Michigan to Open New Year, Conference Season at Iowa
12/29/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2016
• TV: Big Ten Network | Live Stats | BTN2Go | Live Audio
• Complete Game Notes 
After a 10-3 non-conference season, the University of Michigan men's basketball team will open its Big Ten regular season with a New Year's Day trip to Iowa on Sunday (Jan. 1). Following an opening-week bye, the Wolverines will take on the Hawkeyes (8-6, 0-1 Big Ten) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena at 1:21 p.m. CST with the game broadcast on BTN.
BIG TEN OPENERS
• Michigan is making its 49th Big Ten opener on the road.
• Overall U-M has a 57-43 record in Big Ten openers with a 25-23 road record.
• Last season, the Wolverines opened the road with a 78-68 victory at Illinois Dec. 30, 2015. Mark Donnal had a career-high 26 points off the bench going, 11-for-15 from the field, along with nine rebounds, three blocks and two steals.
MAIZE & BLUE THINGS TO KNOW
• A Michigan win would give U-M coach John Beilein his 200th with the Wolverines. He would become just the second U-M coach with 200-plus wins, joining Johnny Orr, who is the all-time leader with 209.
• Over his last eight games, Moritz Wagner has shot 67.6 percent from the floor (46-for-68), scoring in double figures seven times, including a career-best 20 points against Kennesaw State (Dec. 3) and 18 points against both Central Arkansas (Dec. 13) and Furman (Dec. 22).
• Michigan ranks third in the nation for fewest turnovers per game (9.50). U-M had 10 or fewer turnovers in eight games with a season-low four vs. SMU (Nov. 18).
• Derrick Walton Jr. had 20-plus points, five-plus rebounds, five-plus assists and five-plus three-point field goals for the third time in his career against Maryland Eastern Shore (Dec. 17, 21 pt, 6 reb, 5, asst, 5 3FG). Walton is second in the Big Ten since 2000 on that list. Michigan State's Denzel Valentine had six, while Walton is tied with Penn State's Talor Battle and Iowa's Adam Haluska.
• Walton has a chance to become the first Wolverine to surpass 1,000 points, 500 rebounds and 400 assists. Currently, the U-M senior has 1,043 points, 432 rebounds and 360 assists. There have been only two Wolverines to reach 1,000 points, 400 rebounds and 400 assists: U-M legends Gary Grant (2,222 points, 455 rebounds, 731 assists) and Jalen Rose (1,788 points, 478 rebounds, 401 assists).
• Walton leads the Big Ten and is 10th in the nation in free throw percentage. He is 39-for-42 on the season, good for 92.9 percent. Oklahoma State's Phil Forte III leads the nation at 97.8 percent.
THE SERIES WITH IOWA
• Tonight's game is the 154th all-time meeting is the series and the only game between the teams during the 2017 conference regular season.
• U-M leads the overall series with a 91-62 record. After a streak of six straight wins over Iowa from 2009 to 2011, U-M has won just two in the last seven games against Iowa. In fact, the Wolverines have dropped their last four to the Hawkeyes. U-M's last win was a 75-67 victory at Crisler Center (Jan. 22, 2014).
• The Wolverines have a 34-39 record in Iowa City and have dropped the last three in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. U-M's last win at Iowa was a 75-72 overtime victory on Feb. 19, 2011.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 11-7 all-time against the Hawkeyes.
A LITTLE BIT ABOUT IOWA
• The Hawkeyes fell at No. 15 Purdue, 89-67, in their Big Ten opener Wednesday night (Dec. 28). Peter Jok led Iowa with 13 points, while Nicholas Baer came off the bench for a team-high seven rebounds.
• Iowa went into the Big Ten season with an 8-5 non-conference record. That mark included wins over in-state rivals Iowa State (78-64) and Northern Iowa (69-46).
• Michigan and Iowa both played Kennesaw State in the pre-conference schedule. Michigan defeated the Owls, 82-55, on Dec. 3, while Iowa earned a 91-74 win over KSU on Nov. 11.
• Jok leads the Hawkeyes and the Big Ten with a 21.9 scoring average. He had a 42-point outburst in a loss to Memphis on Nov. 26 and has scored in double figures in all 14 games for the Hawkeyes this season.
• Iowa is third in the Big Ten with a 83.4 points per game average. Tyler Cook and Cordell Pemsl are averaging 13.4 and 10.2 points per game, respectively.
• Brady Ellingson leads the Big Ten in three-point field-goal percentage. Ellingson is 16-for-25 (64.0 percent) from behind the three-point arc.
• Head coach Fran McCaffery is in his seventh season in Iowa City and has a 126-92 record as the Hawkeyes' mentor. McCaffery's Iowa teams have been to the postseason five of the six seasons (three NCAA, two NIT), and he has taken three teams (UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa) to the NCAA Tournament.
WHAT'S AHEAD?
• Michigan returns to Crisler Center for its home conference opener against Penn State on Wednesday (Jan. 4) at 8:30 p.m. on BTN. U-M will make it a two-game home stretch, hosting Maryland on Saturday (Jan. 7) at 3:15 p.m. on ESPN2 in the only regular season match-up between the Wolverines and Terrapins.
• Following the battle with the Terps, U-M will heads to Champaign, Illinois, for a match-up with Illinois on Wednesday (Jan. 11) at 8 p.m. CST at the State Farm Center on BTN.
Communications Contact: Tom Wywrot
