#24 Michigan (8-2) vs #10 Oklahoma (10-0) 9:00pm est ESPN2 Michigan -3
Michigan last played 8 days ago in a tough 2pt loss to a talented Arkansas team. We saw the worst of Michigan in that game as well as the best of this basketball team. One thing I know for sure, if we replicate our performance in Madison Square Garden tonight in Charlotte, we will lose.
Let's meet our opponent:
Oklahoma is one of 4 remaining teams that have yet to lose a game this season. Let's take a look at why: A big reason is their strength of schedule. They come in ranked 66th. Only Drake #103 has a worse SOS out of the undefeated teams. Florida #33 and Tennessee #13. (Michigan's SOS is #29th)
Make sure you're sitting down before you read this next stat... Oklahoma ranks #6th in the nation in steals per game. The reality is, they may end up ranked #1 when this game is over given Michigan's inability to take care of the basketball. Oklahoma turns their opponents over on average 15.5 times per game. If the heartburn hasn't kicked in yet, this should do it, Oklahoma turns over its opponent on average 1 out of every 5 possessions. Michigan's kryptonite is the key stat more than any other, on WHY Oklahoma is undefeated through 10 games.
Other than that, the only other stats they are elite in is Free throw shooting at 78.9% per game #19th and shooting efficiency at 1.203 ranking them #17th. Offensively, they are a middle of the pack team in all other categories. On paper, they aren't that scary.
Defensively is where this OU team struggles. They give up 24 3pt attempts per game while opponents make on average 7. I watched their game vs Arizona back in November and Arizona shot 19 threes and only made 5. This wasn't because OU was playing outstanding perimeter defense. Arizona simply couldn't hit wide open attempts. This seems to be a theme. I'm not ready to say it has anything to do with OU's defensive abilities. Opponents also shoot 52.1% from 2 against the sooners, ranking them #204 in the country. Oklahoma is also a terrible rebounding team. Opponents average 9.7 offensive rebounds per game on them ranking them #264. OU only defensive rebounds at a rate of 22.4 per game, ranking them #199th in the country.
Michigan wins this game if we shoot 33% or better from 3, turn the ball over under 15 times and we dominate on the glass. It's no more complicated than that.
- Jeremiah Fears 6ft 4in 182lb Freshman Guard
- Fears averages 16.7ppg 4.7apg and 3.5reb per game. He's their straw however he has major turnover issues himself. He's averaging 4.2 turnovers per game in his last 5. He is the first player we have went up against that averages the same amount of turnovers as Danny Wolf. Both are ranked 13th in the nation for turnovers at 3.8 per game. (Not good). Fears is not particularly a good 3pt shooter but he's not afraid to launch them. 11/37 on the year. Fears is a high energy + elite talent. Remember Boogie Fland last week... yeah.
- Jalon Moore 6ft 7in 215lb Senior 17.5ppg 6.2reb. The Georgia Tech transfer is an elite scorer at all levels. Shoots it 50% from 2. 36.4% from 3 and 83.1% from the line. He's scored 20+ in 6 games this year. He has no desire to pass the ball when he gets it. If you were playing a pick up game at LA Fitness and this man was on your team, you might as well park your butt on the other side of half court and work on your defensive stance. He's got one thing on his mind: Buckets.
Unlike our other games against high major opponents, OU has plenty of guards to run out there. They use 4 in their rotation and all 4 bring something. They use another 3 players at wing and have 3 post players. We unlikely wear them down like teams in the past. Instead, we are going to need to take care of the basketball and make our open shots. In my opinion, tonight's game will be one of the most entertaining college basketball games of the year. You won't want to miss it.
Michigan 82 OU 81
We are 0-1 in this 4 game stretch before conference play picks up. Win tonight. Finish 3-1 and we are more than likely ranked inside the top 15 before heading out west.
Go Blue!
