3 keys and a prediction for Michigan Basketball vs Michigan State
Michigan basketball will host Michigan State on Saturday and here are three keys and a prediction for the Wolverines against the Spartans.
It’s with a heavy heart that Michigan basketball will welcome Michigan State into the Crisler Center on Saturday after the terrible shooting tragedy this week.
Michigan will be honoring the victims in a number of ways and in the grand scheme of things, this game is irrelevant.
In the world of basketball, it is important for both teams. Michigan’s bubble likely burst earlier this week with the loss against Wisconsin. However, if the Wolverines won their last five Big Ten games, they would be 13-7 in the league and 19-12 overall. That team probably gets in.
That’s because there are two winnable home games: Michigan State and Wisconsin, and then three challenging road games against Rutgers, Illinois, and Indiana.
If by some miracle, Michigan basketball won all five of those games, they would be in contention for an at-large berth going into the Big Ten tournament. So all hope is not lost yet.
Michigan basketball has to deliver a win on Saturday and here are three keys for the Wolverines, as well as a prediction against Michigan State, a team listed as a No. 7 seed according to the recent bracketology breakdown from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
Michigan’s guards need to be efficient
Michigan State is always a good defensive team and this year, the Spartans lead the Big Ten in adjusted defensive efficiency. They also held the Wolverines to just 53 points in the first matchup and a key part of that was the starting backcourt of Jett Howard, Dug McDaniel, and Kobe Bufkin combining to shoot 7-for-23 from the field.
Those three players combined to shoot 2-of-10 from 3-point range. They only turned the ball over six times but also had just seven assists.
Hunter Dickinson will need to get his. There’s no doubt about that, but the way that Michigan’s guards play is going to have a huge impact on the outcome. They will need to decipher the Spartan’s ball screen defense and make some shots.
Jett was 4-for-14 against Wisconsin and that kind of effort won’t cut it on Saturday. Inconsistency has been the name of the game for Michigan’s backcourt and this is one of those games where the Wolverines need them to deliver.