Michigan Basketball: Previewing Wolverines vs Rutgers

Wednesday, Michigan Basketball is set to take on the Rutgers Scarlet Knights as the Wolverines hope to stay above .500 in Big Ten play. Here’s our preview.

Although the Scarlet Knights are coming off of a loss to Purdue, they have become the dark horse of the conference with four wins against five ranked Big Ten opponents.

In their last matchup against the Scarlet Knights, the Wolverines only shot 20 percent from three and did not take the lead a single time in the game. Rutgers made 11 3-pointers compared to the three for Michigan basketball.

Sophomore center Hunter Dickinson and freshman forward Moussa Diabate were the leading scorers for the Wolverines in their first matchup against the Scarlet Knights with 25 and 15 points respectively.

Rutgers Senior guard Geo Baker went off for a season-high 27 points and senior guard/forward Ron Harper Jr scored 20.

While Rutgers shot pretty well against Purdue on Sunday, the Scarlet Knights remained in both foul and turnover trouble over the course of the game, allowing the Boilermakers to maintain a lead from start to finish.

Rutgers had a season-high 24 fouls against Purdue, allowing the Boilermakers to shoot 29 free throws, 24 of which they made. While the Scarlet Knights only turned the ball over 11 times, Purdue managed to score 19 points off of these turnovers.

Even though Harper Jr has been Rutgers’ leading scorer, averaging 15.5 points per game, he only scored 12 points against the Boilermakers after suffering a hand injury in his previous game against Illinois. If he is still recovering from this injury, the Scarlet Knights will look to their other consistent scorers to get going against the Wolverines.

Junior guard Paul Mulcahy has stepped up his game for the Scarlet Knights as of recent, scoring anywhere from 10 to 31 points in his past seven games after averaging 6.74 points a game prior to this. Mulcahy also leads the conference in assists per game with 5.5 and has the best free throw percentage for Rutgers, shooting 81 percent from the line.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Scarlet Knights’ senior guard Caleb Mcconnell has remained a problem for opponents — leading the Big Ten with 2.4 steals per game which is 0.6 more than Northwestern’s Chase Audige, the player with the next largest number of blocks in the conference. While Rutgers’ defense as a whole has not been overwhelmingly effective this season, it is imperative that the Wolverines are able to hold onto the ball, especially around Mcconnell.

Despite Rutgers shocking the nation with their exceptional Big Ten play, they are 3-8 in away games within the conference. With Michigan basketball being 8-3 at home and the game being played at the Crisler Center, the odds are looking good for the Wolverines solely from a probability standpoint.

That being said, the Wolverines are down Moussa Diabate and Terrance Williams, meaning senior forwards Brandon Johns Jr and Jaron Faulds will need to step up for Michigan during the additional minutes they will be playing.

With Juwan Howard suspended for the rest of the regular season, it is up to Phil Martelli to save the Wolverines’ chances of making the NCAA tournament. He cannot do this alone, however, so the team as a whole needs to play their best basketball yet.