Michigan Basketball: 3 Predictions for Wolverines against Toledo

The defense will be tested by Toledo

Michigan basketball has been pretty solid on defense so far this season and rank 44th in adjusted defense by Kenpom while allowing 93.6 points per possessions which is 127th in the nation.

Tonight at the Crisler Center, that will certainly be challenged by Toledo. The Rockets aren’t off the charts offensively or anything and average 1.08 points per possession, but they space the floor really well as you can imagine and have three starters Marreon Jackson, Setric Millner and Spencer Littleson who are making more than two 3-pointers a game.

Littleson is a 6-foot-4 senior from Rochester Hills, Michigan and he’s shooting 46 percent from deep on 7.1 shots per game. Jackson, the Rockets leading scorer is shooting about 8 3-balls per game.

The Rockets want to space and use ball screens to also help get open looks and it really makes you wonder if Austin Davis will continue to start. His issues defending ball screens and being slow to help could lead to some open looks early in the game.

At this point, there is no reason to expect Juwan Howard to put Hunter Dickinson in the starting lineup and even with him out there, Toledo is still going to be tough to defend.

The Wolverines have allowed teams to shoot about 32 percent from 3-point range this season but they have also played some teams that didn’t take advantage of opens looks.

Tonight, Toldeo is going to make some shots, I’d hazard a guess at around 10 treys, which sounds like a lot, but if the Wolverines can keep it there in the 8-10 range for makes, they will win.