College Basketball

Michigan Basketball's Key To Beating Indiana: Forcing Turnovers

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 9:27 p.m. ET

Fansided, Tyler Fenwick/FanSided via GBMWolverine

One area where Michigan basketball will have a big advantage against Indiana is turnovers. The Hoosiers don’t took great care of the ball.

You can say a lot of negative things about Michigan basketball through the first seven games of the Big Ten schedule, but what you can’t say is that the Wolverines don’t take care of the basketball.

No team has done it better in the conference than Michigan. The Wolverines have a turnover rate of only 14 percent in Big Ten games. Michigan’s mark throughout the entire season is No. 7 in Division I.

On the flip side, Indiana turns the ball over a lot. Its turnover rate of 19.9 percent is No. 13 in the Big Ten. Only Rutgers has been worse. The national average is 18.9 percent.

Michigan’s defense hasn’t been forcing turnovers at an impressive rate (18.2 percent), but it’s certainly respectable enough. Unfortunately for the Hoosiers, they haven’t been forcing turnovers at nearly that rate (17 percent), making it unlikely they’ll be able to gain much back.

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This translates to what could be a big advantage for Michigan when the two meet on Thursday night in Ann Arbor (9 p.m. EST, ESPN2). Even though both offenses are very efficient, it’s likely that the Wolverines will be able to steal a few possessions and get that many more opportunities on the offensive end.

What’s more, if you think Michigan’s defense has been bad through most of the Big Ten schedule—you can’t deny the Wolverines have been playing better as of late—then you should have no trouble seeing that the Hoosiers are right there at the bottom too.

Indiana’s defense ranks No. 10 or worse in the following categories (Big Ten games only):

That looks like a good time for Michigan.

This is a game that could definitely change the tide for Michigan moving forward, especially with this being the start of a stretch in which the Wolverines play Indiana and Michigan State twice each before battling with Wisconsin again.

This slate is going to be quite the test for Michigan, but it gets started on the right foot with a turnover advantage against Indiana.