Previewing Michigan Basketball vs Villanova in the Sweet 16

Thursday, the  Michigan Wolverines take on the Villanova Wildcats in the sweet 16. Michigan Basketball is the lowest seed remaining in the south region after knocking off a six seed and a three seed in their path to the sweet sixteen.

The Wildcats beat Ohio State by 10 in their previous tournament matchup, a team that Michigan basketball has split wins and losses with this season.

Similarly, Villanova Basketball beat Tennessee earlier this season, making Thursday’s matchup in San Antonio appear like it will be a close game.

Villanova has a record of 28-7 and is on a seven-game winning streak after winning the Big East Conference tournament against Creighton earlier this month. Although the Wildcats only have seven losses, two of those losses were by 20 or more points.

The Wildcats’ worst performance was in a 36-57 loss to Baylor, their lowest scoring game of the season. In this loss, Villanova only shot just 22.2 percent from both the field and from three and junior guard Justin Moore was the only player to score in double digits.

The Wildcats had a season low four turnovers in their loss to fellow Big Ten team Purdue earlier this season. In this matchup, Villanova lost the rebound. battle by 12 rebounds and allowed the Boilermakers to score 17 fast break points compared to the Wildcats two.

The Wolverines have been struggling with turnovers themselves this season, specifically in the tournament. Michigan Basketball gave the ball up 15 times in each of their other matchups during the tournament, tied for their second most this season.

Villanova forces 12.1 turnovers per game, which is less than both Colorado State and Tennessee. This makes Thursday the perfect chance for Michigan Basketball to get out of their own turnover funk and instead force the Wildcats to turn the ball over.

Breaking down Michigan basketball’s matchup vs Villanova

Graduate guard Collin Gillespie is Villanova’s leading scorer with 16 points per game and assister with 3.4 assists per game. Gillespie also has very impressive scoring percentages, shooting 44 percent from the field, 41.6 percent from three, and 90. 2 percent from the line.

Justin Moore is also an essential scorer for the Wildcats, averaging 15 points per game and scoring in double digits in 10 of his last 12 games.

Graduate forward Jermaine Samuels is Villanova’s third leading scorer averaging 10.7 points per game, however, he leads the Wildcats in rebounds per game with 6.4 and blocks per game with 0.7.

While Villanova will be Michigan’s most challenging matchup yet this tournament, it is by no means an impossible feat.

The Wolverines have continued to show that they deserve to be in the tournament, and if they continue to play how they have thus far, they will easily make it to the elite eight.

Sophomore center Hunter Dickinson has continued to be Michigan’s most consistent player. It is important that other players such as freshman forwards Caleb Houstan and Moussa Diabate begin to play to their full potential, especially if the Wolverines want to continue to deepen their tournament run.