Wolverines Home Wednesday for Lone Matchup with Wildcats
2/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 23, 2016
• Tickets | Fan Flag Giveaway
• TV: Big Ten Network | | Live Audio | BTN2Go
• Complete Game Notes 
| Broadcast Information | Inside Michigan Basketball Radio Show 
The University of Michigan men's basketball team (19-9, 9-6 B1G) will look to snap a two-game losing streak on Wednesday night (Feb. 24), hosting Northwestern (17-10, 5-9 B1G) at Crisler Center. The contest is the only regular-season match of the year between the two teams. The game will be broadcast on BTN with a 7 p.m. tipoff.
THE COACHING MATCHUP
• Michigan: John Beilein (185-119 in ninth season at U-M | 736-347 in 38th season)
• Northwestern: Chris Collins (46-46 in third season at Northwestern | 46-46 in 3rd season)
A LITTLE ABOUT NORTHWESTERN
• Northwestern has had eight days to prepare for Michigan. The Wildcats last played at Purdue (Feb. 16), dropping a 71-61 decision. So far, Northwestern is 4-5 on the road this season.
• The Wildcats are the third B1G team to have a bye before playing Michigan over the last few weeks. Michigan State had five days off before playing U-M (Feb. 6), and Minnesota had six games off before facing U-M (Feb. 10). U-M will get a bye next week before Iowa (March 5).
• Northwestern is averaging 71.7 points and 36.5 rebounds per game. The Wildcats average 16.1 assists per game, which is fifth in the B1G.
• Northwestern is led by senior guard Tre Demps, who leads the Wildcats with 14.9 points per game. He has made a team-best 54 three-pointers as 45 percent of his offense comes via the long-range shot. He adds 3.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game.
• Sophomore guard Bryant McIntosh is just behind Demps with his 14.3 points per game. He balances an inside-outside game. He also leads the team with 6.6 assists per game. He adds a team-best 28 steals.
• Senior center Alex Olah has battled foot injuries, but in his 21 games this season he averages 10.6 points and a team-best 5.1 rebounds. Freshman Aaron Falzon averages 8.6 points per game and is second with 52 three-pointers.
THE SERIES WITH NORTHWESTERN
• Wednesday's game against Northwestern will mark the 167th all-time series meeting and is the only regular-0season meeting. U-M leads 109-57 all-time. The Wolverines have a 63-20 record in Ann Arbor. U-M head coach John Beilein holds a 10-5 record against the Wildcats.
• U-M and Northwestern split the season series as the Wolverines held on for a 56-54 win at Crisler Center (Jan. 17) before dropping a double-overtime thriller, 82-78, in Evanston (March 3).
• In the first meeting last season, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman made his first career start and scored nine points, grabbed five rebounds and drained a key three-pointer with 57 seconds remaining as the Wolverines held on for a two-point win. Caris LeVert led U-M with a team-best 18 points, six rebounds and seven assists. It was LeVert's final game of the season after breaking his foot on the last play of the game.
• In the 2OT thriller, Zak Irvin (28 points, 11 rebounds) and Aubrey Dawkins (21 points) were not enough for the U-M to escape Evanston with a victory. Bolstered by 25 points and 12 rebounds from Alex Olah and 20 points from Tre Demps, 15 of which came in the second half and overtime, the Wildcats overcame two deficits to win the game. Demps buried game-tying threes at the end of regulation and overtime that extended the game and eventually led to the win.
DID YOU KNOW?
• The Wolverines are currently 57th in the RPI and have a Strength of Schedule (SOS) rating of 66th according to the NCAA (Feb. 22).
• Senior Caris LeVert has missed a total of 13 games with a lower left leg injury. He did return in U-M's upset win over 18/16 Purdue (Feb. 13), playing 11 minutes and grabbing five rebounds. However, he missed the two following the victory over the Boilermakers. He continues to work and rehab and is listed as a game-time decision.
• Without LeVert in the lineup this season, U-M has gone 7-6. In fact, after he suffered a season-ending injury last season where he missed the final 14 games, U-M went 5-9, including four OT losses. All said, U-M has gone 12-15 without the services of LeVert the last two seasons.
