Michigan Wolverines basketball (18-11, 9-9 Big Ten) got burned from three-point land in its last two losses. Last Thursday, Wisconsin shot 11-for-21 from deep, and Sunday, Ohio State shot 11-for-23.
Both Wisconsin and Ohio State had guards get hot. The Badgers' redshirt junior D'Mitrik Trice scored 28 points, and shot 5-for-6 from three. The Buckeyes' sophomore Duane Washington had 20 points and was 5-for-7 from three.
U-M did not close out on shooters well enough, nor did it guard tight enough on the ball to limit the looks from both teams. But one of the main concerns that had U-M head coach Juwan Howard "searching for answers," was trying to stop opposing big men on the pick-and-pop. Wisconsin's Micah Potter came off the bench and hit 3-of-6 from range, and starter Aleem Ford hit 2-of-3. Ohio State's Kaleb Wesson hit 4-of-5 from deep.
We take a look at the Ohio State game and how U-M tried to slow down the Buckeyes' pick-and-pop attack, and what went wrong.
RELATED: Inside The Numbers: Wiscy, OSU Stretched U-M's Three-Point Defense
Hedging Didn't Work
U-M tried to hedge over on the guy with the ball with its big men. This did not work, particularly when redshirt junior forward Austin Davis was in the game. The hedge didn't disrupt the ball handler enough to force him out of his comfort zone, and Davis was not quick enough to recover and get back on his man.
The fact that U-M struggled in this area opened up other actions for Ohio State head coach Chris Holtmann to run. We'll take a look at those later on.
Wesson started to heat up in the second half. Here's Davis failing to get enough of a contest on two of Wesson's shots.
