Sunday’s Elite Eight game between Tennessee and Michigan, it will be more ‘Land of the Giants’ than a fight of the Smurfs. When CBS’ national television audience tunes in Sunday at 1:15 they will be treated to an old-fashioned ‘battle of the bigs’.
Top scorers in the dance
Michigan’s (34-3) top three scorers are 6’9 Yaxel Lendeborg, 6’9 Morez Johnson Jr and 7’3 Aday Mara. All three are double digit scorers and average at least 6.8 rebounds per game. Because Lendeborg routinely shoots threes, his .520 shooting percentage is by far the worst of the three Wolverine frontcourt trio.
Four of Tennessee’s (25-11) top five scorers are 6’10 Nate Ament, 6’11 J.P. Estrella, 6’11 Felix Okpara and 6’8, 265 pound Jaylen Carey. Estrella and Okpara each convert over 60 percent of their shots and all four players average over 5.3 caroms per contest.
There are elevators at the Chicago downtown hotels that wouldn’t allow these two frontcourts all on one elevator.
Each of these Elite Eight competitors average over forty rebounds per game and typically outrebound their opponents by double digits. During their NCAA Tournament games they have eerily similar rebounding numbers. In Michigan’s three March Madness victories, they’ve collected 123 rebounds compared to their opponents’ 82. Tennessee has grabbed 124 caroms and have also allowed 82.
UT sophomore guard Bishop Boswell says he has confidence in the Volunteer frontcourt.
“I'm definitely confident in them,” said Boswell. “I've seen them all season hold their own. Obviously, Michigan has a great group of guys over there and so do we. The coaches did a great job in the off-season of bringing in a bunch of bigs we can rotate in. I think we'll be good.”
Teammate Ethan Burg agrees.
“We've got a lot of depth,” said Burg. “We've got really talented bigs. Four bigs. And we're going to do our job to try to feed them the ball, try to let them go to work. I know how talented they are, how capable they are, and I'm confident in them.”
Volunteers got dudes
Two of Tennessee’s forwards recorded double-doubles Friday night. Okpara scored twelve points and grabbed ten rebounds and Carey scored eleven points, matched Okpara’s ten boards and tossed in four assists.
Each of these teams like to play two or three bigs at a time and run devastating high-low games.
Lendeborg recorded a 23-point, twelve-rebound, seven-assist game during Friday's win over Alabama.
Michigan freshman Trey McKenny says the teams are very similar.
“Tennessee, they try to get as many second chance points as they can,” said McKenny. “They're on the offensive glass really heavy. That's something we preach because I mean, we have a lot of size down low. We want to get as many shots as we can because we know those are the most efficient shots.”
Teammate Roddy Gayle Jr says Michigan needs to stay fundamentally sound to combat Tennessee’s size.
“They play three bigs most of the time,” said Gayle. “So, it's just all about positioning for us, especially on the long rebounds, long shots. Being able to chop our feet, not letting balls go over our head and being able to win the position back.”
The experience matters
Michigan’s experience in Big Ten Conference play will serve them well. Nimari Burnett says playing teams like Illinois and Purdue has his Wolverine team prepared for this challenge.
“There's been a lot of teams that crash the glass heavy, and that's their identity,” said Burnett. “That's been Tennessee's identity throughout the season. So, we look forward to getting physical hits throughout the course of 40 minutes. Winning the rebound battle is one of our goals for this game.”
Obviously other players like point guards Ja’Kobi Gillespie (Tennessee) and Elliot Cadeau (Michigan) will be important players in this game, but the land of the giants is likely where this game will be won or lost.