On the brink of its third consecutive Sweet 16 appearance, all that stands in Michigan’s way is Florida.
The matchup will tip off at 5:15 p.m. on CBS with Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner and Dana Jacobson on the call.
The two teams last played in the NCAA Tournament in the Elite Eight in 2013 and Michigan won 79-59. Florida comes into the game after defeating the No. 7 seed Nevada 70-61 in the opening round.
The Gators are led by senior guard KeVaughn Allen who is the lone Florida players averaging in double figures at 11.9 points per game.
Freshman guard Andrew Nembhard was named to the SEC All-Freshman Team. Nembhard is averaging 8.1 points per game and has started all 35 games for the Gators. He is 30th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.62) and 45th in assists per game (5.3). His assist rate of 1.7 is the 67th best in the nation.
He knows the types of challenges the Wolverines present.
“I think they're probably the most, like, overall probably the best overall team we've played all year with a high offensive end and defense efficiency,” Nembhard said. “I think they're a little different in that they play a slower pace than the fast SEC teams and the size is a little bit different than some of the SEC teams. I'm not sure that would change our approach or anything for us.”
Freshman guard Noah Locke is scoring 9.4 points per game and has the second lowest turnover percentage in college basketball. He is the Gators best three-point shooter at 38.2 percent.
Senior forward Jalen Hudson is scoring 9.2 points per game and senior center Kevarrius Hayes is scoring 8.3 points per game. Hayes has the ninth best effective field goal percentage in the country at 67.7, the 49th best offensive rebounding percentage, the 28th best block percentage and the 25th best free throw rate.
Florida head coach Mike White thinks Michigan’s size will provide a tall task for the Gators.
“First and foremost, the size of Jon Teske. His size,’ White said. “Their level of communication on the court, especially defensively. Their attention to detail. Their discipline. Their skill level. The fact that they all pass, dribble and shoot it.
“I've seen these guys play so much on TV and we all like watching Michigan play and they're a little closer to us than most programs because of Darris Nichols and his background of having played for Coach Beilein. We like to think we've learned a lot watching these guys, but in person those would be the first things that stuck out.”
Florida has the 15th best defense in the country, according to Kenpom. The Gators force turnovers on 22.6 percent of their possessions, which is 16th most in the country. Michigan doesn’t turn the ball over a lot, but this will be tested.
“The defensive challenge they bring to the table is they change defense,” sophomore forward Isiah Livers said. “They can go from a man-to-man, 1-2-2 press. They have a lot of different looks that they can do, so that's different for us.”
Michigan head coach John Beilein agrees with Livers.
“Sometimes they change defenses in the middle of a defense,” Beilein said. “They throw the ball in and they are in zone and they may change it in the middle of it. You have to play with heads up. The shot clock is ticking and last night we couldn't run a lot of stuff because they were pushing us down and icing us the whole game.
“We have to adjust, but they're going to try to keep up off balance. If they saw the way we attacked the press yesterday they'll probably press the heck out of us and we've got to be ready for a whole lot of things in that we do see that occasionally in our league, but it's still always needed with new players.”
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