Michigan Basketball: 3 keys for Wolverines against Minnesota

Michigan basketball wil be looking to get back into the win column against Minnesota and here are three keys for the Wolverines. 

At this point, the Michigan basketball season is on life support. The Wolverines are 10-8 overall and 4-3 in the Big Ten.

Minnesota is sitting in last place in the Big Ten with a 1-6 record. The Golden Gophers are 7-10 overall and are ranked 197th overall in the Kenpom rankings.

In other words, this is a team that Michigan basketball absolutely needs to beat. But that was the case with Central Michigan, Jackson State, and Eastern Michigan. The Wolverines won easily at Minnesota but also beat Maryland by 31 only to lose to them Thursday night.

A win puts Michigan in a tie for second in the Big Ten. A loss adds the already steep climb to the NCAA tournament even steeper and might be the final nail in the coffin.

Here are three keys to a win for Michigan basketball.

Don’t overlook the Gophers

Michigan basketball beat Minnesota on the road by 15 points and the Golden Gophers are far and away the worst thing in the Big Ten.

Yet, the Gophers went on the road and beat Ohio State, so this team is capable when it plays well and the Wolverines can’t take this win for granted.

I think that’s part of what happened against Maryland. Everyone assumed that game would go as the others have recently for Hunter Dickinson and the Wolverines against the Terps and it didn’t.

This is major college basketball. You have to bring your best every night.

Get Hunter Dickinson involved

Dickinson scored 19 points on 11 shots in the first game against Minnesota. It’s possible for Michigan basketball to win without him shooting a ton of shots.

But he needs to be involved in the offense and the coaching staff needs to do a better job of getting him touches than it did against Maryland. When Hunter Dickinson plays well, the offense gets better shots and the role players tend to stand out.

When Dickinson struggles, it puts a lot of pressure on others and at times, Jett Howard, Kobe Bufkin, and Dug McDaniel have been up to the task. At other times, they haven’t been.

Minnesota is a decent defensive team but there’s no reason Dickinson shouldn’t score around 20 points on Sunday.

Play better defense

Michigan basketball gave up way too many shots at the rim against Maryland. The defense has played better but even allowed 75 points against a Minnesota team that ranked 346th in the NCAA in scoring offense.

Ta’Lon Cooper is shooting 55 percent from 3-point range at the point guard position and Dawson Garcia is another big part of the offense with more than 15 points per game. Jamison Battle hasn’t gotten on track this season but he torched Michigan a year ago and he could again.

Teams are going to score but Michigan gave up way too many layups and stuff on backdoor cuts — just lapses that were happening too much. The Wolverines need to re-focus and if they are going to make a run at an NCAA tournament berth, it starts by winning on Sunday.