Michigan Basketball: 3 Takeaways from win over Indiana

Michigan basketball didn’t play its best game Saturday against Indiana, but it didn’t need too and here are three quick takeaways from the Wolverines win. 

Less than two days after beating a top-10 opponent at home, Michigan basketball moved even closer to the Big Ten championship with a convincing win at Indiana.

The Wolverines didn’t play their best game of the season at either end of the floor, but with such a quick turnaround, in a trap game situation, they did more than enough.

In fact, even though IU hung around in the 10-15 point range for most of the day, the outcome never really seemed in doubt.

Franz Wagner quickly established that Indiana couldn’t guard him and even though the Wolverines didn’t shoot that well, their offense still was in the range of 1.2 points per possession and held their sixth Big Ten opponent to under 60 points.

Here are the quick takeaways from the win:

Franz campaign for Big Ten Player of the Year continues

I know that this probably isn’t going to happen and Franz Wagner isn’t going to win Big Ten Player of the Year, but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t. For the second straight game, he just dominated the competition. He missed some open looks from 3-point range that you’d expect him to make and that prevented him from getting close to 30 but it was still a clinic.

The Wolverines were a little sluggish early, but Wagner got things going with a steal that turned into a 3-point play. It was the first make of an 8-for-8 day at the stripe.

Wagner was so automatic at the line I don’t remember any of his attempts even hitting the rim. The sophomore, who seemingly gets better with every game, added six boards, an assist and three steals. He was the best player on the floor and it was fun watching him dominate.

The defense was the story

As the saying goes, defense travels well and it certainly did for Michigan basketball on Saturday. Trayce Jackson-Davis came into the game averaging 20 points and he scored just 10 on 3-of-12 shooting. He and Luka Garza can exchange notes about how hard it is to score inside on U-M.

True to form, Michigan allowed Indiana just 15 3-point attempts, and the Hoosiers made just four. Indiana was able to get to the free-throw line 17 times, yet the Wolverines had 17 makes on 19 attempts.

Michigan was plus-12 from the 3-point line and had a 4-point advantage on free throws and that was the difference in the game.

The Big Ten title is closer than ever

With the win, Saturday, Michigan’s magic number to win the Big Ten championship is down to one. The Wolverines need just one win or one Illinois loss down the stretch and that will clinch it.

There’s tons of talk about Michigan being the No. 1 team in the country but winning the Big Ten title isn’t something the Wolverines have done since 2014 and it will be a major achievement for Juwan Howard if his team finishes it off.

There are obviously much bigger goals, but in the Big Ten, at a program like Michigan, winning the Big Ten championship is enormous and even that is something very few thought was possible in November.

Illinois plays at Wisconsin, then at Michigan Tuesday, and at Ohio State next weekend. If Illinois loses any of those games, Michigan is the Big Ten champ.

If the Wolverines don’t beat Illinois Tuesday, it would need at least one win in the final two over Michigan State to take home the crown.

Either way, you can taste it.