Hoops Preview: Northwestern
THE ESSENTIALS
WHAT |
#27 Michigan (19-10, 9-7 B1G) at #37 Northwestern (20-9, 9-7) |
---|---|
WHERE |
Welsh-Ryan Arena Evanston, Illinois |
WHEN | 7 pm ET, Wednesday |
LINE |
Northwestern -1 (KenPom) Northwestern -1 (Vegas) |
TV |
BTN PBP: Kevin Kugler Analyst: Stephen Bardo |
Right: McIntawwwww. [Eric Upchurch/MGoBlog]
THE US
A Michigan team that suddenly finds itself on firm tournament footing faces a Northwestern team that suddenly finds itself back on the bubble. The Wolverines are an eight-seed in the latest Bracket Matrix. The Wildcats, losers of five of their last seven, have fallen to the ten-seed line after looking like a dead lock heading into February. They are, after all, Northwestern.
This game has significant implications for the NCAA bubble and Big Ten Tournament seeding. Both teams are 9-7 in the Big Ten, one game behind Michigan State and Minnesota, which are tied for fourth place. Michigan can still get the four-seed and a double-bye in the conference tournament by winning out and getting some help; you can play around with the various scenarios here. The only scenario I've found that gets Michigan to the four-seed requires Minnesota to lose out (Nebraska, @Wisconsin) and Michigan State to drop one of their last two (@Illinois, @Maryland).
UPDATE THE FIRST
The BTN helpfully laid out all of the various BTT seeding scenarios:
6. Michigan (9-7)
Can be as high as #4 seed with wins in its final 2 games (at Northwestern and Nebraska) + 2 Minnesota losses + 1 MSU loss OR wins in its final 2 games + 2 MSU losses + 2 Wisconsin losses
Can’t finish higher than #6 with a loss at Northwestern tonight
Could fall as low as #8 with 2 losses + tiebreakers
UPDATE THE SECOND
The line has moved to Michigan -2 after opening at Northwestern -1.
THE LINEUP CARD
Projected starters are in bold. Hover over headers for stat explanations. The "Should I Be Mad If He Hits A Three" methodology: we're mad if a guy who's not good at shooting somehow hits one. Yes, you're still allowed to be unhappy if a proven shooter is left open. It's a free country.
Pos. | # | Name | Yr. | Ht./Wt. | %Min | %Poss | ORtg | SIBMIHHAT | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
G | 30 | Bryant McIntosh | Jr. | 6'3, 185 | 85 | 27 | 99 | Yes | |||||||||||
Good distributor. Takes lots of tough shots, occasionally makes them. | |||||||||||||||||||
G | 20 | Scottie Lindsey | Jr. | 6'5, 210 | 67 | 23 | 109 | Kinda | |||||||||||
NW's leading scorer in slump since midseason bout with mono. | |||||||||||||||||||
F | 4 | Vic Law | So. | 6'7, 205 | 81 | 21 | 104 | Not At All | |||||||||||
Solid defender, rebounder, and outside shooter. Only making 35% of twos. | |||||||||||||||||||
F | 34 | Sanjay Lumpkin | Sr. | 6'6, 220 | 70 | 11 | 127 | Kinda | |||||||||||
Low-usage garbageman type. Iffy outside shot. | |||||||||||||||||||
C | 5 | Dererk Pardon | So. | 6'8, 235 | 56 | 14 | 121 | Very | |||||||||||
Strong finisher, rebounder, and shot-blocker. Plays 70% of mins when healthy. | |||||||||||||||||||
F | 44 | Gavin Skelly | Jr. | 6'8, 225 | 47 | 19 | 111 | Kinda | |||||||||||
Gets offensive boards and blocks. Struggling to finish, turnover- and foul-prone. | |||||||||||||||||||
G | 12 | Isiah Brown | Fr. | 6'2, 175 | 41 | 27 | 90 | Yes | |||||||||||
Like McIntosh, but without the assists. | |||||||||||||||||||
F | 32 | Nathan Taphorn | Sr. | 6'7, 215 | 28 | 16 | 127 | Not At All | |||||||||||
Just A Shooter™, hits 45% of his threes. |
[Hit THE JUMP for the rest of the preview.]
THE THEM
After starting 18-4 with a 7-2 mark in the Big Ten, Northwestern has fallen hard back to earth. They've dropped five of their last seven, losing two games to Illinois and most recently blowing a game at Indiana that KenPom says they had a 97% chance of winning with under three minutes left. While the Northwestern defense has remained relatively stingy throughout, offense has been tough to come by of late.
