How To Watch: No. 1 Michigan vs No. 8 Ohio State in Big Ten Tournament

(*1*)The Michigan Wolverines raised a banner after sweeping State on Sunday and have already locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The journey to Chicago is extra for delight than something, however the Wolverines are right here to make it back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships and to be simply the second staff in the final 11 years to win the common season outright title in addition to the convention match.

(*1*)Doing so requires three wins in three days, with the latter two seemingly coming towards top-25 groups. The similar is just not the case on Friday afternoon, although, because the Quarterfinals convey a 3rd recreation towards the Ohio State Buckeyes, who seemingly have earned their spot in the match area already, however would love the chance to go away little question by pulling off the upset over their arch rival.

(*1*)Date & Time: Friday, March 13, midday ET
Location: United Center, Chicago, Illinois
TV/Streaming: BTN

(*1*)For the primary time since 2003-04, Michigan gained two common season video games over Ohio State. I don’t imagine the Wolverines have ever gone 3-0 in a single season, and certainly the Big Ten Tournament has not gone effectively in this rivalry, with the Buckeyes someway successful seven of the eight contests. The hole in high quality between these squads is notable, although, as evidenced by the prior two conferences.

(*1*)Ohio State Shooting: 56.5% eFG charge (third B1G)

(*1*)Kenpom has the Ohio State offense top-20 nationally and top-5 in convention play, largely because of stable capturing. Indeed, many contests have seen this offense capturing extraordinarily effectively, particularly the final 4 video games, however it doesn’t take a lot thought to guess which two video games resulted in the worst offensive manufacturing this season.

(*1*)Those battles towards Michigan noticed the Buckeyes wrestle their approach to 0.95 PPP and a 47.5% eFG charge in Columbus, then 0.92 PPP and a 42.7% eFG charge in Ann Arbor. This is only a actually robust matchup for an Ohio State unit that wishes to attract fouls and needs to shoot inside, usually hoping to beat defenses one-on-one versus wonderful ball motion or intricate units.

(*1*)The Wolverines are simply too good defensively for this to work. Dusty May mastered the switches final month in the groups’ second matchup of the season, and Bruce Thornton solely averaged 13 factors in these video games together with his two lowest ORtgs of the 12 months. Michigan remains to be elite in the paint and absolutely succesful on the perimeter, establishing one other robust scenario for the Ohio State offense.

(*1*)Michigan 2PT Shooting: 60.2% (2nd B1G)

(*1*)Michigan remains to be elite from two, second to solely Indiana in Big Ten play and second to St. Thomas (?) nationally. In Columbus it was a clinic, because the guests hit 22-of-29 pictures contained in the arc for a 75.9% clip, the second-highest mark all 12 months. The rematch was oddly the alternative, with a lowly 47.9% two-point proportion coming because of some inexplicable misses down low.

(*1*)Of course, the primary contest was truly the nearer of the 2, although neither ended even inside single digits. The Wolverines have cooled from their absurd two-point capturing to begin the 12 months and have appeared extra good than nice from this vary over the previous month, however clearly the ability set and shot choice nonetheless enable for this to be one of many staff’s cornerstones.

(*1*)I want to see Michigan proceed to assault the rim on Friday. Ohio State is about common in convention play defending twos and has put up a bunch of actually poor defensive showings. All three bigs put up double figures in each video games, and every contest featured offensive rebounding charges north of 40%. This is a transparent benefit for the higher seed and needs to be sufficient to maneuver on to Saturday.