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thewolverines24
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3:30 PM ET on CBS. Go Blue!
KEYS
Force Indiana turnovers: Indiana?s turnover rate in Big Ten play is spot on average at 16% but it is ranked 217th (19.5%) for the season. When the Hoosiers get sloppy, things tend to spiral quickly. IU has turned it over on 20% of its possessions nine times this year, a sample that includes two of its four losses. Michigan isn?t a team that prioritizes forcing giveaways, but the Maryland game is the blueprint. Play solid defensively for the first 20 seconds of possessions and then force IU into trying to make something happen out of nothing.
Attack the offensive glass: IU is 2-3 when its opposition rebounds over 26 percent of their missed shots. Michigan is 6-1 when it rebounds a third of its misses or more, and just 2-6 when its offensive rebounding rate checks in under that number. IU is a great defensive rebounding team (30th nationally) but Michigan has the pieces to be a great offensive rebounding team and good things happen when it uses those weapons.
Post-up battle: It?s hard to see this game coming down to anything other than Hunter Dickinson versus Trayce Jackson-Davis. Both teams need their post-up big man to control the game to be at their best and both teams are likely to leave their star big man on an island to defend the opposition. If either player has his way offensively (or ends up in foul trouble) the likely range of outcomes in this game will shift immediately. All of the stats to watch will be on the interior: post-up production, rebounding rates, points in the paint and 2-point field goal percentage.
MAKE THREES
KEYS
Force Indiana turnovers: Indiana?s turnover rate in Big Ten play is spot on average at 16% but it is ranked 217th (19.5%) for the season. When the Hoosiers get sloppy, things tend to spiral quickly. IU has turned it over on 20% of its possessions nine times this year, a sample that includes two of its four losses. Michigan isn?t a team that prioritizes forcing giveaways, but the Maryland game is the blueprint. Play solid defensively for the first 20 seconds of possessions and then force IU into trying to make something happen out of nothing.
Attack the offensive glass: IU is 2-3 when its opposition rebounds over 26 percent of their missed shots. Michigan is 6-1 when it rebounds a third of its misses or more, and just 2-6 when its offensive rebounding rate checks in under that number. IU is a great defensive rebounding team (30th nationally) but Michigan has the pieces to be a great offensive rebounding team and good things happen when it uses those weapons.
Post-up battle: It?s hard to see this game coming down to anything other than Hunter Dickinson versus Trayce Jackson-Davis. Both teams need their post-up big man to control the game to be at their best and both teams are likely to leave their star big man on an island to defend the opposition. If either player has his way offensively (or ends up in foul trouble) the likely range of outcomes in this game will shift immediately. All of the stats to watch will be on the interior: post-up production, rebounding rates, points in the paint and 2-point field goal percentage.
MAKE THREES