That's easy to believe when you watch Northwestern play or look at the stat sheet. Lead guard Bryant McIntosh takes just under 29% of the team's shots when he's on the floor, which ranks fifth in the Big ten. Over half of McIntosh's shots are categorized as two-point jumpers by hoop-math; his pet shots are the running floater and the midrange pull-up. He's shooting 44% on twos and 30% on threes in conference play; even with an excellent assist-to-turnover ratio, that's not the efficiency you want out of your top option. It doesn't help that primary backup guard Isiah Brown is essentially the same player without the passing acumen.
The team's slump has coincided with leading scorer Scottie Lindsay missing four games with mono, then not looking like the same player in the three games since his return. At his best, he's an effective player off the dribble and a strong outside shooter; he finally got his inside-the-arc game going against Indiana, but he's 2-for-16 on three-pointers since getting back on the court.
Sophomore wing Vic Law, the rare four-star Northwestern recruit, provides length and athleticism that translates well to defense. He hasn't put it together yet on offense, posting identical 35% marks from both two- and three-point range in Big Ten games. Senior four-man Sanjay Lumpkin is the same guy he's been for three years: a low-volume, high-efficiency finisher of inside shots usually created by others. He'll take the occasional three; Michigan will be fine with that.
Sophomore pivot Dererk "Not A Typo" Pardon has emerged as one of the better big men in a conference loaded with them. He's logging over 32 minutes per game after a midseason injury knocked him out for eight games, showing impressive stamina and foul avoidance for a guy who does the dirty work in the paint; Pardon is an excellent rebounder and rim protector. While not the focal point of the offense, he makes 59% of his shots; his weakness is at the line, where he's shooting only 52%.
THE TEMPO-FREE
Conference-only stats.
Northwestern's offense isn't pretty; they rank tenth in two-point percentage and 13th in three-point percentage, and while they don't turn the ball over often, they don't make up for their poor shooting with offensive rebounds or frequent trips to the line.
They have a much better defense, though: they make opponents shoot like, well, Northwestern. They're especially tough inside the arc, though they do have a propensity for fouling, which could spell trouble against (raises voice for the people in the back) the #10 free-throw shooting team in the country.
THE KEYS
Don't lose the free-throw battle. Both teams are very good at converting at the line, but Northwestern's defense is much more foul-prone than Michigan's. While it's tough to expect the Wolverines to gain too big of a foul advantage in a Big Ten road game, keeping it relatively even should be sufficient given their decided shooting advantage from the field.
Make Pardon uncomfortable. We saw on Saturday what Michigan's offense can do to shot-blocking big men in space. Pardon is more mobile on defense than the Swanigan/Haas duo; I'd still like to see Beilein take the same general approach to at the very least draw Northwestern's best rim protector away from the paint.
Let McIntosh/Brown shoot their shots. Beilein had an illuminating quote about M's defensive approach after the Purdue game that I couldn't cram into yesterday's Basketbullets:
We just have to battle. We just have to find ways to stop people by hustling, by flying around. We have some isolation problems sometimes. We found a way to help that a little bit, and we’ve been working on that in practice. We’re not big and strong in the post, so that’s been an issue. We’ve made a conscious decision to defend the three-point line, knowing that a tough two is much better to give up than an open three, which we were giving up like crazy in our earlier struggles.
Northwestern's guards are inclined to take those anyway, even though none of them are exactly Kyrie Irving. If Michigan is running the Wildcats off the line and forcing a bunch of McIntosh floaters, they should be in good shape. As Purdue found out, it's difficult to keep up with this offense by attempting difficult shots inside the arc.
THE SECTION WHERE I PREDICT THE SAME THING KENPOM DOES
Northwestern by 1.
The Wildcats are a desperate team returning to their home court after two straight on the road. Michigan is going to have to match their intensity. I like this matchup on paper, but there's definitely a letdown factor here after the emotional Purdue win.
ELSEWHERE
UMHoops preview. Dylan's latest mailbag includes some eye-opening MAAR shooting stats:
In February, he’s shooting 20 of 26 inside the arc and 9 of 22 from three-point range — that’s a 69.8 eFG% — with 16 assists. His eFG% before February was just 48.3% and those numbers are night and day difference and certainly make an impact. Abdur-Rahkman had settled into a grove late last season as well and he’s certainly an important piece of this Michigan offense heading down the stretch.
