Wolverines Head to Iowa City for Battle with Hawkeyes

» In the only regular-season meeting between the teams, No. 5 Michigan travels to Iowa for a Friday night battle with Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
» The game at Iowa starts a stretch of three road games out of U-M's next four games.
» In his last game, Zavier Simpson recorded the sixth triple-double (11P, 10R, 12A) in U-M history, played his 100th career game and surpassed 300 career assists.
» With a win John Beilein will become U-M's all-time Big Ten wins leader. He is currently tied with Johnny Orr for the top spot with 120. Beilein is already U-M's all-time wins leader with 268.

NEXT GAME
Friday, Feb. 1 -- at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), 6 p.m. CST

The fifth-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (20-1, 9-1 Big Ten) will travel to Iowa City, Iowa, to take on Iowa (16-5, 5-5 Big Ten) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Friday (Feb. 1). In an FS1 broadcast, tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST with Tim Brando and Donny Marshall on the call.

A Little Bit About Iowa

• After a midweek bye, Iowa carries a 16-5 overall record into Friday's contest, with a 5-5 Big Ten record. After winning five straight and 10 of their last 11, the Hawkeyes suffered back-to-back losses last week against Michigan State (Jan. 24; 82-67) and at Minnesota (Jan. 27; 92-87).
• Iowa has five players scoring in double figures, led by junior forward Tyler Cook, who averages 16.6 points and a team-best 8.1 rebounds per game. Sophomore forward Luka Garza adds 14.8 point and freshman guard Joe Wieskamp chips in 11.2 points per game. Junior guard Jordan Bohannon averages 10.4 points and redshirt junior guard Isaiah Moss posts 10.2 points per contest -- the duo combines for 80 of Iowa's 170 3-pointers (45%).
• Moss is the leading three-point shooter in the Big Ten at 46.2 percent (36-of-78), while Wieskamp is fifth shooting 43.2 percent (35-of-81).
• The Hawkeyes are second in the Big Ten in scoring offense (82.2), free throw percentage (75.5%) and assists (16.9). Iowa gets to the free throw line an average of 26.2 per game.
• Fran McCaffery is in his ninth season as head coach at Iowa. Like U-M head coach John Beilein, McCaffery has guided four different schools to the NCAA Tournament (Lehigh, UNC Greensboro, Siena and Iowa) and has taken the Hawkeyes to the tournament three times (2014, '15, '16).

The All-Time Series with the Hawkeyes

• Friday's game is the 158th all-time meeting between Michigan and Iowa. In fact, the game will be the only regular-season meeting between the Wolverines and Hawkeyes.
• U-M leads 94-62 in the all-time series. U-M holds a 36-39 record in Iowa City and snapped a four-game losing streak at Carver-Hawkeye Arena, winning last season's meeting, 75-68, on Jan. 2, 2018.
• There have been 29 games in the series decided by three or fewer points, with U-M leading 18-11. The last time a game was decided by three or fewer points was an 86-83 overtime U-M loss at Carver-Hawkeye on Jan. 1, 2017. In that game, D.J. Wilson led four double-figure scoring Wolverines with his 28 points, while Iowa's Peter Jok led the Hawkeyes with 25. In overtime, Jok hit two free throws with 19 seconds left to give Iowa a three-point lead. After a timeout, Wilson missed a game-tying three-pointer.
• There have been 12 overtime games with U-M holding the lead, 8-4. The last time there was an extra period was on March 1, 2018, at the Big Ten Tournament. After trailing by five at the half, Michigan rallied in the second half to lead 67-64 with a minute left; however, a Jordan Bohannon three-pointer with 16 seconds left forced overtime. Cold shooting haunted Iowa (1-for-9) in the extra period as a huge Duncan Robinson three-pointer and seven free throws down the stretch helped the Wolverines move on, 77-71, and eventually win their second straight tournament title.
• U-M head coach John Beilein holds a 14-8 record against Iowa.

It was Quite the Night

• U-M's win over Ohio State (Jan. 29) was quite the night for the Maize and Blue.
• With the 65-49 win, it marked the 20th straight win at home, gave U-M 20 wins on the season and helped U-M head coach John Beilein earn his 120th Big Ten win at U-M. Beilein is now tied with Johnny Orr for the most conference wins by a U-M coach.
• Additionally, U-M held the Buckeyes to under 50 points for the first time in 70 years. In fact, it was 70 years to the day as the last time was Jan. 29, 1949, a 54-48 Wolverine victory.
• Zavier Simpson started the night off becoming the 70th Wolverines to play in 100 career games as he extended his consecutive streak to exactly 100 as he has not missed a game in three seasons.
• With 12 assists (no turnovers), Simpson became the 16th Wolverines to record 300-plus assists in a career, as he now has 311 (14th all-time).

