Let's cut right to the chase: this is the most important weekend of the season.
We've seen the Wolverines grow together on the road, beating out a ranked team in the process. But with a mostly atrocious performance two days ago, Michigan will now face its toughest competition in the conference.
Some final words on Northwestern (many which have been expressed by UMGoBlue.com members): it was just a bad night. Unable to carry over previous momentum plus some holiday ham, it's pretty bound to have some rust on you. I'm not here to say that we should all feel good about those final five minutes, but if anything, there's potential for some good to happen. Only time (or tomorrow) will tell.
Which brings us to Michigan State. To say the least, this team is deep - the Spartans play nine-deep on a regular basis. The bench has averaged 32.7 points per game, where any Spartan can have a breakout game. This leads to Key No. 1: contain the bench players. I know Coach Borseth usually doesn't want to go too deep in the lineup, but I wouldn't be surprised if he taps into it.
Key No. 2: Make them foul. In all of their losses, the Spartans committed 20+ fouls and more than the opposition. Evident by combining the blocks and steals, Michigan State is a very aggressive team on defense. On the other end, the Wolverines need to be firm on defense. Combining the two, Michigan can easily frustrate the Spartans, go to the line and (hopefully) earn some easy points at the charity stripe.
But in order for that to be done, they have to follow Key No. 3: No dumb shots. Sounds easy, but the Wolverines have seemed to fall into this trap. Not to rail on Dayeesha Hollins, but some of her shots have been less than ideal. With Allyssa DeHaan manning the paint, they will need to be smart around it. I'm sure it'll probably involve many takes from the arc - as long as there's ball movement involved, I'm all for it.
The matinee is at 2p EST at the Breslin Center. For you out-of-staters (like myself), it'll be on the Big Ten Network.
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I find it interesting that Day is the only one you point out when others, on the team, have taken some horrible shots as well. You rail on the freshman but not the upperclassmen. It seems to be a trend with UM supporters. It will be interesting to see if she stays the full 4 years at the UofM when most of the support and praise she gets comes from outside sources. The Michigan contingent seems to favor Jenny Ryan, K.P., and the others. I guess we will see.
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