Previewing Michigan Basketball's Next Game Against Minnesota

Michigan will have to rally themselves quickly after a tough loss in Washington D.C. against the Duke Blue Devils. The loss bring Michigan to 25-2 overall, and 15-1 in Big Ten conference play. Illinois is second in the Big Ten at 13-4 in conference play, so while the Wolverines don't want to lose any more games, they do have a little breathing room in terms of winning the Big Ten regular season title.

They'll go back home to face the Minnesota Golden Gophers who are 13-14 overall and 6-10 in Big Ten conference play. Minnesota is one of the worse teams in the Big Ten, but that doesn't mean Michigan can slack off here and just expect to win just by showing up. Hopefully they'll use the loss against Duke to sharpen their skills and help them improve in the long term, and that starts right here in this game against Minnesota. Let's dive more into the matchup between the Wolverines and Golden Gophers below.

Minnesota Golden Gophers

On offense, Minnesota is 17th in the Big Ten in overall scoring per game, 13th in shooting percentage from the field, 11th in 3-point shooting percentage, 13th in offensive rebounding, 5th in assists, and 13th in turnovers per game. Needless to say, statistically, this is not a very good offensive team for Minnesota. They play a very slow pace which drives down their scoring but they don't shoot it particularly well and don't take great care of the basketball either. They do share the ball well, as evidence by their assist ranking amongst Big Ten teams but other than that their offense isn't very good.

Defensively, they rank 4th in the conference in limiting opponent scoring, 12th in the conference in opponent shooting percentage allowed, 13th in opponent 3-point percentage allowed, 11th in defensive rebounding, 13th in steals, and 15th in blocks. Their defensive stats are a little better than their offensive ones, but this team still isn't particularly good on defense. Their opponent scoring average per game is largely based on their slower tempo they play with which limits scoring in each game they play in. Looking at the rest of their defensive stats they are a bit more average to below average in terms of the more tempo-neutral stats as a team on defense.

Individually, Minnesota is led by Cade Tyson who scores 19.5 points per game on average, followed by Jaylen Crocker-Johnson at 13.4, Langston Reynolds at 11.1, and Isaac Asuma at 10.9. They are a fairly balanced offense overall in terms of scoring but their starting lineup scores a very high percentage of their points.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan on offense is still 1st in the Big Ten in scoring per game, 1st in shooting percentage per game, 5th in 3-point shooting percentage, 7th in offensive rebounds, 2nd in assists, and 15th in the Big Ten in turnovers. It's a very high-level offense for the Wolverines who are very good at almost everything except for turnovers. They play very fast and do turn it over quite a bit but other than that, they're a very difficult offense to stop.

On defense, Michigan is 5th in opponent scoring allowed per game, 1st in opponent shooting percentage, 1st in opponent 3-point shooting percentage, 1st in defensive rebounding, 8th in steals, and 1st in blocks per game. Their defense, like their offense, is statistically elite. They are one of the top teams in the entire country in defense and the statistics bare that out. Minnesota will have a tough time scoring on this Michigan defense in this game.

Individually, Michigan is led by Yaxel Lendeborg in scoring at 14.6 points per game, followed by Morez Johnson Jr. at 13.5, Aday Mara at 11.2, and Elliot Cadeau at 10.0. Michigan also has three more players between 8-10 points per game on average, showcasing how deep their team is. The Wolverines go nine deep in their rotation and they typically can wear down opponents over the course of the game because of that.

Michigan will need to recover fast from their tough loss to Duke on Saturday with a short turnaround coming here as the play Minnesota on Tuesday. With Illinois' loss over the weekend, the Wolverines can clinch a share of the Big Ten regular season title with a win over Minnesota here in this game. Given that, Michigan shouldn't lack for motivation for this game as they take on what should be an overmatched Minnesota team. I like Michigan to bounce back here and win this game comfortably to set up another big game as they face Illinois on the road this Friday in their next game.