Michigan Basketball: How to watch, plus keys against Penn State

Michigan basketball will open Big Ten play at home Saturday against Penn State and here’s how to watch, listen and stream, plus the keys to victory.

The long wait for Big Ten basketball is finally over as the Michigan basketball team welcomes Penn State into the Crisler Center Sunday.

Of course, there won’t be the Maize rage but so far, as a fan, it hasn’t deterred much from the product on the court, although it would have been fun to see those the fans go nuts on some of the Hunter Dickinson slam dunks we’ve seen.

At any rate, Michigan basketball will be tested against a top-100 opponent in the Kenpom rankings for the first time this season as Penn State checks in at No. 56. Michigan is 14th.

The Wolverines will be looking for a little revenge over Penn State, as the Nittany Lions won last year in their trip to Ann Arbor, but the components of this team are very different.

Michigan does have some familiar faces such as Isaiah Livers, who is the team’s leading scorer heading into this one and shooting 48 percent from 3-point range. Eli Brooks and Franz Wagner were also key players back from last season.

But outside of Brandon Johns, the other guys in what I expect to be an eight or 9-man rotation, haven’t played Big Ten hoops before. Chaundee Brown, Mike Smith, Dickinson, Terrance Williams and Zeb Jackson if he’s needed — this is the first Big Ten game for all of them.

It’s a really big test for guys like Smith and Dickinson to see if they can to be productive and create offense at as high of a rate against Big Ten players. Smith hasn’t shot the ball extremely well, but has done a great job creating for others but doing it in conference play will be tougher.

The same goes for Dickinson who will have to contend with bigger bodies and teams that are more prepared and better able to handle his size, skill and athleticism.

I’m also very interested to see how Smith does taking care of the ball. He’s been very good in that department so far with just seven turnovers in five games but Penn State forces 16.8 turnovers per game, so this will be a challenge.

The Nittany Lions also make 11-pointers per game, so the defense will be challenged, and to be honest, the Wolverines haven’t been great at defending beyond the arc, allowing more than eight 3-point field goals per game.

Last season, Michigan allowed teams to make just 5.6 3-pointers and only attempt 17. This year, opponents are trying 24 3-balls per game and that’s just a bunch of mid-majors.

The 3-point defense wasn’t what it was last year, but remember, Jon Teske and Zavier Simpson were both on this team and their pick-and-roll defense was exceptional. We’ve seen some lapses and some guys make mistakes over helping. Others just can’t cover as much ground.

But as long as the Wolverines can limit their turnovers, get Dickinson going inside and at least pull even with the Nittany Lions from beyond the arc, a win should be in the cards.

Here’s all the key info you need:

Game Info

Game 6: Michigan vs Penn State

Where: Crisler

Time: 2:00 PM EST

Tv: Big Ten Network

Stream: Fox Sports 2 Go or Fubo TV

Listen: mgoblue.com