Michigan players discuss Tennessee film study, compare Volunteer sharpshooter to Steph Curry

INDIANAPOLIS — 24 hours into a two-day prep for Tennessee after its first-round win over Colorado State, Michigan has already watched plenty of film on the Volunteers, a No. 3 seed that won the SEC Tournament, notched 11 Quad 1 wins and had a legitimate gripe to be on the two line in the NCAA Tournament.

The No. 11-seeded Wolverines understand what kind of challenge is ahead of them.

Tennessee prides itself on the defensive end, where it ranks second nationally in efficiency. The Volunteers rank sixth in steal rate, 30th in block rate, 30th in two-point defense and 55th in three-point defense. They’ll attempt to make Michigan’s efficient half-court offense uncomfortable, but the Wolverines hope to keep their same principles intact.

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“Just being offensively sound, don’t let them speed us up,” Michigan sophomore guard Jace Howard said of the keys for the Wolverines’ offense. “We are at our best when we play our game and when teams get us out of that, obviously bad things happen.

“So, it’s just being ourselves. Don’t let anybody else or any other team get us out of who we are and what we do best. If we don’t let the game or their tempo on defense speed us up, I feel very confident about our play.”

Michigan recorded nine first-half turnovers and 15 for the game against Colorado State. Giving possessions away hasn’t been a huge issue for the Wolverines this season, but defenses in the Big Ten don’t typically force many turnovers, with no team ranking inside the top 100 in the country in the statistical category.

This will be a different kind of task.

“The guards play a lot of ball pressure, they do a lot of gambling sometimes as you can see so we’ve got to take care of the ball and be strong with the ball,” sophomore forward Terrance Williams II added. “We can’t be loose with it, dribbling, triple threat, not having it out. Even their bigs, if you get in the paint, they’ve got a couple of shot blockers. Those are the big things that we talked about on defense so far.”

On the other end of the floor, Tennessee reminds the Michigan players of a couple teams they’ve played this season. The Volunteers are athletic and like to get out and run, scoring 12.7 points per game in transition, and have several high-level shooters, having shot 42.6 percent from three-point range over the last 14 games.

“With their playing style their guards get out quick, they run it like two guards and they like to split the floor in transition. That reminds us more of MSU. They run two bigs sometimes that reminds us of Arizona, that we played against in Las Vegas, so we have seen that style of play many times. We have to stick to our habits and defend and do what we are told and I think we can win.”

Freshman point guard Kennedy Chandler — the Vols’ leading scorer — is athletic and gets down hill, and junior guard Santiago Vescovi is elusive off the ball and is an elite spot-up shooter. He led the SEC with a 44.5-percent three-point shooting clip during conference play.

“No. 25, we relate him a lot to Sasha Stefanovic on Purdue, being somebody that doesn’t stop moving without the ball, like Steph Curry,” Howard said. “[We are] making it a priority to stop him and stop them in transition, because they’re like MSU in that way, how they get the ball and go, catch it at the three-point line extended and it’s important for us to locate everybody in transition and locate their shooters because that’s a big part of their game plan and their DNA. So it’s going to be key for us tomorrow.”

Michigan and Tennessee will tip off at 5:15 p.m. ET Saturday on CBS. The Wolverines are seeking their fifth straight Sweet 16 appearances and would get there with a win over the red-hot Volunteers, who have won 13 of their last 14 games.