Michigan Vs. Wisconsin Tactical Breakdown: Three Ways the Wolverines Can Beat the Badgers

Michigan hung on to beat Ohio State by a score of 71-67 in their first game of the Big Ten Tournament. After Wisconsin beat Illinois in OT by a score of 91 to 88, they will advance to take on the top-seeded Wolverines. Wisconsin is one of the only two teams this year to beat Michigan and they did it on the road. That combined with Michigan looking very beatable today against Ohio State, and Wolverine fans are likely going to be nervous about this game going into it. Let's dive more into the three keys for Michigan to win this game below.

Better back court defense

Michigan's defense has been elite this year, but Wisconsin's guards are both terrific scorers and playmakers. Nick Boyd and John Blackwell are one of the better guard tandems in the Big Ten and they lit Michigan up to a tune of 48 points in their first matchup this year. Michigan's guards will need to be much better on defense in this game if they want to beat Wisconsin this time around. Wisconsin as a team made 15 threes against the Wolverines in that game as well, so Michigan's perimeter defense needs to be much better this time to win this second round game.

Yaxel Lendeborg has to step up

Michigan was able to narrowly beat Ohio State even with the Big Ten Player of the Year scoring just 6 points. He did have 5 rebounds and 6 assists go along with the 6 points, but still, the Big Ten Player of the Year is gonna have to do more if Michigan wants to accomplish all its goals this season. He's tended to be at his best when Michigan plays the best competition and hopefully that proves true once again for Michigan the rest of this tournament. Wisconsin's front line isn't anything special but they are capable defenders so it'll be up to Yaxel himself to step up and help lead this offense.

Get More Offensive Rebounds

Michigan hasn't been a great offensive rebounding team this year by the statistics, but thats largely because they typically make such a high percentage of their shots. They only had 6 total offensive rebounds against Ohio State despite having a big size advantage, and they gave up 10 for reference. Ohio State only lost the total rebounding battle by two, which is much too close for Michigan's liking with the size advantage they have on nearly every team they play.

That is especially true if Wisconsin's big man Nolan Winter misses this game. He's been out their last two games with a lower body injury and there's been no timetable announced for his return but he has been spotted walking around in Chicago without a walking boot. Whether or not he's able to give it a go in this game, Michigan needs to control the rebounding battle and crash the offensive glass a little harder than they did against the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin is a dangerous team, as Michigan found out the first time they played in Ann Arbor. I'm sure Michigan is excited about getting the chance to play them again but the Badgers are not to be counted out. This will take a much better game from the Wolverines if they want to win this game, and in particular they need to have better back court defense, have their best player Yaxel Lendeborg step up, and crash the offensive glass against this slightly undersized Wisconsin team. Ultimately I think the Wolverines win another game here if they can do those three things.