Michigan basketball has two more regular-season contests left on the schedule, and one is a tailor-made trap game in Iowa City on Thursday night at 8:00 PM. The Hawkeyes are 20-9 and 10-8 in conference play and are exceptional at Carver-Hawkeye Arena with a 14-2 home record.
They operate at a very unique and molasses-like pace that plays into Michigan’s hands in a very specific way, especially on defense. The Hawkeyes will give Michigan time to set that defense and grind things in the half-court, which is ideal for a player of the caliber of Yaxel Lendeborg.
Against Maryland in December, Lendeborg made the call himself to guard the Terrapin’s best player, David Coit, after he hit eight threes and nearly single handedly erased Michigan’s lead. But when Yax locked in, Coit attempted only one shot and didn’t score again.
Lendeborg currently has a 92.8 defensive rating , which is among the best in college basketball. Some metrics have him as a a top-five defender among high major teams. He can realistically guard positions 1-5 on the floor at any time, which was evident in the way he took on Keaton Wagler in the Wolverines' most recent win over the Fighting Illini.
And on Thursday he will have another unique challenge if Iowa’s Bennett Stirtz starts to heat up. The Hawkeye point guard has shown he can score with the best of them. He averages over 20 points per game at over 50 percent from the field.
Shutting down Iowa's dynamic lead guard will be key for Michigan basketball
Stirtz stands 6-4 and 190 pounds while Yaxel checks in at 6-9, 240 and will enjoy a significant size advantage even over a quicker player. And those advantages will matter because if the Hawkeyes' point guard is neutralized, there are precious few options behind him.
The only other player on Iowa’s roster who scores in double digits is wing Tavion Banks at 10.5 per game. Stirtz accounts for over 25 percent of his team’s total points. In mid-February, the Purdue Boilermakers provided a blueprint of what the Wolverines hope to do tonight.
In that game, Stirtz was basically the entire team, and it was not a winning formula. Although he had 19 points, he took just 12 shots. The rest of his team had just 38 total points and managed just 31 percent from the floor. The Boilermakers knew that if they pinned down the one guy that could hurt them and limit his shots, the bench and role players the Hawkeyes have could not make up the difference.
As a team, Iowa is 11th in the country in scoring defense at just 65 points per game. They also commit just 9.5 turnovers each game and shoot the ball extremely well from the field. Their recipe for success is clear: slow the pace, hold onto the ball, and take quality shots.
But Michigan’s defense behind Yaxel, Aday Mara, and Morez Johnson Jr. is more than capable of turning those numbers on their head, especially considering that Iowa is a paltry 357th in the country in total rebounds per game. That showed through in the Purdue game as Iowa was outrebounded 38-30, and its interior defense forced a lot of contested jumpers that pushed the Hawkeyes outside of their preferred rhythm.
Michigan basketball and Purdue have many of the same qualities: defensive prowess, size inside and on the wings, and a deep bench that puts a strain on opponents to get the most out of their stars. The Wolverines are in a prime position to box in Stirtz and make someone else take the reins and push for the win, something no one else on Iowa’s roster has shown the ability to do this year.
Though this matchup in Iowa City is going to be a fight, it won’t be just against the Hawkeyes. Dusty and the Wolverines will be fighting against the temptation to look ahead to Sunday’s rivalry matchup against the Spartans. It’s a temptation they’ve bested time and again this year, and they are in a supremely good position to do so once again as they matchup extremely well with Iowa and will no doubt take care of business tonight with an eye on finishing with an undefeated conference road record if they can do so.