A No. 16 seed has beaten a No. 1 seed twice before in the NCAA men's basketball tournament, which is something Michigan should keep in mind this week.
The Wolverines will open the NCAA tournament on Thursday night, in Buffalo, against 16th-seeded Howard, following its win over UMBC on Tuesday in Dayton.
Howard went 23-10 this season, winning the MEAC regular-season and tournament titles. The Bison have reached the NCAA tournament in three of the past four seasons. They also played at Duke in non-conference action, losing 93-56.
Looking at the Howard roster, there is one player who is 6-foot-10. Everyone is 6-foot-7 or shorter. Bryce Harris is a 6-foot-4 guard who scores 17.9 points per game. Cedric Taylor is a 6-foot-7 guard who is also scoring just over 17 a game.
Neither is a high-volume shooter from beyond the arc. Howard shoots 34.5 percent as a team. Alex Cotton makes 2.3 3-point field goals per game, while shooting 37 percent. Despite a lack of size, Howard is ranked 48th in 2-point percentage defense (48.1) and 12th in 3-point percentage defense (29.9).
Will those numbers translate against Michigan?
Howard struggled to defend Duke inside. This could be a similar game. However, there is one thing about the Howard defense that could give Michigan basketball fits: force turnovers.
The one concern Michigan basketball should have with Howard
Thanks to 8.7 steals per game (27th), Howard is forcing 15.1 turnovers per game. That's 10th-best in all of college basketball. Michigan has certainly been turnover-prone. Part of that has been a tempo. The Wolverines have struggled to take care of the ball at times, turning it over more than 12 times per game.
That's been a flaw of this team all season. We have seen the Wolverines turn it over 18 times against Iowa just recently. Knocking off Howard should be a piece of cake.
Yet, there will be some interesting matchups on both sides. Howard is surely going to try and pressure the ball as much as possible, particularly with three bigs on the floor for Michigan.
The Wolveriners will have their own scoring advantages. Their defense is an advantage, too. But turnovers and points off turnovers are exactly how Howard could make this game interesting.