• Michigan has a total of 37 games lost to injury this season -- Spike Albrecht (20; hips), Caris LeVert (13; lower left leg), Derrick Walton Jr. (3; ankle) and D.J. Wilson (2; ankle). Last season, U-M had a 58 games lost due to injuries to LeVert (14), Walton (12) and D.J. Wilson (27). Two seasons ago, U-M lost Mitch McGary for 29 games after he had his season cut short due to back surgery. Over the last three seasons, U-M has lost 123 games to injuries.
• Michigan has had two players reach 1,000 points this season -- Caris LeVert against Northern Kentucky (Dec. 15) and Zak Irvin at Ohio State (Feb. 16).
• Irvin has scored a season-best 22 points on two occasions. Both of those games were upset victories over nationally ranked foes. First was against 3/3 Maryland (70-67; Jan. 12) and against 18/16 Purdue (61-56; Feb. 13).
• Irvin has 88 assists in 27 games -- 3.3 per game. During his first two seasons he tallied a total of 62 assists (69 games, 0.9 apg).
• Derrick Walton Jr. leads U-M with four double-doubles -- all of which have come via points and rebounds. In fact, he recorded the program's fifth triple-double with 10 points, 11 rebounds and 13 assists against Youngstown State (Dec. 19).
• Walton, a 6-1 guard, leads U-M with 5.7 rebounds and tops that average in B1G play at 6.4 per game.
• Duncan Robinson is fifth (5th) nationally shooting 47.1 percent from long range. With 80 total on the season, he needs 20 more three-pointers to become just the second Wolverine ever to reach 100 in a single season.
• Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman has seven double-figure scoring games -- all as a starter. He averages 10.4 points (178); as a non-starter he is at a 2.4 per game (27). In fact, all 11 of his career double-digit games have come with a starting nod attached to it. Abdur-Rahkman has 30 starts in 57 career games.
LEADERS AND BEST -- NATIONALLY
• Michigan is 10th nationally and a B1G best for personal fouls per game (15.7). U-M has been among the top 10 nationally for the last four years, including a nation's best 14.2 per-game average in 2013-14. U-M was second in 2012-13 (12.7) and seventh last season (14.2).
• Michigan ranks seventh (7th) nationally and a B1G best with 9.9 turnovers per game. Michigan has had 13 games with fewer than 10 turnovers, including a season-best six on four occasions.
• Michigan ranks ninth (9th) nationally and tops in the B1G with 10.2 three-pointers per game. U-M has 18 games this season with 10-plus three-pointers. In total, U-M has made 285 three-pointers, which is seventh (7th) nationally.
• With its 15.3 assists per game (61st nationally), the Wolverines are ninth (9th) nationally and third in the B1G for assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.55.
#CHADTOUGH | VOTECOACHBEILEIN.COM
• U-M coach John Beilein, his staff, the Wolverine players and Maize Rage wore special #ChadTough T-shirts against Purdue (Feb. 13) to help raise awareness for the Chad Tough Foundation.
• The special T-shirt day was a tie-in with Coach Beilein's campaign to raise money for the foundation as part of the ESPN Infiniti Coaches Charity Challenge. To date, Beilein continues to lead the fan voted campaign which could yield up to $100,000 for the Chad Tough Foundation.
• Chad Carr was the son of Jason and Tammi Carr and the grandson of former U-M head football coach Lloyd Carr. He was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) -- an inoperable brain tumor on the brain stem -- in September of 2014 before succumbing to the disease on November 23, 2015.
WHAT'S AHEAD?
• Michigan has three regular-season games remaining. First is tonight's matchup with Northwestern at Crisler Center. U-M wraps up the week heading to Madison, Wisconsin, on Sunday (Feb. 28) to face Wisconsin at the Kohl Center.
• After a late season, midweek bye, the Wolverines will finish the 2016 B1G slate against 8/8 Iowa on Saturday (March 5). The game will feature Senior Day for Spike Albrecht and Caris LeVert. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. with a broadcast on BTN.
