Previewing Michigan Basketball's Second Matchup with Penn State

The 20-1 Michigan Wolverines will return home after their rivalry win at Michigan State last Friday night to take on the 10-12 Penn State Nittany Lions once again. These two teams have had very different trajectories since the last time they played, as the Wolverines have won their last six games, while the Nittany Lions have lost their last three and sit at just 1-10 in conference play. The last matchup with these two teams though was a close and hard-fought victory for the maize and blue as they outlasted the Nittany Lions to win by a score of 74-72. This time they get Penn State at home though, so let's dive more into the second round of this matchup below.

Penn State

Penn State has been struggling in Big Ten play like I mentioned above, sitting at 17th in the current Big Ten standings. They have been quite an inconsistent group, as it's been a challenge for them to put a full game of good basketball together. In total, they rank 14th in the Big Ten in scoring average per game, 9th in field goal percentage, 11th in 3-point percentage, and 16th in assists per game. It's been a very challenged offense for most of the year for the Nittany Lions and unfortunately things don't look a whole lot better for them on defense.

They rank 17th in the Big Ten in average points per game allowed, 18th in opponent field goal percentage, 18th in opponent 3-point percentage, 18th in rebounding, 2nd in steals, and 18th in blocks per game. Outside of getting steals, this Penn State defense is quite bad at almost every single category when compared to other Big Ten teams.

When they played Michigan the last time, they did a good job of limiting Michigan's easy transition buckets as well as chasing Michigan's shooters off the 3-point line. Michigan shot just 46% from the field in that game, and 30% from 3-point range. Penn State also forced Michigan into 12 turnovers and 20 team fouls total. Forcing Michigan into tough shots seemed to clog up their offense a bit and that combined with a poor shooting night for the Wolverines made it a very tight game the first time around.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan on the other hand is 1st in the Big Ten in points scored per game, tied for 1st in field goal percentage, 2nd in assists, and 18th in turnovers. Obviously, the number that stands out most there is the turnovers which have been Michigan's biggest achilles heel since Dusty May took over the Head Coaching job. Outside of that, they are one of if not the best offenses in the Big Ten.

They also have one of if not the best defenses in the Big Ten, allowing only 68.9 points per game which is 6th in the conference, they allow opponents to shoot only 36.9% from the field and 29.9% from 3-point range which are first and second in the Big Ten. They are also 1st in rebounding, 6th in steals, and 1st in blocks. It's been an elite defensive unit for Michigan this year, as almost all opponents have hard a hard time scoring on this team. Their elite length has bothered a lot of teams so far this year, and that was also true when Michigan and Penn State met up the first time in State College.

Penn State shot only 35% from the field, and 27% from 3-point range. They did rack up some points from free throws though, making 18/23 attempts. They also took pretty good care of the basketball by committing only 10 turnovers. The key for Penn State will be to try to re-create the clean offensive game for themselves and look to turn Michigan over a lot again on the defensive end. Since that 1st game between these two teams though, Michigan has responded really well and Penn State has not, so it will be tough for Penn State to repeat that performance.

I would expect this game to not be near as tough for the Wolverines as they get a second chance at this Penn State team. There should be lots of motivation for this game since it was just a 2-point Michigan victory last time out, and I'm expecting another 10 plus point Michigan win in this second matchup between the Wolverines and the Nittany Lions.

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