball is rounding into form with Big Ten play already on the horizon in the next two weeks.

The two areas where I would expect Michigan to be better tonight are turnovers and 3-point shooting. The turnovers came against the zone and the Wolverines not being sharp.

They won’t make those same mental mistakes and lazy passes again, because to me, that was the biggest issue — the Wolverines not executing, not necessarily what Oakland did.

Tonight, those things will get cleaned up. Mike Smith will play much better and will stay out of foul trouble and on the floor to run the show, which will also help.

And from deep, the shots have to fall at a higher rate than last week. For as many good looks as Chaundee Brown got, it was incredible that only one went.

His form was good, so hopefully the confidence is still there because due to the law of averages, more shots will fall tonight.