Quinn on Chicago native Billy Donlon returning home to face childhood friend Chris Collins.
SECTION WHERE I PREDICT SOMETHING DIFFERENT THAN KENPOM.
Michigan by Pain.
Seems like the last half dozen games the home team has been favored by 1 point.
This speaks to the giant bulge of mediocrity at the heart of the B1G this year. No standout power teams, but a higher floor this year than last.
by NOT having the same refs we saw at the Minnesota game.
If those fuckwads show up, we're likely toast.
Imagine how good MAAR could be if he gets out of the grove and into a groove.
The burial ground on which Welch-Ryan was built was a little slow on the curse this year but "striking down best offensive player with mono midseason" appears to be getting the job done.
Northwestern's tourney resume really needs a win this week over Michigan or Purdue. It's a lot lighter than you'd expect for a team that still is in most/all the posted brackets
Move the ball. Play OUR game. Let's get a W.
Featuring the newly added playing great defense. We play great defense and we will continue to win games. That and the waterboy getting 10 sacks a game.
I think Michigan has a chance if they don't fall far behind. Northwestern could well be tight/feeling snakebit from a number of recent losses, including a tough one this past weekend at Indiana. If Michigan has a lead or things are close late, those are things that might work to Michigan's advantage...(but agree with Ace - hope Michigan avoids a let down after the big win against Purdue).
was a Sunday-Wend. tournaround, I think a there could be a Purdue letdown, but that game feels like it was quite a while ago by this point. I actually don't see that being an issue.
You left out that Northwestern has a freshman walk-on that also happens to be julia louis-dreyfus' son, seems like an important omission.
Battle of the Celebrity Walk ons. Charlie Hall vs Andrew Dakich
That's news to me.
I guess I meant to say Battle of the Celebrity Parents' walk on kids.
So this is his celebration dance after scoring a 3?
fancy moses
As long as they don't have Alex Olah I like our chances. That guy used to kill us.
Is the new Evan Eschmeyer. Dude has been on that team for 12 years.
"The team's slump has coincided with leading scorer Scottie Lindsay missing four games with mono, then not looking like the same player in the three games since his return. At his best, he's an effective player off the dribble and a strong outside shooter; he finally got his inside-the-arc game going against Indiana, but he's 2-for-16 on three-pointers since getting back on the court."
I have that gut feeing that the ship rights itself tonight. We can still win but Im betting on the usual "GAME OF THE YEAR" talk about Lindsay tonight.
It takes like half a year or more to recover from mono, he should still be iffy.
This team is feelin' itself right now. Michigan by 4.
Can see Collins fuming on the sidelines. I expect NW to be tight as a banjo in this "must win" at home. Also expect Robinson to come up big on 3s, as NW emphasizes defending Moe and DJ. Go Blue!
wins. Northwestern's arena name has a hyphen in it.
All the hyphens are belong to Michigan.
I'd feel very confident about this game except that we are terrible on the road.
For having much of an intimidating home court advantage.
Neither is Rutgers and that game was a total sludgefart
Maybe lousy, crummy, poopy, underperforming, or stinky?
Our road record isn't good, but I don't think our play has been that bad. We've just lost a lot of close games.
I agree that we probably aren't really "worse" than the average team on the road. Road games are a lot more difficult than home games. There's a reason there is an average 8 point swing from home to road games.
Big win on the road against a "tournament" level team. Va Tech got away from them, tonight will show the difference in this team from December's funk to March's Maddness.......
but let's get of that sumbitch with a win tonight!! Walton will lead us to another road win!
We are playing great ball right now. I disagree, Ace. Michigan wins comfortably.
According to that website, we can also pass Wisconsin, but it's weird:
Michigan wins out @Northwestern and @Nebraska.
Michigan State loses out home to Illinois and @Maryland.
Wisconsin loses out @Iowa and home to Minnesota.
Minnesota wins out @Nebraska and home to Wisconsin.
Strangely, this result requires Minnesota beating Nebraska so that they can pass us. We would lose a three-way tie between Minnesota and Wisconsin, but win a head-to-head against Wisconsin, so if Minnesota can clear both of us and we can ties Wiscy, we can take their top four spot (according to the linked website). We also need to pass Sparty, because thay also are beating us in round-robin tie breakers.
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