Michigan will play Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament Quarterfinals. The Wolverines won the Big Ten regular season and are defending their Big Ten Tournament title.
After sweeping State on Sunday, Michigan have already locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolverines are aiming to win back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships and to be only the second team in the last 11 years to win both the regular season outright title and the conference tournament.
Third Meeting of the Season
The Quarterfinals bring a third game against the Ohio State Buckeyes. The Buckeyes likely have earned their spot in the tournament field already. They would like the opportunity to pull off the upset over their arch rival.
The game is on Friday, March 13, at noon ET. The venue is the United Center, Chicago, Illinois, with TV/Streaming on BTN.
Buckeyes’ Offensive Struggles Against Michigan
For the first time since 2003-04, Michigan won two regular season games over Ohio State. The gap in quality between these squads is notable, as evidenced by the prior two meetings.
Ohio State’s offense ranks top-20 nationally and top-5 in conference play. This is mostly due to solid shooting, with an eFG rate of 56.5% (3rd in the Big Ten). Their two worst offensive performances this season came against Michigan.
In those games, the Buckeyes struggled their way to 0.95 PPP and a 47.5% eFG rate in Columbus, and 0.92 PPP and a 42.7% eFG rate in Ann Arbor. This is a tough matchup for an Ohio State unit that wants to draw fouls and wants to shoot inside, often hoping to beat defenses one-on-one.
Michigan’s defence may prove too strong. Dusty May mastered the switches last month in the teams’ second matchup of the season, and Bruce Thornton only averaged 13 points in these games with his two lowest ORtgs of the year. Michigan is still elite in the paint and fully capable on the perimeter, setting up another tough situation for the Ohio State offense.
Wolverines’ Two-Point Prowess
Michigan is elite from two, second to only Indiana in Big Ten play and second to St. Thomas nationally. In Columbus, the visitors hit 22-of-29 shots inside the arc for a 75.9% clip, the second-highest mark all year. The rematch was oddly the opposite, with a lowly 47.9% two-point percentage coming thanks to some inexplicable misses down low.
Tournament Outlook
Doing so requires three wins in three days, with the latter two likely coming against top-25 teams. The trip to Chicago is more for pride than anything.
- Michigan won the Big Ten regular season.
- Michigan have already locked up a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
- The Wolverines are here to make it back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships.
The Big Ten Tournament has not gone well in this rivalry, with the Buckeyes somehow winning seven of the eight contests. I do not believe the Wolverines have ever gone 3-0 in a single season.