Michigan Wolverines basketball's Franz Wagner previews LSU.

The Michigan Wolverines’ basketball team will face a challenging game from the LSU Tigers in the NCAA Tournament’s second round tomorrow, with Will Wade’s squad having handled St. Bonaventure, 76-61, Saturday afternoon in its first-round showdown.

Wade has recruited at an extremely high level in recent years (albeit for all the wrong reasons) and as a result has a roster stocked full of talent, though the club doesn’t always play cohesively or disciplined basketball.

The Tigers nevertheless possess three different players averaging 15.6 or more points per game, in guard Cameron Thomas (22.8), forward Trendon Watford (16.5) and guard Javonte Smart (15.6).

“LSU plays a lot of one-on-one, so I think it’ll come down to that,” sophomore guard Franz Wagner forecasted this afternoon in a media press conference. “Watford [who Wagner will likely be matched up against] is a good driver and can shoot and has a good handle, so it’ll be tough tomorrow.

“It’ll come down to guarding these guys one-on-one, and I think we have a good game plan. With Smart and Thomas, they’ll take a lot of shots and are very aggressive. We can’t lose them on the perimeter and have to do our job in pick-and-rolls.

“We have to be connected with our coverages. We always say ‘guard your yard,’ which means you have to guard your guy in a one-on-one situation.”

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Thomas in particular has made headlines this season, coming to Baton Rouge as a five-star recruit and checking in fourth in the nation in scoring … as a freshman. Containing him will be one of the primary tasks tomorrow for a Michigan defense that currently ranks 13th in the country (allowing opponents to shoot 39.2 percent on the year).

“He’s live from everywhere and we talked about that today as a team,” Wagner exclaimed. “He [Thomas] shoots it deep and is a good driver with a great handle. You have to take those things away and stay attached to him so he doesn’t get any easy ones.

“LSU is very talented, but this is the time we work for all year, so we’ll be ready.”

Success for coaches, programs and players alike is tallied by what they do in the postseason in college basketball. This year’s NCAA Tournament in particular has been especially wild, with No. 2-seeded Ohio State losing to No. 15-seeded Oral Roberts, No. 1-seeded Illinois going down to No. 8-seeded Loyola-Chicago and No. 3-seeded Texas falling to No. 14-seeded Abilene Christian standing as three of the numerous monumental upsets that have occurred so far.

The Wolverine program has done an incredible job of avoiding the upset bug over the last decade (no program in the nation has more wins in the Big Dance than Michigan since 2013), with head coach Juwan Howard knowing full well what March success can do to a player’s legacy.

He played for national championships as both a freshman and sophomore at Michigan in 1992 and 1993, respectively, and advanced to the Elite Eight before falling to Arkansas as a junior in 1994.

“There are plenty of examples of players who make their name in March, and Juwan was one of them,” Wagner noted. “I knew about it [his time as a player] and it was cool hearing it from him, and I know what’s at stake.

“Everyone on our team and staff knows it. We’re just trying to get a win — I don’t care if I score 100 points or five because we’re just trying to advance to the next round. I remember a lot about [my older brother] Moe’s games when he was here, watching them at home and at night [in Germany].

“It was cool to see him play so well during the most important time of year. Moe likes remembering those times too and I’m trying to do something like that this year too.”

Moe Wagner made a name for himself in the NCAA Tournament while he was at Michigan as well, leading the Maize and Blue to the Sweet Sixteen as a sophomore in 2017 and the national championship as a junior in 2018. This year’s batch of Wolverines, however, doesn’t have much postseason experience (especially with senior forward Isaiah Livers out with injury), though the crew isn’t letting the pressure of March get to them and is, to a degree, keeping things simple.

“This is still basketball and we’re still trying to have fun playing and do our job,” Wagner explained. “We had a good practice today and a good film session — we’re focused and everyone, including Juwan, is excited to go out there and win tomorrow.”

The Wolverines and Tigers will get things underway tomorrow night at 7:10 PM ET with a trip to the Sweet Sixteen on the line.

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