Michigan Basketball: 2019-20 keys for Wolverines to beat Purdue at home

1. Hit outside shots

This is an obvious key, but it still very important. Even with the Juwan Howard being ushered in, the Wolverines still seem to live and die by the three-point shot. When they are hitting it at a high clip they are near impossible to beat. But when the shot goes away they struggle mightily to score.

In their loss against Michigan State on Sunday the Wolverines shot just 5-23 from deep. That is obviously not a good percentage and won’t win you many games, but the bigger problem is a lot of those shots were when Michigan was wide open.

It was even a joke on twitter that Tom Izzo was allowing the Wolverines to have open outside shots because they were shooting so poorly they didn’t need to. The Spartans just sat back watched Michigan miss three after three and kept them from getting the ball inside.

The Wolverines not only need to hit their outside shots to score points, but it allows the inside to open for Jon Teske and Austin Davis (who is taking a bigger role). They have been very good around the rim, but if the defense is packing down on them because they aren’t afraid of the outside shot it makes it tough for them inside.

Livers was the best outside shooter for the Wolverines and his loss hurts, but Eli Brooks, David DeJulius, and Franz Wagner have all shown they can hit it from the outside they just need to get back to doing that.

Hit outside shots, open up the inside and it makes the offense run better. If they do that then they are one of the best teams in the country and have shown they can beat anybody (remember the Bahamas?).