The Michigan Wolverines are finding themselves underperforming early season expectations once again. Michigan has already dropped six games this season, three out-of-conference, and needs to start winning games in a hurt if it wants to ensure it has a spot in March Madness. The Wolverines will face the Wisconsin Badgers, a team that has only lost to ranked teams this season, and has played a monster of a schedule to this point.
At 9 p.m. ET, tune into ESPN for live television coverage of this NCAA basketball game on Tuesday, January 17, 2017 at the Kohl Center. We will have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Tuesday schedule.
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Michigan has been awful against the line this year. The Wolverines haven’t covered a Big Ten game yet this season and are now on a six-game losing streak against the spread. In each of these games the Wolverines were favored by virtue of those same lofty expectations, but they couldn’t hold their opponents at bay and lost three of those games outright.
Wisconsin is pretty hot against the number, having won 8 of its last 10 by the betting odds. The Badgers are 3-1 SU and 3-1 ATS in conference with the lone loss coming to Purdue in West Lafayette. Four of Wisconsin’s last six games have finished under the total as the defense hasn’t allowed more than 68 points in the last month of action.
Key Stats
Michigan’s woes can be explained by its performance in two categories, defense and rebounding. Defensively, the Wolverines seem like a good defense on paper, allowing a hair over 66 PPG, but this team is not performing well when it comes to guarding opponents and forcing them to miss shots. Michigan’s defense is letting opponents sink 46 percent of their field goals, but even worse, over 43 percent of three-point attempts are going in against the Wolverines.
When it comes to rebounding, they are having some issues as well. The Wolverines are grabbing less than 30 rebounds a game this season, a number that puts them in the bottom-10 throughout Division I basketball. They will absolutely need to do a better job on the glass against a Badgers side that can make them pay with each rebounding opportunity.
Player to Watch
Ethan Happ has been fantastic in all areas but one this season, free-throw shooting. Happ is just 28 of 56 from the line and that has made him a liability on the offensive end when the time is winding down. With that type of percentage, he has had to be substituted out and that hurts the Badgers if they don’t have a timeout where they can bring him back on for defense.
Aside from that hiccup, Happ has been a major asset to Wisconsin once again. He bangs the glass more than anybody on the Badgers, pulling down 9.2 RPG and on top of that is the third-leading scorer with 12.9 PPG. Happ is also first on the team in steals and blocks and second on the team in assists and his do-it-all mentality has made him indispensable.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
The rebounding battle isn’t going to be close here and Michigan is going to have to find a win. The Badgers are averaging almost 10 more RPG than the Wolverines are and their size can’t be toppled.
Instead, if Michigan is going to win, three-pointers are likely to play a big factor. The Wolverines are attempting almost 25 three-pointers a game and if they can get hot, they can pull off the upset and knock off the Badgers. Otherwise, Wisconsin is going to win one of those slow, grind it out games and Michigan is going to be reeling after yet another Big Ten loss.
College Basketball Odds: Wisconsin 74, Michigan 67
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