Michigan's first week of B1G play couldn't have gone any better. The Wolverines are 2-0 with 2 blowout wins under their belt. Tonight they welcome the Nebraska Cornhuskers to Ann Arbor with a chance to tie the best start in program history. The Big Red basketball team packs a lot less of a punch than their football team, and so far it looks like Taylor Martinez and company scored more points than their basketball counterparts.
Let's get to the bottom line first. Nebraska is the worst team in the B1G, and Michigan gets to play them at the Crisler Center tonight. That means that tonight is the Wolverine's easiest conference game. The Cornhuskers are greatly lacking any offensive skill players, and Michigan has scored more points in each of their first two games than Nebraska has combined. On paper this is a very lopsided matchup.
Since Nebraska is the worst offensive team in the B1G they have resolved to trying to play at the slowest pace possible. So, to the untrained eye, the Michigan defense should look its best tonight because Nebraska will struggle to get out into the 50's. Their two best options are guard Dylan Talley and mountain center Andre Almeida. Talley is a very high volume scorer who will likely score around 15 points. Almeida is a 6'11" 314 sasquatch that is surprisingly quick on his feet and has some nice post moves. While he is a far cry from as talented as Derrick Nix, it will should give Morgan and McGary some good reps against bigger opponents. Hopefully, for Michigan fans, Jon Horford can see some game action to shake some rust off before heading down to Columbus. The Cornhuskers like shooting a lot of threes, but for some reason they don't like making many of them. I am interested to see how Nick Stauskas defends tonight because he spent most of the Iowa game chasing around the smaller guards.
Nebraska is much better on the defensive end of the floor, but this is not saying much. They still rank near the bottom in the B1G. They start a freshman point guard who will be tasked to stay in front of Trey Burke. We saw how a decent freshman recruit fared on Sunday, and the answer is not good at all. This is likely a game where Trey will be able to take over at any point he desires. However, he will have to resist the temptation to do this often and continue to get his teammates involved like he has for much of the year. Trey will likely be able to break down his defender at will, which will leave Stauskas and Hardaway on the wings for open three point attempts all night long. I would like to see both of them continue to attack the basket and keep their three point attempts under 12 combined. GR3 will continue to be a complete mismatch, and will be able to have a field day if he desires. I expect him to sink back into the shadows tonight after his breakout performance on Sunday. He will likely have 2-3 plays that leave your jaw open and remind you he could be a top 5 pick, but expect another 14 point game on 6-7 shooting. Morgan will be outsized down low, but he will have the athletic edge and should be able to exploit that in the pick and roll game. I would like to see him have a bounce back performance after being the only minor disappointment from Sunday.
Michigan is on a different level right now in terms of focus and skill, but they could be stuck looking forward to their big matchup with the Buckeyes on Sunday. If Nebraska can find a way to hang around for the first 8 minutes, I think the focus gets redirected and an Iowa type finish will be in order. However, if Michigan comes out and steps on the Cornhusker throats early I wouldn't be surprised to see the Wolverines put the 2nd half on cruise control and come into the gates with a 15-18 point boring win.
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