Previewing Michigan Basketball’s Big Ten tournament matchup vs Indiana

Thursday, the eighth-seeded Wolverines have their first matchup of the Big Ten tournament when they take on the nine seed Indiana Hoosiers. With Juwan Howard and sophomore center Hunter Dickinson both set to return, Michigan Basketball could use a deep Big Ten tournament run to help their NCAA tournament seeding.

The Wolverines have alternated wins and losses throughout their final nine games of the regular season. This trend needs to stop in order for Michigan Basketball to make it out of their first game of the Big Ten tournament with a win. Here is what to expect for the Wolverines going into Thursday morning’s matchup against Indiana.

The Hoosiers have only won two of their last eight games in the regular season after only losing one non-conference matchup this season. This team had not lost even two games in a row before this disastrous stretch. Indiana shot below 50 percent from the field and scored below 70 points in each of these six losses, statistics that matchup with all but two of their other losses this season.

The Hoosiers lost their final regular-season game after missing a game-winning 3-point shot against Purdue. Despite shooting perfect from the line, Indiana got into significant foul trouble against the Boilermakers, allowing them to shoot 21 free throws compared to the Hoosiers’ 10. This foul trouble was likely the only significant factor that led to Purdue coming away with the win.

Looking at Michigan vs Indiana by the numbers

In their previous game this season, Michigan basketball dominated Indiana in Bloomington when they won the matchup by 18 points. The Wolverines shot very well in this game, shooting 56.9 percent from the field and 64.7 percent from three. The Hoosiers, on the other hand, only had a 39.3 field goal percentage and a 26.3 percent 3-point percentage.

On the downside, Michigan basketball had their most conference turnovers against the Hoosiers with 14. These turnovers were spread out across five different players, most surprisingly senior guard Eli Brooks who led the team with four turnovers. These turnovers allowed for 16 of Indiana’s 62 total points.

Even though they lead the Big Ten in defensive rebounds, the Hoosiers had a season-low 18 defensive rebounds and 26 total rebounds against the Wolverines. Hunter Dickinson and freshman forward Moussa Diabate lead Michigan in offensive turnovers with 67 each. These two will need to do their best to pick up these rebounds in hopes to trip up the Indiana defense.

Hoosiers’ sophomore forward Trayce Jackson-Davis was just named to the All-Big Ten second team and defensive team. He earned these nominations through consistently being the go-to player for Indiana this season.

Jackson-Davis leads the team in points averaging 17.4 per game, field goal percentage at 57.8 percent, and rebounds with 8.2 per game. He also is a heavy presence on the defensive side of the ball by leading the team in blocks per game with 2.4 blocks. Jackson-Davis does have one weakness– 3-point shooting. He has only attempted three shots from beyond the arc this season and missed all of them.

Michigan Basketball tends to put their best foot forward when it comes to the Big Ten tournament, as they have reached the semifinals in all of their past five conference tournaments. While the Wolverines have had a very inconsistent regular season, it would be ideal to see them switch this to a positive trend in post-season play.