Michigan Basketball: 3 keys and a prediction for Wolverines vs Iowa

Make shots

Against Michigan State, I thought the Wolverines actually did a pretty good job of getting open looks, they just didn’t make them. Outside of Hunter Dickinson, the starting lineup was 7-of-27 from the field and if you add in Joey Baker, U-M went 7-of-32 (21 percent).

Those five players were also 1-of-12 from the 3-point line. With the way teams focus their defense on Dickinson, it’s hard to win with those numbers and frankly, regardless of the game plan, if you can’t make shots, you aren’t going to win.

As much as people want to criticize Juwan Howard, I feel like he’s done a pretty good job coaching this team, especially managing a freshman point guard. Was it his fault that Baker, Jett, and Terrance Williams couldn’t make open shots?

When you play really good teams, you need some makes and the Wolverines need Bufkin, Howard, Baker, and Williams need to give Dickinson some help.

Michigan basketball vs Iowa

Iowa is a 4.5-point favorite according to FanDuel heading into this matchup. I was confident about Michigan heading into East Lansing and then the Wolverines laid an egg.

This team does tend to play well after a loss. Hunter Dickinson is going to need to score 20 some points and Michigan has to keep things even on the boards.

The defense has been better in recent weeks and had one of its best outings against Michigan State, but Iowa is really hard to defend and I don’t know that the Wolverines can shoot the ball well enough to escape with a win. I’m going Iowa 82-78.