Michigan Basketball: 3 reasons why Wolverines are better than Michigan State
By Adam Childs
2. Michigan’s defense is better
When Beilein hired Luke Yaklich he knew he was getting a defensive minded coach. He knew his team needed to get tougher on the defensive side of the ball to compliment their offense. But even in his best case scenario, he could not have imagined just how much a difference Yaklich could really make.
It took a while last year but when the Wolverines finally bought all in on the defensive side they became a force. They have won 32 of their last 34 games and it has been the defense that has carried them. They are currently ranked third in points given up per game and still have only given up more than 70 points once this year and they won that game by 11.
One of the things that makes them so good is they do it without fouling. They have the third fewest fouls in the whole country and just do not give up many free throws attempts. They move their feet extremely well and their help side defense is great. They just do not give up a lot of open looks.
Zavier Simpson is arguably the best defensive point guard in the country and Charles Matthews is also a great defender. Jordan Poole and Iggy Brazdeikis are very good defenders and Jon Teske is very underrated as a big man.
There are not many teams in the country that present a matchup problem for the Wolverines. The only thing that seems to be their weakness is a big man that has great moves down low. Ethan Happ is an example and he has had great games against Michigan. Besides that possible weakness, the Wolverines can shut down most any other player. They very rarely give up wide open shots and it shows.
Michigan State is not a bad defensive team, but they are not on the Wolverines level right now. It is why Michigan, which has struggled at times offensively, have been able to win 15 games this year by double digits. The Wolverines are not a team that blows teams out consistently but when you have a shutdown defense like they have, it turns games into routine wins.
Yes, they lost to Wisconsin but it was not the defense that let them down. As long as Michigan plays this type of defense they are as good as anyone in the country and better than Michigan State right now.