Wolverines are facing mirror image in Cowboys
Oklahoma State coach Brad Underwood only had time to watch bits and pieces of two Michigan games this season.
The first was back in late November when Michigan fired blank after blank against his former boss Frank Martin and South Carolina in an ugly road loss. The second was last week when Underwood looked on from his iPad and witnessed Michigan topple Purdue in overtime in the Big Ten tournament quarterfinals.
It was a brief summation of Michigan’s rise through the year and served as a mirror for Underwood’s own team.
Michigan, which has won five straight and 10 of 12, will clash with Oklahoma State, winners of 10 of its last 14, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. Michigan is the No. 7 seed and Oklahoma State No. 10 in the Midwest region.
“You didn’t hear much about (Michigan) in terms of NCAA picture and we were in the same boat,” Underwood said. “I think it’s two teams playing with confidence, two teams that are playing extremely hard and have gotten better. I think that speaks volumes to his staff’s ability to continue to work through struggles.
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“But I think it more importantly speaks volumes to the character of their players and their team that they never quit, they never flipped the switch off. That’s something we take a lot of pride in here with our team. Our guys are high-character young men. They’ve worked extremely hard and we’re proud of that. We see, I think, in terms of going to practice every day a lot of the same similarities that they have.”
The Cowboys started Big 12 play with six straight losses, scoring in bunches (77.5 points) but getting burned by their over-aggressive, full-court defense to the tune of 85.7 points per game.
During the same time, the Wolverines had no problem scoring over their first four Big Ten games (73.5 points) but were let down by their defensive effort, allowing an average of 79.3 points and limping out to a 1-3 mark.
But two things helped turn both teams’ seasons around: defensive tweaks and phenomenal point guard play.
For Oklahoma State, that meant easing up on its aggressive defense and relying on sophomore guard Juwan Evans, who is averaging 19.9 points on 46.2 percent shooting, 7.2 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 31.6 minutes over the past 14 games.
“It all starts there with Juwan,” Underwood said. “He’s been arguably as good as anyone in the country the last half of the season and he’s not doing it just with scoring.”
The same can be said for Michigan senior guard Derrick Walton Jr., who is posting 17.6 points on 44.1 percent shooting, 6.8 assists and 4.8 rebounds in 37.3 minutes over his last 12 games to spark the Wolverines’ revival.
Webber praises UM’s ‘heart,’ but appears to take swipe
A deeper dive into the numbers shows how Oklahoma State and Michigan are seemingly cut from the same cloth. The two teams boast two of the most efficient offenses in the nation, with the Cowboys ranking No. 1 in KenPom’s adjusted offensive efficiency, an advanced stat that measures points scored per 100 possessions, at 124.8 followed by Michigan at No. 5 (121.6).
Oklahoma State gets to the free-throw line 24 times a game and excels at the stripe, ranking fourth nationally at 78.7 percent. The Wolverines don’t get there as often (16.6 attempts) but aren’t far behind in effectiveness at 77.5 percent, good for 11th in the country.
And when it comes to stretching opposing defenses, each team has three starters shooting at least 38 percent from 3-point range – guards Jeffrey Carroll (43.4 percent), Phil Forte (42 percent) and Evans (38 percent) for the Cowboys, and Walton (41.2 percent), Moritz Wagner (40.7 percent) and Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (39 percent) for the Wolverines. As a team, Oklahoma State ranks 16th in 3-point field-goal percentage at 40.1 percent and Michigan 49th at 38.1 percent.
“We’ve been a team has been able to shoot the ball from the perimeter very similar to Michigan,” Underwood said. “When you put all those pieces together, we become a pretty challenging team to guard at times.”
Just like Michigan.
All aboard
Michigan coach John Beilein said the Wolverines are going to bus to Indianapolis rather than fly for their first-round game in the NCAA Tournament.
“Sometimes if it’s like a four-hour trip, some people might complain. Why are we not flying?” Beilein said Monday on 97.1 The Ticket’s ‘Jamie and Stoney’ show.
“We got to be four hours in a bus. We would’ve done it probably although the NCAA will not fly you if it’s within four hours, but I don’t think we’ll have any issues to get the bus down there.”
Last week, Michigan’s charter flight to Washington for the Big Ten tournament aborted takeoff due to high winds and slid off the runaway. After altering its travel plans, the team was able to arrange charter flights to and from D.C. through Delta without incident.
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No. 7 Michigan vs. No. 10 Oklahoma State
What: First-round game in NCAA Tournament
Tip-off: 12:15 p.m. Friday
Where: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis
TV/radio: CBS/ 950
Records: Michigan 24-11, Oklahoma State 20-12
UM-Oklahoma State comparison
| Category | Michigan | Okla. State |
| Points | 74.8 | 85.5 |
| Scoring margin | 9.3 | 7.5 |
| Field-goal pct. | 48.3 | 46.4 |
| 3-point pct. | 38.1 | 40.1 |
| Free-throw pct. | 77.5 | 78.7 |
| Rebounds | 29.4 | 36.7 |
| Rebound margin | -1.9 | 3.5 |
| Turnovers | 9.4 | 13.2 |
| 1.5 | 1.1 |