Michigan Basketball: 3 Things to watch against Rutgers

Michigan basketball takes on Rutgers Tuesday night at 7:00 PM EST in its 3rd Big Ten game. Michigan is coming off a pathetic defensive performance against UCF. Michigan currently sits at 1-1 in the Big Ten with all in-conference games on the horizon.

Let’s not beat around the bush, for whatever reason Michigan Basketball is just not that strong this year. The talent is not the issue, in fact, this could be the most talented Michigan roster since the Trey Burke era, so what exactly has gone wrong?

Well, it’s unclear at this point however what is clear is that Juwan’s seat is starting to warm at an increasingly quick rate. Michigan found itself in a familiar situation against UCF—another blown lead that got away from the Wolverines.

In a Big Ten that is an impossibly hard year and year out, I really don’t know how many wins the Wolverines can acquire. It’s early in the season but 1/3 of the way through the season you mesh an identity as a team, and strangely this team hasn’t.

They’re not exactly good at anything, in particular, in some games they’re fantastic offensively and horrific defensively and vice versa. We’ve only seen one true all-around elite performance by the Wolverines, against Nebraska.

Rutgers is a very good basketball team that always gives Michigan a tough fight regardless of the parameters of the game. So what exactly should you look out for during the game?

1. Can the Wolverines find a defensive identity 

The identity of Michigan’s defense last year was toughness and discipline. In years past, it’s been explosive on-ball defense that suffocates teams to the outside. The Wolverines defensively this year have looked the worst I have ever seen.

Michigan needs to establish its identity defensively not just to win this game but to win in general moving forward. Michigan’s proven it has elite scoring ability yet its defensive presence has lacked in those elite shooting performances.

While it’s a lot easier said than done, the Wolverines have more than enough talent. Devante Jones was considered one of the best defenders in college basketball coming into the season winning multiple accolades for his defensive ability, but we’ve seen little to none of that explosiveness.

Michigan needs to dominant the paint early against a tall Rutgers team. Rutgers is capable of beating amazing teams as showcased against Purdue, so Michigan is going to need to keep Rutgers scoring under 70 points if they want to win this game.