Oregon and No. 24 Michigan are both in solid shape for NCAA Tournament bids, but there isn’t much else they have in common right now entering Wednesday night’s Big Ten contest in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Visiting Oregon (16-5, 5-6) comes in reeling, having lost three in a row and four of its last five, with the only win in that stretch coming against one of the league’s worst teams, Washington.
The Ducks embarked on their two-game road trip to Michigan (they play at No. 9 Michigan State on Saturday) after dropping a 77-71 home contest to Nebraska on Sunday.
Oregon has fallen from legitimate conference contender to a sub-.500 record in the league during this icy stretch.
The silver lining is that Oregon had eight Quad 1 wins and a No. 37 NET ranking to begin this week, so the Ducks still are well north of the NCAA tourney bubble.
Still, Oregon coach Dana Altman knows his team is going to have to turn things around quickly, especially playing on the road against two of the top three teams in the Big Ten this week.
“We’re going to have to battle through it,” he said. “We’ve got five on the road and four at home left. Everybody’s kind of bundled up (in the conference race), so it’s just whoever plays well in February. We’ve traditionally played well in February, but this team is going to have to figure it out.”
Michigan (16-5, 8-2) comes in feeling much better about itself, a winner of two straight following a 66-63 road triumph at Rutgers on Saturday.
The Wolverines entered Tuesday a game behind Michigan State for the top spot in the conference standings and were No. 17 in the NET rankings.
“We’re still a work in progress,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “It’s February. We’ve got to be able to win when it’s not pretty and just keep moving forward. But we can’t get tired of the process.”
The game will feature three of the best frontcourt players in the conference.
Michigan is led by its 7-foot twin towers of Vladislav Goldin (15.6 points, 6.0 rebounds per game) and Danny Wolf (12.2 ppg, 10.0 rpg), while Oregon is led in scoring and rebounding by 7-footer Nate Bittle (12.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg).
If there has been a big weakness for Michigan this year, it has been turnovers. The Wolverines lead the Big Ten in turnovers at 14.8 per contest, and that could be an issue against an Oregon team that averages 7.1 steals per game and is giving up only 71.0 points per contest.
Even though the teams have been in opposite conferences before this year and are located a long way from each other, there is a recent history.
Oregon earned a 71-70 overtime win over Michigan in Ann Arbor in 2019, while the Ducks also defeated Michigan in overtime, 86-83, in overtime last season in Eugene, Ore.
–Field Level Media
