No. 24 Michigan hunting first ranked win against No. 23 Minnesota

For the sixth time this season, the No. 24 Michigan women’s basketball team will be facing an opponent ranked higher than it in the AP poll. In the Wolverines’ first five ranked games — all against top-10 opponents — they went 0-5, most recently dropping a home contest against then-No. 9 Ohio State at the tail end of a three-game top-10 losing streak.

But in Michigan’s trio of games since then, all in Big Ten play, the Wolverines seem to have righted the ship. Now riding a three-game win streak, Michigan has momentum headed into its Wednesday night matchup with No. 23 Minnesota. While the Golden Gophers may have an edge over the Wolverines in the AP poll, it’s a game that on paper — for the first time against a ranked opponent this season — is Michigan’s for the taking.

“Experience is the greatest teacher,” Wolverines coach Kim Barnes Arico said Jan. 18 after beating Rutgers. “There is nothing like it. I could try to simulate it in practice all day long. …They’ve been in those situations, and the only way you really learn is to live those situations.”

Neither Minnesota nor Michigan boast a ranked win, but that’s mainly because the Gophers have only had one chance — last week in a 99-92 road loss to No. 8 Maryland. While the Wolverines have gained experience playing top veteran teams, Minnesota hasn’t had as many opportunities to identify its shortcomings. Michigan has learned from errors of games past, improving its turnover rate, 3-point shooting and defense across virtually every ranked matchup.

“We’ll go play some non-conference games, and (freshman guard Syla Swords) will say to me, ‘Coach, when is this over? I want to play top-10 teams,’ ” Barnes Arico said. “Every game, it’s like, ‘OK, I want that next opponent. I want that next great team. OK, this is what I learned from UCLA … USC … Ohio State. I want to play another ranked team.’ ”

Wednesday night, Swords and the Wolverines will get their chance to finally beat a ranked team. But to do that, they’ll have to slow the Gophers down.

As a team, Minnesota is averaging 77.9 points per game, and in conference games, the Gophers are scoring a very similar 76.7. The only real exceptions are a 59-50 win against Wisconsin — in which Minnesota held the Badgers to just four points in the first quarter — and a 84-65 blowout road loss to Nebraska.

Offensively, both teams have been practically the same in conference play. They shoot just 0.2% differently from the field and less than 2% differently from range. The Gophers and the Wolverines boast practically identical rebounding and assist numbers, steals, blocks and fouls. Those similarities are even reflected in the AP poll, in which the two teams are ranked right next to each other.

Minnesota’s leading scorer, guard Mara Braun, is out indefinitely with an injury. But guard Amaya Battle and three others average more than 10 points per game. Battle is shooting 38.2% beyond the arc, a career-best mark, while guard Annika Stewart shoots 44.8% from range off the bench, providing depth. The Gophers are a well-rounded team that knows how to play together, and they can play cohesively without Braun at a high level.

Michigan and Minnesota have different types of experience — the Wolverines’ is battle-derived, and the Gophers’ is from years playing together. Wednesday night will show which experience yields one team’s much-needed resume-building ranked win.

The post No. 24 Michigan hunting first ranked win against No. 23 Minnesota appeared first on The Michigan Daily.