Michigan Basketball: 3 things to watch vs UNLV

The Michigan basketball team is coming off a heartbreaking loss to 3-0 Seton Hall in the Gavitt Tournament. The Wolverines will open up the “Roman Main Event” against an undefeated UNLV squad.

There are a lot of questions coming into this game for the Wolverines. It seemed as if they had the lead all game, and then abruptly blew it at the end. You’d be right by saying that overall. We learned a lot about this team but I think we’ll learn even more against UNLV.

Michigan basketball enters the Roman Main Event tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. The headliner teams are Michigan, UNLV, Arizona, and Witchita State. Michigan will take on UNLV in the first round and the winner will face either Arizona or Witchita State.

This game starts at 9:30 PM Pacific time, which means for most Michigan basketball fans they’ll need to stay up until about midnight just to see tipoff.

With all that out of the way, let’s talk about some things to watch this Friday (or Saturday depending on where you live).

1. Will turnovers continue to be a problem?

We touched on this in the preview against Seton Hall, turnovers have been a major issue for the Wolverines. An issue we have not really seen under Juwan, or Beilein in a very long time. Michigan ended that Seton Hall game with 11 turnovers.

11 turnovers may not seem like a lot in comparison to other games, for example against Prairie View A&M, but they come at terrible times and negate points from the Wolverines. For example transition turnovers or miscommunication on passes.

The Wolverines will need to clean their act up against UNLV. They’re just as tough and gritty as Seton Hall is. UNLV is averaging just under 60 points a game and allowed just under 60 points a game. This is another big defensive test for the Wolverines. If they can keep the turnovers to a minimum and play a clean game, I like their chances.