Previewing Michigan Basketball's Next Game Against Ohio State

The 17-1 Michigan Wolverines will host 13-5 Ohio State Buckeyes this Friday night. Michigan is in the midst of a three game win streak, bouncing back from a loss to Wisconsin to beat both Washington and Oregon on the road before they returned home and beat Indiana on Tuesday night. Ohio State so far this year is 5-3 in conference play and squarely in the NCAA tournament picture with the way their season has started out. They've beaten Northwestern, Rutgers, Oregon, UCLA, and Minnesota, and have lost to Illinois, Nebraska, and Washington in Big Ten games so far this year.

Ohio State is coached by Jake Diebler, who filled in for the previously fired Chris Holtmann initially as the interim coach to finish out the 2024 season before receiving the Head Coaching job after they went on a nice run once he took over for Holtmann part way through the year. Ohio state didn't live up to expectations in his first full season though though as they failed to make the NCAA tournament last year. So far this year, they're off to a much better start and this would be a huge resume boost if they can take down the Wolverines. Let's dive more into this matchup below.

Ohio State Buckeyes

Just by the statistical profile of this team, you can tell it's a much more offensively driven team. Ohio state is 6th in the Big Ten in scoring at 83.2 points per game, and they surrender an average of 72.2, which is 11th in the Big Ten. They shoot it at a 49.8% clip overall from the field, which is 4th in the Big Ten and they also shoot free throws at a 78.8% rate which is 2nd in the Big Ten. Defensively, they're 6th in rebounding, but are 16th in blocks, and 17th in steals in the Big Ten. They also rank 11th in opponent field goal percentage allowed. Pretty much all of these numbers indicate that Ohio State is a good and dangerous offensive team in the Big Ten but the defensive numbers leave a little to be desired.

Individually, they're led by 6'2" Senior guard Bruce Thorton. Thorton is averaging 20.7 points per game, 5.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. He's also joined by John Mobley Jr. who's averaging 15.3 points per game, Devin Royal at 14.2, and Christoph Tilly at 12.0 points per game. It's a good and balanced offense, and Thorton is the guy who gets it all started for the Buckeyes. Both guards are their top two scorers so Michigan's backcourt will need to play good defense in this game if they hope to contain Thorton and Mobley Jr.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan is still tops in the Big Ten in scoring at 92.7 points per game, and only surrender an average of 69.0. They're also 1st in the Big Ten in shooting percentage from the field at a 51.7% rate, and only allow opponents to shoot 36.2% from the field. They're also 2nd in assists in the Big Ten, which is an impressive stat. Defensively they're1st in the Big Ten at rebounding, 1st in blocks, and rank 6th in steals per game on average. This is a very complete statistical team that's been nothing short of dominant outside one bad defensive game against Wisconsin.

Individually, they're still led by Yaxel Lendeborg in scoring at 14.2, followed by Morez Johnson Jr. at 13.8, Aday Mara at 10.9, and Elliot Cadeau at 10.5. It's still a very balanced offensive attack for the Wolverines, who also have three more players averaging right around nine points per game. Their balanced offense combined with their suffocating defense is what has made them one of the best teams in the country so far.

On paper, Michigan should be able to win this game here at home against the Buckeyes but it will probably be a higher scoring affair as these are two of the top 5 or so offenses in the Big Ten. It'll be interesting to see if Michigan can keep beating most of these teams by double digits or if they're due for some closer games as the conference slate keeps rolling along. Michigan has a chance to have a very special year in basketball and they'll hope to keep that going here in this game against Ohio State.

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