7 pm on BTN
This is an interesting one… Lamar Stevens should be a problem for Michigan. Tony Carr is a lot bigger than Zavier Simpson, but Simpson has been pretty great defensively. Maybe MAAR gets a shot there?
That being said, I don’t think Mike Watkins wants any part of hedging and recovering against Wagner pick-and-pops.
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I think Simpson gets the task of checking Carr. I can see either scenario, but believe Simpson may be best at running him off 3 point line, or forcing contested, difficult 3’s. Fear of Carr posting a smaller Simpson is minimal. I think, if OSU game is any indication, Simpson will hound Carr anywhere over half court. I think Simpson is best on team of getting through screens as well. He’s tough tough tough.
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Why? He’s one of the better post-up guards in the conference.
Stevens gave Wilson fits last year but that was because Wilson didn’t have quick enough feet to stay with him. Livers is much better suited to guard him. When Duncan is in that could change. Will be interesting to see how those minutes get divided.
Because Beilein would gladly have Penn State posting up and getting two’s as opposed to hitting 3’s. Priority one seems to be not allowing teams to get 3’s. No? Either way Carr would give MAAR or Simpson trouble in the post.
The smartest thing Penn State could do tonight is put Garner on Matthews and Reaves on MAAR. Teams should make Charles beat them at this point. If Charles can run pick n roll against Garner and Watkins with success, we should win this game. They may go with more size and put Reaves on Matthews but MAAR has been much better lately. If Wagner is hitting 3s, we should be in pretty good shape. We definitely do not want Carr in the post. Garner is only 6’2-6’3 and mainly shoots 3s, we should put Simpson on him and MAAR/Matthews on Carr/Reaves.
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Not a more talented team in the B1G than PSU. Fortunately their shot selection and decision making is of the me first mentality.
Just stay connected, weather their runs, and let them self destruct during winning time.
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Feels like we are walking into a perfect storm. As much as the kids should realize PSU got pasted on that court, and they just gave Purdue everything Purdue could handle at Mackey, I don’t know if it will get through to them that they need every bit the mentally tenacious effort they gave all 40 minutes against the Buckeyes.
But we’re coming in off a hugely emotional win, they desperately need this game, their crowd will be off the hook to cheer for their team to beat a newly top 20 team - and PSU has speed and athleticism that could give us fits.
I’ve been really impressed by them this year - especially of late - our team has a way of surprising me, I’d be pretty stunned if they could pull this one off.
PSU really needs this one and an opponent like us rolling into town pretty much couldn’t come at a better time for them. PSU has a lot of talent and guys who can score. I’d love a win here in the worst way - no matter the outcome, I think it’s nuts for PSU to not be in the tourney.
Gonna be a really tough game to win. Psu is playing well and they need this game desperately. Definitely need a big game from Wagner today as I think he is the only guy that has a plus matchup on offense.
As far as who guards Carr…I initially thought rahk all the way as I don’t see how Simpson can effectively contest any shot by Carr. But after thinking about it, Carr is the kind of guy that gets his shot off against anyone and makes a lot of tough, contested shots. So maybe it’s better to go with Simpson and hope that he can harass Carr into some awkward spots while also disrupting the general flow of the psu offense with his ball pressure.
Either gonna need to be Matthews or Simpson on Carr. I would guess that Matthews makes the most sense, but I think that it’s worth trying Simpson on Carr to see if it works.
Is Tony Carr on the NBA draft radar at all? I haven’t seen his name at all but I find it hard to believe a 6’5" 200 pound guard averaging 19/5/5 and 46% from three on 5 attempts per game isn’t a lock first round pick
On D, make Carr hit tough twos, let Stevens take 3s (he’s 4 for his last 18, 29% on the year), make Garner do anything but take 3s. On offense, hope Wagner plays well, run the offense and be aggressive – PSU will foul and can be caught out of position.
Feels like this game could go a lot of ways. Never know how they’ll react to senior day distractions, could still be thinking about letting one slip away at PU, and they haven’t seen our offense all year. On the other hand, they seem to be putting it all together and desperately this win. Could be a tough game for UM to get up for, or could feel great coming out of beating OSU.
Seems like one of those games where getting off to a good start would be huge.
If Carr is the one doing the posting up, we can let them bomb away. Besides Carr, Garner is the only three point threat.
The last time we had a road game I thought we had absolutely no chance at winning we beat Sparty by 10. I literally have zero expectations for tonight.
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Yeah, I thought we’d lose to MSU and beat Nebraska and Northwestern on the road. I think we’re going to lose to Penn State but would be happy to be wrong again!
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Good stat dug up by Brian at mgoblog: http://barttorvik.com/trankslice.php?year=2018&sort=&conlimit=&begin=20180125&end=20180501&top=&quad=4&mingames=3&venue=All&type=All
PSU is the best team in the country per Torvik since Josh Reaves came back from suspension (8 game sample).
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Three 20+ point wins including the destruction of OSU will do that, but yep they are playing well.
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Can’t let Garner kill you from 3. He can run you right off the floor if you let him.
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The line has moved a full point already this afternoon to Penn State -4.