Michigan Basketball: 3 keys for the Wolverines to beat Illinois

2. Avoid a slow start

Michigan hasn’t played badly at the beginning of games, but lately, it has taken them a little bit to get into the flow of the game. The Wolverines need to avoid that on Tuesday against the Illini. They need to get off to a quick start and put doubt in Illinois.

The Illini have had their fair share of slow starts and have been able to dig out of a lot of them, but they haven’t played Michigan. They did play Baylor earlier this year, but that has been a few months ago now.

If Michigan basketball can avoid that slow start and jump on them early, I don’t think the Illini has the firepower to come back against the Wolverines. Yes, they have the firepower to score a lot of points and in a hurry, but against Michigan’s defense I think that would be extremely tough.

The Wolverines defense has been very good all year, but the last two games it has been even better. They are riding high and taking a lot of pride in slowing down the other team and this could be the same type of game.

So if the Wolverines can have a quick start, they could put themselves in a position to win this game early. But if they have a slow start this game could be sloppy early and will turn into a dogfight.

We fully expect to be a dogfight, but the Wolverines could change that with a good start. Start quick and they will win this game.