Michigan Basketball: 3 Keys to Wolverines beating Wisconsin
After not playing this weekend, Michigan basketball will be back on the court Tuesday and here’s three keys to the Wolverines beating Wisconsin.
The Michigan basketball team got a rest over the weekend as its game against Penn State was postponed. Whether that’s a good thing or not remains to be seen, because the Wolverines were on fire, but at the same time, a couple of extra days rest isn’t always a bad thing.
Regardless, after both Wisconsin and Michigan basketball won last week, we are guaranteed to see a top-10 showdown. The Badgers are ranked No. 8 right now in the AP poll and Michigan is 10th, although that could change following the Wolverines rout of No.16 Minnesota last week.
Behind the play of fantastic freshman Hunter Dickinson, the Wolverines are 10-0 overall and 5-0 in the Big Ten, sitting one game in front (in the loss column) of Iowa and Wisconsin.
A win would keep Michigan a half-game up on Iowa and two full games ahead of Wisconsin and in order for that to happen, here are three keys to victory for U-M:
Keeping winning the 2-point battle
Much of this is due to Dickinson, but Michigan has simply been dominant in the paint on both ends of the floor. Having a 7-foot-1 center who can finish, rebound and is fairly athletic has been beneficial on both ends of the floor, yet Franz Wagner, also 6-foot-9 has been a force inside.
Really, the entire Michigan team excels inside as not a single player in the top 9 rotation shoots below 50 percent on 2-point attempts. In Big Ten play, Michigan has the No. 1 field goal percentage (61.6 percent) on 2-point shots and the best defense too — allowing makes just 38.9 percent of the time.
However, keeping that up against Wisconsin will be a little more challenging. The Badgers only allow teams to make around 40 percent on their 2’s, which is third in the Big Ten and 15th nationally.
Wisconsin has two guys at 6-foot-10 or taller in Micah Potter and Nate Reuvers. The Badgers also shoot the ball well inside but they don’t shoot as often or as well as Michigan.
So the Wolverines should have an advantage there and they will need to have one in order to win this game. U-M has dominated points in the paint and that’s been a huge key to some of these runaway wins and if that continues, Michigan will have a good chance to win.