NCAA TOURNAMENT THREAD: (11) Michigan vs. (3) Tennessee

Ben_McKee · Mar 19, 2022

Greetings from Gainbridge Fieldhouse where 3-seed Tennessee and 11-Michigan will tip at 5:50 p.m. ET instead of 5:15 because Baylor/North Carolina went into overtime and threw off the CBS scheduling.

Should be a fun one. Trip to the Sweet Sixteen is on the line.

Here's your usual pregame reading material....

Notes on today’s matchup:

Tennessee’s trails its all-time series with Michigan, 5-6
- That includes two NCAA Tournament clashes, both won by the Wolverines (2011 and 2014)
  - The 2014 meeting took place in the Sweet Sixteen at Indy's Lucas Oil Stadium
Rick Barnes has faced Michigan only once as a head coach, as his Texas squad fell to the Wolverines in the third round of the 2014 NCAA Tournament in Milwaukee
The Volunteers are 24-36 all-time against current members of the Big Ten, while Barnes is 30-31
Tennessee is riding an eight-game win streak and has won 13 of its last 14 contests
A Tennessee win Saturday would give the Vols their ninth all-time Sweet Sixteen appearance, and their second of the Barnes era
- A win would also would give Tennessee its seventh win of March
- That would tie the 2013-14 (Sweet Sixteen) and 2010- 11 (Elite Eight) teams for the most March wins in program history
Tennessee is making its 24th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament
- The Vols are 23- 24 in the NCAA Tournament
  - 1-0 in the First Four
  - 14-7 in first round games
  - 7-8 in second-round games
  - 1-0 in third-round action
  - 1-7 in regional semifinals
  - 0-1 in regional finals
This is the program’s fourth NCAA berth under Rick Barnes
- Tennessee’s 24 NCAA Tournament berths tie LSU for fourth-most among SEC teams
- Since 2010, among SEC programs, only Kentucky (31) and Florida (19) have won more

Notes on Michigan:

Michigan (18-14) enters Saturday’s Round of 32 matchup off a 75-63 win over No. 6 seed Colorado State
- Ranked No. 6 in the preseason AP Top 25, Michigan finished 11-9 in regular-season Big Ten play this season
- The Wolverines entered the NCAA Tournament 5-10 in Quadrant 1 games and also had three losses in Quadrant 2 and one in Quadrant 3
- Michigan has alternated wins and losses for its past 11 games, having not won or lost consecutive games since Feb. 8 and Feb. 10.

Projected Michigan (18-14) starting lineup:

PG, DeVante’ Jones, Gr. — Coastal Carolina transfer
- averaging 10.7 points per game after collecting 18 double figure games with 15 of those coming in the Big Ten regular season
- has double-digit games in seven of his last eight games with two 20+ point games
G, Eli Brooks, Gr.
- Michigan’s second-leading scorer, averaging 12.4 points per game while shooting 38.6% from three
G/F, Caleb Houston, Fr.
- leads U-M with 59 three-pointers
  - He has 10 games of 3+ three-pointers
- Nearly 60% (58.7%) of Houstan’s offensive attempts are from long range
- In addition to his shooting, Houstan’s 10.6 points per game makes him one of four double fi gure scoring Wolverines
F, Moussa Diabete, Fr.
- was named to the Big Ten All-Freshman team — 9.0 points, 6.0 rebounds per game
- has 24 starts, has continued to make an impact with his high energy and highlight-reel dunks
- has 12 double figure games, including a career-best 28 at Iowa (Feb. 17)
C, Hunter Dickinson, So.
- a second-team All-Big Ten selection and leads Michigan statistically in scoring (18.4 ppg), rebounding (8.3 rpg) and blocked shots (1.5 bpg)
- Dickinson has recorded 10 double-doubles this season.

DeVante’ Jones, Michigan’s starting point guard and third-leading scorer, missed Thursday’s first round game due to concussion. His status for Saturday’s game was unknown, but he participated in warmups and will start.

Key Michigan bench players:

F, Terrance Williams II, So.
F, Brandon Johns Jr., Sr.
G, Kobe Bufkin, Fr.
G, Frankie Collins, Fr.

Michigan is No. 33 in KenPom entering the game — KenPom predicts a 71-65 Tennessee win

KenPom gives the Vols a 72% change of winning
7th in strength of schedule
34th in average height (78.2”)
211th in adjust tempo (66.6)
245th in minutes continuity (38.7%)
297th in experience (1.42 years)
319th in bench minutes (22.9%)
335th in 2-foul participation (4.5%)

Michigan offensive strengths: — No. 19 in offensive efficiency (114.2)

50th in steal% (8.0)
53rd in 2P% (53.3)
- 56.9% of points come from two (38th)
68th in effective FG% (52.5)
68th in FT% (75.0)
- 17.4% of points come from free throws (206th)
77th in offensive rebound% (31.1)
101st in turnover% (17.3)
108th in block% (8.2)
138th in A/FGM (52.5)

Michigan offensive weaknesses:

171st in 3P% (33.8)
- 25.8% of points come from three’s (310th)
195th in non-steal TO% (9.3)
209th in FTA/FGA (29.4)
301st in 3PA/FGA (32.2)

Michigan defensive strengths: — No. 81 in defensive efficiency (98.1)

25th in A/FGM (42.4)
34th in offensive rebound% (23.8)
69th in FTA/FGA (26.1)
80th in 3PA/FGA (34.6)
- 28.6% of opponent points come from three (266th)

Michigan defensive weaknesses:

147th in 3P% defense (33.1)
184th in effective FG% (50.1)
201st in block% (8.2)
206th in 2P% defense (50.4)
- 55.3% of opponent points come from two (50th)
253rd in FT% defense (72.9)
- 15.9% of opponent points come from free throws (280th)
295th in non-steal TO% (7.9)
328th in steal% (7.1)
336th in turnover% (15.0)

Refs for today’s game: (Rank per KenPom)

Joe Lindsey (No. 27)
Earl Watson (No. 45)
Larry Scirotto (No. 84)

TV Crew (CBS):

Ian Eagle (PxP)
Jim Spanarkel (analyst)
Jamie Erdahl (reporter)

TNmavol · Mar 19, 2022