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No. 23 Michigan hosts Rutgers after setback (Jan 21, 2018)
Michigan, in the past week, didn't appear to handle prosperity very well.
The No. 23 Wolverines were the talk of the Big Ten and possibly the entire nation last Saturday after a brilliant performance at archrival Michigan State. The Wolverines emerged with an 82-72 victory, the status of a conference title contender and a place in the national rankings for the first time this season.
But judging by the two games after the message-sending win over then No. 4-ranked Michigan State, the Wolverines might have spent a lot of emotional gas in East Lansing.
On Monday, Michigan needed two free throws by senior guard Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman with over a second left to pull out a 68-67 win at home over unranked Maryland.
Then came a disastrous trip to Nebraska, which saw the Wolverines do little right in a 72-52 defeat to the Cornhuskers on Thursday.
"We'll grow from it," Michigan coach John Beilein said after the Nebraska loss. "I cannot wait to get on a plane, turn on the computer and find out how I can make our team a better team."
The setback dropped Michigan (16-5, 5-3 Big Ten) three games back in the loss column to conference leaders Ohio State and Purdue.
The Wolverines know there is little room for error in conference games, starting with a noon home game Sunday against Rutgers at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Michigan hopes this doesn't serve as a "trap" game, since a visit to Purdue on Thursday is next on the schedule in what surely will be a must-win game if the Wolverines want to win a regular season Big Ten title.
This will be the only meeting of the regular season between Michigan and Rutgers (12-8, 2-5).
Coming home will likely be a good cure for the shooting woes that plagued the Wolverines at Nebraska.
Michigan shot an uncharacteristic 37.5 percent overall (21 of 56) and 22.2 percent from 3-point range (4 of 18) in the loss.
"I think we had only four or five open threes the entire game, and I don't think we made any of them," Beilein said.
On the other side, Rutgers enters with confidence following an 80-64 win at home over Iowa on Wednesday.
The Scarlet Knights' record could be a lot different if Rutgers had pulled out two close games against preseason conference favorite Michigan State, including an overtime defeat on the road to the Spartans on Jan. 10.
"We've played a really tough schedule, so I told these guys to keep fighting," Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell said after the win over Iowa. "This was a tough stretch for us and we were ready to play. When we're locked in like that, offensively and defensively, we have a chance to be a good team."
Junior guard Corey Sanders leads Rutgers in scoring at 14.4 points a game, but a big story for the Scarlet Knights has been the emergence of freshman guard Geo Baker, who is averaging 11.7 points.
Senior forward Deshawn Freeman (11.6 ppg) is the only other Rutgers player scoring in double figures.
The Scarlet Knights have done a decent job this season in 3-point field goal defense, allowing opponents to shoot 31.2 percent from long range and an average of 6.6 made shots from beyond the 3-point line per game.
That perimeter defense will surely be tested against a Michigan team that spreads the floor with shooters and is averaging 9.3 made shots from 3-point range.
Junior guard Charles Matthews (14.9 ppg) and junior forward Moritz Wagner (14.2 ppg) lead the Wolverines in scoring.
