Michigan Basketball: Keys for Wolverines to beat Montana in Round of 64
By Adam Childs
1. Come out ready to play
As I have already stated in the opening Michigan came out very flat last year against the Grizzlies. It was 10-0 at the first media timeout and Montana had all the momentum. Had it not been for Charles Matthews big first half the Grizzlies might have been up at the break.
Michigan has been known for their slow starts this year and they can’t afford to have that happen again. They have the talent and defense to probably get away with it against Montana, but they don’t want to even let them think they have a chance in this game. The longer Michigan’s lets them be the game the more the crowd will turn on them and then all the pressure will be on the Wolverines.
They can not come out thinking about who they might be playing in the second round. They need to come out ready to play and put away the Grizzlies early. If they can jump on them early they should be able to sail into the second round without much trouble. But allow Montana to stick around and they will get a good game from them.
They need to lock them down on defense right away and make every shot difficult for them. They need to force turnovers and run when they can and just take any hope they have of an upset away earlier. Take care of business early and use the second half to rest some of the starters for their second round game. They can only do that, though, if they come out ready to play.