Matchup Breakdown: Michigan vs. Texas Tech

If Teske is guarded by Owens at 6’10” and 205 lbs, he needs to impose him will with his size advantage. Wouldn’t be surprised to have Owens guard Iggy but i doubt they want to give up his shot blocking at the rim or rebounding.

Really curious how Beilein can force Owens to guard him in the post with pick and rolls and switches.

Owens is an elite rim protector and capable of switching in ball screens. I don’t really see it as a matchup where Teske can “impose his will” offensively.

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I’m talking about the size difference in weight. Teske needs to wear him down by keeping a body on him and keeping him off the boards. I know easier said than done.

Also, I want Poole to have a short leash if he starts giving up open 3s and have Brooks ready to play.

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Poole will need to play the biggest game of his life on Thursday!

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Sounds like a battle of Poole vs. keeping his feet on the ground and not getting faked into cheap fouls at the 3 point line. Can hopefully close out effectively without jumping given his height advantage.

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Is there any possibility they put Zavier on Moretti?

Seems like you can make the argument Moretti is more of a worry going off than Mooney. Assuming Matthews can limit/slow down Culver, and if Zavier took away Moretti, they’re left with an inefficient scorer in Mooney.

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It looks to me that the key defensive matchup will be Team vs. Culver as much as Matthews vs. Culver. That Culver reel was ballscreen, ballscreen, ballscreen. If TTU regularly isolates Culver, I haven’t seen it.

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Anyone else getting major Jimmy Butler vibes from Culver?

Brooks might get some extended run vs. Moretti. Potentially a better defensive matchup.

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I agree with Dylan that we will likely see only one big from Tech (Owens or Odiase) most of the time. However, I would think when the two share the floor, Owens would guard Brazdeikis with Odiase on Teske. Owens is far more mobile laterally and Iggy obviously has more driving ability than Teske. I think the same match-ups would hold on the other end too – Teske guarding Odiase and Brazdeikis on Owens.

I could see that too

Moretti is a low usage catch and shoot guy, so I doubt we put Simpson on him. He has a 15.7% usage compared to Mooney at 22.5%. I think we’d be better served to have Simpson guarding somebody who will actually dribble the ball and try to run the offense.

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Having TTU’s elite shot blocker covering Iggy out at the three point line sounds like an advantage for Michigan.

Whoever Owens is covering needs to be ready to dive to the rim when Owens leaves him to go for the help block.

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The issue to me is their offense is going to mainly run through Culver. Mooney is still higher usage but he’s not efficient. If Matthews is slowing down Culver, I worry more about Moretti getting hot than Mooney facilitating their offense and/or taking his midrange jumpers.

I would envision Zavier running through their screens to shutdown Moretti. If Matthews is slowing down Culver, they’re going to rely on an inefficient Mooney to take over. He already struggles against good opponents, which tells me Poole can guard him and you don’t need Zavier to shut him down.

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I’m hoping X has one of his reduce the opposing PG to a quivering heap defensive games. All the Red Raiders are turnover prone, and most of their losses have been marked by Culver and Mooney coughing up the ball.

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Yeah, it’s interesting because we are not super aggressive, aiming to reduce fouls rather than reach for steals. That said, I’m hoping that if we stifle their half-court offense, they’ll start to cough up the ball trying to force things. Really need Matthews to play his best and shut down Culver – my sense is that without Culver being effective, they’ll start to get desperate looking for production elsewhere. Also needs Poole to keep Moretti from getting shots off. But I think with those two conditions, the rest of the game actually becomes very simple, however it will take a good defensive game for both Matthews and Poole. Either one of them having a bad day could be disastrous.

True, from the clips it looks like Moretti has mastered the art of drawing/faking contact on his 3pt shooting. Maybe Poole could learn something and apply it to his own effort to draw contact.

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Nightmares of Luke Hancock…

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