"Health needs to go right": Michigan HC Juwan Howard names crucial factor that will determine Wolverines' fate against Michigan State

The struggling Michigan Wolverines (8-17 overall , 3-11 conf) face the Michigan State Spartans (16-9, 8-6 conf) on Saturday in a game Wolverines HC Juwan Howard says is a must-win one. However, he has far more serious problems than the Xs and Os heading into the matchup.

As revealed by analyst Clayton Sayfie on X, Howard knows the importance of availability for Michigan, considering that they're missing some key players for health reasons:

"Health needs to go right. ... We're missing some guys due to health reasons. That's a good question for Michigan medical.

"We've had some guys who have missed practice because of being sick and some being injured. We're just hoping and praying that we can have everyone ready to go tomorrow."

The Wolverines are playing for pride at this point in the season, as they are well out of postseason contention, unlike the Spartans.

However, this is an in-state rivalry game, and the former All Star and two-NBA champion knows it. Juwan Howard and his team are playing to at least maintain their home winning streak against the Spartans, which they've held for the last four seasons (via Michigan Daily).

At the moment, though, Michigan is missing four players (via Covers), three of them listed as questionable. The reasons for the absences remaain undisclosed, but as per Sayfie's tweet, Youssef Khayat and Howard's son Jace are out due to illness.

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What else does Michigan need to do right against Michigan State?

The most recent meeting between the Wolverines and the Spartans was in Jan. 31 in East Lansing.

Tom Izzo's squad handily won 81-62, behind a game-high 23 points from Jaden Atkins. But that hides the fact that Michigan struggled a lot on defense, and Juwan Howard knows it.

“We allowed too many transition points in the second half. … And then paint touches. We didn’t do a good job of guarding the ball. There were too many blow-bys that we allowed.

"And then at the same time, open threes from (guard) Jaden Akins hurt us as well. We contained them as much as we could in the first, but in the second half, we lost sight of Jaden and there was miscommunication on the defensive end. … So we can’t allow something like that this game.”

True enough, MSU outshot Michigan from 3 -point territory while also committing far fewer turnovers. Throughout the game, the Wolverines couldn't score consistently, having to rely on guys like Jaelin Llewellyn (18 points) to carry the bulk of the offense.

The blowout loss also happened with the Wolverines shooting far more free throws (26 to just 8 for MSU), which put the spotlight on the defense failing to stop the ball.