Joining an Elite Group

• With his 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists (no turnovers), Zavier Simpson became just the sixth Wolverine to record a triple-double in the program's 103 year history. In fact, five of Michigan's six triple double have been under the direction of John Beilein.
• Simpson's triple-double is the first since Derrick Walton Jr. accomplished the feat on Dec. 19, 2015.
• U-M's All-Time Triple-Doubles:
1) March 14, 1987, North Carolina (NCAA) -- Gary Grant (24P, 10R, 10A)
2) Nov. 14, 2009, Northern Michigan -- Manny Harris (18P, 13R, 10A)
3) Jan. 30, 2011, Iowa -- Darius Morris (12P, 10R, 11A)
4) Dec. 15, 2015, Northern Kentucky -- Caris LeVert (13P, 10R, 10A)
5) Dec. 19, 2015, Youngstown State -- Derrick Walton Jr. (10P, 11R, 13A)
6) Jan. 29, 2019, Ohio State -- Zavier Simpson (11P, 10R, 12A)

Wolverines Closing In on Cool Notes

• Already the all-time winningest coach at U-M with 268 wins, Beilein needs one more Big Ten win to officially pass Johnny Orr's U-M record of 120 conference victories. Beilein is one of 21 Big Ten coaches to win 100 or more in a career.
• Zavier Simpson has not missed a game in three seasons -- a streak of 100 straight.
• Charles Matthews and Jon Teske have not missed a game in two seasons -- a streak of 62 straight.
• Simpson (311) needs eight more assists to move into 14th place on U-M's all-time list -- Darius Morris (319).
• Matthews (802) needs 198 more points to become the 55th Wolverine to score 1,000 career points.
• Jordan Poole (499) needs one more point to reach 500 in his two seasons with U-M.
• Averaging 2.2 per game, Jon Teske (47) needs just three blocks to become the first Wolverine to reach 50 in a season since D.J. Wilson had 57 (2016-17).

21 Games in for the Maize & Blue

• Through 21 games, U-M is averaging 71.4 points per game, more than +15.2 than its opponents (56.1).
• U-M has held its opponents to 70 or fewer points in 20 games, with 14 games of 60 or fewer points scored and six with 50 or fewer points. South Carolina (Dec. 8) remains the only team to surpass 70 points against U-M, scoring 78 in its loss to the Wolverines.
• Michigan has posted five games with 80-plus points this season, including a season-high 89 points in home win over South Carolina (Dec. 8). U-M is 74-4 under U-M coach John Beilein when scoring 80 or more points.
• U-M is averaging of 7.8 3-pointers per game -- recording nine games with 10-plus -- including a season-high 15 vs. George Washington (Nov. 17) in the fourth game of the season, which, at the time, doubled U-M's season total output on the season for 14 to 29.
• Michigan has shot 50 percent or better from the field in four games, including a season-best 57.4 percent against North Carolina. Overall, U-M is checking in at a 45.6 season percentage.
• U-M has taken its game inside the arc 61 percent of the time and is shooting 52 percent (382-for-731) on 2-point field goal attempts. From long-range, the Wolverines are 163-for-464 (35.1 percent).
• The Wolverines average 6.7 steals per game and has swiped five-or-more in 15 games. In fact, U-M has five games with 10-plus in a game, including a season-high 11, twice -- at Villanova (Nov. 14) and Ohio State (Jan. 29).
• U-M has six players with 10 or more steals this season led by Zavier Simpson (31) and Charles Matthews (25).
• So far through 21 games the Maize and Blue have had 14 games with a Wolverine scoring 20-plus points in a game -- Ignas Brazdeikis (6), Charles Matthews (4), Jordan Poole (3) and Zavier Simpson (1). Last season, U-M totaled 24 20-plus points (41 games).
• Ignas Brazdeikis (99) and Charles Matthews (85) combine for over half (184, 51%) of U-M's total free throw attempts on the season (364). The next closest Wolverines are Jon Teske (54) and Jordan Poole (49).