Team 103

Matchup Breakdown: Michigan vs. Montana

Michigan and Montana will face off on Thursday night in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. We broke down the Grizzlies at a high level in our first look on Sunday night, but here’s an in-depth scouting report on an individual basis with video, shot charts, advanced stats and more.

Ahmaad Rorie vs. Zavier Simpson 

Ahmaad Rorie was one of the best mid-major guards in the country last season and after watching him in the NCAA Tournament, I half expected him to be a high-major graduate transfer. Instead, he opted to return to Montana for his senior season and led the Grizzlies back to the NCAA Tournament.

Oddly enough, this will be the third game that Rorie has started against Michigan in his career. He was in Oregon’s starting lineup at Barclays Center against the Wolverines way back on November 24th, 2014. For perspective, Michigan started Caris LeVert, Zak Irvin, Derrick Walton, Kam Chatman, and Mark Donnal in that game. Spike Albrecht played 35 minutes off the bench.

At 23 years old, Rorie has seen his fair share of college hoops.

Rorie is Montana’s primary backcourt creator, and his efficiency numbers are impressive for a player in his role. Scoring guards who shoot more twos than threes are generally inefficient chuckers, but Rorie is one of the best mid-range shooters in the country. He knocks down the pull-up jumper comfortably from either elbow and can also step out and hit 3-pointers off the bounce.

Rorie is an elite shooter off the bounce — 86th percentile — on high volume, per Synergy. Only six players in the Big Ten — Carsen Edwards, Glynn Watson, Geo Baker, D’mitrik Trice, Vic Law and Romeo Langford — took as many off the dribble jumpers as Rorie and he was more efficient than all but Watson.

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