Oregon and No. 24 Michigan are both in solid form for NCAA tournament, but there is not much else they have in common right now that is entering Wednesday night’s Big Ten competition in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Visits Oregon (16-5, 5-6) comes rolling, after losing three in a row and four of the last five, with the only victory in the route coming to one of the league’s worst team, Washington.
The ducks started their two-game road trip to Michigan (they play in No. 9 Michigan State on Saturday) after losing a home competition 77-71 to Nebraska on Sunday.
Oregon has fallen from legitimate conference challengers to a sub-500 record in the league during this icy stretch.
The silver lining is that Oregon had eight Quad 1 victories and a No. 37 Nettrankning to start this week, so that the ducks are still well north of the NCAA tour bubble.
Still, Oregon coach Dana Altman knows that his team will have to turn things around quickly, especially playing on the road to two of the top three teams in the big this week.
“We will have to fight it,” he said. “We have five on the road and four at home left. Everyone’s type of bound (in the conference race), so it’s just who plays well in February. We have traditionally played well in February, but this team can be calculated it. “
Michigan (16-5, 8-2) will feel much better about himself, a winner of two straight after a 66-63 road trip at Rutgers on Saturday.
Wolverines entered Tuesday a game behind Michigan State for the top position in the conference position and was no. 17 in the net ranking.
“We’re still an ongoing work,” said Michigan coach Dusty May. “It’s February. We must be able to win when it is not beautiful and just keep moving on. But we can’t get tired of the process.”
The game will contain three of the best Frontcourt players at the conference.
Michigan is led by its 7-foot twin towers by Vladislav Goldin (15.6 points, 6.0 Returns per match) and Danny Wolf (12.2 ppg, 10.0 RPG), while Oregon is led in points and rebounding of 7-foot Nate Bittle (12.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg).
If there has been a major weakness for Michigan this year, there have been sales. Wolverines leads the Big Ten in turnover at 14.8 per competition, and it can be a question against an Oregon team that an average of 7.1 steals per match and gives up only 71.0 points per competition.
Although the law has been in opposite conferences before this year and is far from each other, there is a new story.
Oregon received an overtime of 71-70 over Michigan in Ann Arbor 2019, while Ducks also defeated Michigan in overtime, 86-83, overtime last season in Eugene, Ore.
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