3 keys and a prediction for Michigan Basketball vs Michigan State

Michigan basketball faces a must-win situation on Tuesday night against Michigan State and here are three keys and a prediction for the Wolverines. 

After trading wins and losses for the past couple of weeks, Michigan basketball is at a turning point for the 2021-22 season and faces a must-win situation.

The Wolverines won’t be totally out of the NCAA Tournament mix with a loss tonight but Michigan would need to beat Iowa at home in two days and Ohio State, on the road, later this week too.

Even though Michigan is 15-12 overall and 9-8 in the Big Ten, Joe Lunardi still has the Wolverines among the last four first-round byes in the NCAA field.

But that will likely change with a loss tonight and here are three keys to avoiding that, as well as a prediction for Michigan basketball against Michigan State.

Hunter Dickinson has to dominate

This is always a key for Michigan basketball. Hunter Dickinson has to be the best player on the floor tonight and in the first meeting, that didn’t happen.

Hunter did score 25 points but he had had to take 19 shots to get there and was 8-of-19. That’s not good enough. He wasn’t very efficient on Sunday either against Illinois and that will need to change.

Players around him are going to need to make shots too but the Spartans didn’t really double-team him in the first matchup and it was a successful strategy. This time around, Dickinson has to be more efficient and has to make the Spartans pay.