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 pleasure 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 will not be the case on Friday afternoon, although, because the Quarterfinals carry a 3rd recreation towards the Ohio State Buckeyes, who seemingly have earned their spot in the match discipline already, however would love the chance to depart little doubt 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 received 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 properly in this rivalry, with the Buckeyes by some means 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 fee (third B1G)

(*1*)Kenpom has the Ohio State offense top-20 nationally and top-5 in convention play, principally resulting from strong capturing. Indeed, many contestants have seen this offensive capturing extraordinarily properly, particularly the final 4 video games, however it does not 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 battle their option to 0.95 PPP and a 47.5% eFG fee in Columbus, then 0.92 PPP and a 42.7% eFG fee in Ann Arbor. This is only a actually powerful matchup for an Ohio State unit that desires to attract fouls and needs to shoot inside, usually hoping to beat one-on-one defenses 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 along with his two lowest ORtgs of the yr. Michigan remains to be elite in the paint and totally succesful on the perimeter, establishing one other powerful state of affairs 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 photographs contained in the arc for a 75.9% clip, the second-highest mark all yr. The rematch was oddly the other, with a lowly 47.9% two-point share coming due to some inexplicable misses down low.

(*1*)Of course, the primary reply was really the closest of the 2, though neither ended even inside single digits. The Wolverines have cooled from their absurd two-point capturing to begin the yr and have appeared extra good than nice from this vary over the previous month, however clearly the talent set and shot choice nonetheless permit 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 must be sufficient to maneuver on to Saturday.