Michigan
Northwestern
Wolverines to Host Northwestern, '90s Night at Crisler Center
1/26/2018 4:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
» Monday's game is '90s night, when the Crisler Center graphics and production will be '90s themed.
» This is first of two regular-season meetings between U-M and Northwestern. Following Monday's game in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines will head to Chicago on Tuesday (Feb. 6) for the second game over a seven-day span.
» In his last game at Purdue, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman scored a career-best 26 points and drained a career-high six three-pointers.
» Michigan is holding opponents to 63.8 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally. The Wolverines have held their foes to 65 points or fewer in 11 games.
THIS WEEK
Monday, Jan, 29 -- Northwestern, 7 p.m. (FS1)
Saturday, Feb. 3 -- Minnesota, 2:30 p.m. (FOX)
• TV: FS1 | Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
• Social Media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
• Satellite Radio: Sirius: 83 | XM: 83 | Internet: 83
• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The University of Michigan men's basketball team (17-6; 6-4 B1G) returns to Crisler Center for a two-game homestand starting with Northwestern (13-9; 4-5 B1G) Monday (Jan. 29) night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. with the game broadcast on FOX Sports 1.
THE SERIES WITH NORTHWESTERN
• Monday night's game marks the 170th all-time meeting between Michigan and Northwestern.
• U-M leads in the overall series, 111-58. After a seven-game U-M winning streak, the Wolverines and Wildcats have split the last four meetings -- with two overtime games.
• Monday's game is the first of two regular-season meetings. Following the game in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines will head to Chicago on Tuesday (Feb. 6) for a second game over a seven-day span.
• Northwestern is playing all of its home games this season in Rosemont, Illinois, at Allstate Arena, 13 miles from its Evanston campus, while Welsh-Ryan Arena is undergoing a $110 million renovation and is expected be re-opened for the 2018-19 season.
• Michigan has a 64-20 record in Ann Arbor. U-M has won six consecutive home games in the all-time series against Northwestern and nine of the last 11 overall in the series. The last time the Wildcats won in Ann Arbor was on Jan. 10, 2010, a 68-62 victory.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 12-6 against Northwestern.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE WILDCATS
• Northwestern has a 13-9 overall record, including 4-5 mark in Big Ten play. The Wildcats have had nearly a week off since winning at Minnesota, 77-69, last Tuesday night (Jan. 23).
• Four players are scoring in double figures for Northwestern, Led by 14 points per game from Scottie Lindsey. Bryant McIntosh adds 13 points, Vic Law chips in with 12.9 points and Dererk Pardon scores 11.5 points per game while also grabbing a team-best 7.1 rebounds.
• Northwestern leads the Big Ten in free-throw percentage, shooting 75.3 percent. Individually, Vic Law shoots a team-best 84.2 percent, fourth-best in the Big Ten.
• Former U-M assistant Billy Donlon, who spent the 2016-17 season in Ann Arbor, joined the Northwestern staff as an assistant to Chris Collins prior to this season.
WOLVERINE TIDBITS
• In its last game, No. 25 Michigan put on a show with No. 3 Purdue. The Wolverines dropped a heartbreaking 92-88 decision at Mackey Arena as both team shot over 60 percent from the field and over 55 percent from long range. U-M's 88 points were the most given up by the Boilermakers this season. Even though it is of little consolation, Purdue's two down-to-the-wire victories over U-M -- 70-69 (+1) and 92-88 (+4) -- are its two closest of the season.
• Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman had a career-best 26 points at No. 3 Purdue -- he went 10-for-15 with a career-high six three-pointers. With three career 20-plus point games, two have come at Mackey Arena after a previous career-best 25 as a sophomore.
• Isaiah Livers has started the last five games at the four-spot for the Wolverines, moving Duncan Robinson to the bench as U-M's sixth man. Over the last two games, Robinson has gone 6-for-10 from the field and 5-for-9 from long range.
• Those six triples helped Robinson become the ninth Wolverine to surpass 200 in a career. He is eighth all-time at U-M with 203. He needs two to move into seventh (Stu Douglass) and 10 for sixth (Zack Novak).
• Zavier Simpson has had five assists or more in seven of his last eight games.
SOME INTERESTING MICHIGAN POINTS
• Michigan begins its final eight-game stretch -- four home and four away. Broken down further, U-M plays two home, two away, two home, two away. U-M's games against Minnesota and Ohio State (Senior Day) are sold out.
• U-M coach John Beilein has always wanted to have multiple players distributing the ball. This season he has three Wolverines with 60-plus assists -- Zavier Simpson (82), Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (71) and Charles Matthews (69). The last time U-M had three players with 100-plus assists in a season was in 2013-14 -- Nik Stauskas (118), Caris LeVert (109) and Derrick Walton Jr. (106) -- all of whom are in the NBA.
• As with most Beilein-coached teams, the three-pointer is a featured scoring component. So far this season nearly 42 percent of U-M's offense has come via the long-range shot, and Michigan is 20th nationally with 574 three-point attempts. U-M has made eight or more three-pointers in 18 of 23 games.
• The Wolverines have 12 games with 10 or more three-pointers and carry a 9-3 record when reaching the mark. So far, U-M has a season-high 15, twice -- vs. Chaminade and Alabama A&M.
• Michigan is holding opponents to 63.8 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally. The Wolverines have held their foes to 65 points or fewer points in 11 games. Those 11 contests include four games during which their opponents to fewer than 50 points -- including a season-low 42 by UC Riverside.
• According to Kem Pom stats, U-M ranks 33rd in Offensive Efficiency and 32nd in Defensive Efficiency.
• U-M's opponents are average just 5.7 three-pointers per game. In the first four games, the Wolverines gave up 32 triples (8.0 per game, but they have buckled down on the perimeter and are allowing 5.2 per game since -- 99 total. U-M has held an opponent to five or fewer triples in 14 games, including a season-low two twice -- by Indiana and Rutgers.
• With more defensive intensity stressed this season, U-M has 148 steals -- 6.4 per game -- with seven Wolverines collecting 10 or more swipes. The highest team total under Beilein at U-M was 239 during the 2012-13 season (39 games, 6.1 spg).
