Michigan
Ohio State
Wolverines to Head to Columbus for Second B1G Matchup in Three Days
12/3/2017 4:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
» After opening with a 69-55 win over Indiana, Michigan plays its second Big Ten game in three days heading to Ohio State, which opened its conference schedule with an 83-58 road win at Wisconsin.
» U-M head coach John Beilein needs one more Big Ten victory to become the second U-M coach to reach 100 in a career (Johnny Orr, 120). Beilein is U-M's all-time winningest coach with 222 career victories.
» Tonight's game will wrap up a 10-game-in-24-day stretch for U-M to open the season.
» Michigan is fourth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.76), led by Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman, who is second nationally with an 8.25 ratio (33 assists, four turnovers).
» U-M leads the nation with the fewest personal fouls per game (12.9).
THIS WEEK
Monday, Dec. 4 -- at Ohio State, 6:30 p.m. (FS1)
Saturday, Dec. 9 -- UCLA, Noon (CBS) -- Star Wars Day
• TV: FS1 | Live Stats | Live Audio | Live Video
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• Complete Game Notes (PDF)
The University of Michigan men's basketball team (7-2; 1-0 B1G) plays its second Big Ten game in a three-day span traveling to Columbus, Ohio, for a Monday night matchup with Ohio State (6-3; 1-0 B1G) at Value City Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m., with the game broadcast on FS1.
A LITTLE ABOUT THE BUCKEYES
• Ohio State is 6-3 this season, including a 4-1 mark at home. OSU's three losses were at the hands of Butler (67-66, OT) and Gonzaga (86-59) in the PK80 in Portland, Oregon, followed by a home loss to Clemson (69-65) in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
• The Buckeyes, who shot a blistering 66.0 percent from the field, opened their Big Ten season with an 83-58 road with at Wisconsin. Keita Bates-Diop led the way with 17 points and 11 rebounds, while Kaleb Wesson had a team-best 19. Jae'Sean Tate added 16 and C.J. Jackson came off the bench with 16.
• Bates-Diop is averaging a double-double with 17.3 points and 10.0 rebounds per contest, He leads the Buckeyes in both categories and is one of two players in the conference (along with Minnesota's Jordan Murphy) averaging a double-double.
• Bates-Diop is one of four players scoring in double figures for the Buckeyes. Jae'Sean Tate (13.2 ppg), C.J. Jackson (12.8 ppg), and Kaleb Wesson (12.1 ppg) are also scoring in double figures for Ohio State.
• Chris Holtmann is in his first season as head coach at Ohio State; he went 70-31 in three seasons as head coach at Butler, guiding the Bulldogs to three NCAA Tournament appearances.
• Former Wolverine Andrew Dakich, who spent four seasons at U-M, is a graduate transfer on the Ohio State roster. Dakich has played in all nine games for the Buckeyes, averaging 2.9 points and 2.0 assists per game.
• Ohio State leads the all-time series against Michigan, 101-77; the Wolverines have won four of the last six games in the series.
THE BIG TEN SO SOON?
• With the 2018 Big Ten Tournament moved up a week due to playing in Madison Square Garden, the conference regular season will have no byes and teams will have to play two league games early in December.
• In fact, with the announced expansion of Big Ten play to 20 games next season, two early conference matchups will become a regular occurrence moving forward.
• The league also announced protected rivalries. Michigan and Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana, and Illinois and Northwestern will always play home-and-home games.
THE SECOND TO THE CENTURY MARK
• U-M head coach John Beilein needs one more Big Ten win to become the second Michigan coach to reach 100 in a career. Johnny Orr (1968-80) holds U-M's all-time mark with 120.
• Last year, Beilein (222) passed Orr (209) for all-time victories by a Wolverine coach. They are the only two coaches to surpass 200 wins at Michigan.
• Beilein's 11 seasons with Michigan are just one behind Orr's all-time mark of 12 seasons patrolling the sidelines.
THIS AND THAT
• U-M coach John Beilein prefers an eight- or 9-man rotation, but this season he has played 10-11 players in all eight games as he searches for a settled lineup.
• Michigan has three players averaging double figures with Moritz Wagner leading at 15.6 points per game, while Charles Matthews is just behind at 15.2. Duncan Robinson is the third, averaging 11.1 points per game. Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman just dropped below double digits as he is at 9.7 points per game. All four account for 67 percent on U-M's offense output.
• Wagner is the only Wolverine to score in double figures in every game this season. He has three 20-plus-point games including a season-high 24 vs. LSU -- just two away from his career best 26 (Louisville, 2017 NCAA Tournament). In his two prior seasons he totaled five 20-plus-point games.
• In addition to his scoring, Wagner leads U-M with 8.4 rebounds per game. He has doubled his production after his previous best of 4.2 per game last season. He has posted three of his five career games with 10-plus boards this season, including a career-high 12 against North Florida.
• The Maize and Blue is once again among the nation's leaders, ranking first with 12.9 fouls per game. In addition, the Wolverines are seventh in the nation in turnovers per game (9.3) with seven games of 10 or fewer and a season-low six against Central Michigan.
• Michigan's shot distribution has been pretty even as Matthews and Wagner have put up 96 shots, while Robinson has 84 and Abdur-Rahkman has 79.
• Quietly, Abdur-Rahkman has recorded 33 assists (3.6 per game) with just four turnovers -- an 8.3 assist-to-turnover ratio -- making him the second-ranked player in the nation in that category. He is tied for the team lead along with Matthews (33). Overall, U-M's 1.76 assist-to-turnover ratio is fourth in the nation.
• Abdur-Rahkman recorded nearly one-third of his overall rebounding total this season after grabbing a career-high 11 boards against Indiana. He nearly posted his first career double-double finishing with eight points.
• Eli Brooks (15.4 mpg) has been adjusting to his new role as the starting point guard. Simpson, who started the first four games, now comes off the bench as U-M's sixth man. Brooks has helped balance the Wolverines offensive flow, while when Simpson (16.8 mpg) enters the game, he injects defense right away.
• Brooks had a career-best six assists (no turnovers) in U-M's win over Indiana.
• Jordan Poole continues to earn more and more playing time as the season continues. After a pair of double figure scoring games last week -- 10 vs. Chaminade and 11 against UC Riverside -- Poole exploded for a career-best 19 against Indiana, draining a team-best five three-pointers.
• Isaiah Livers has increased his time on the floor as he has rotated with Duncan Robinson at the four spot. He has played double-figure minutes in five of his last six games.
• Duncan Robinson, who leads with 22 three-pointers this season, moved into 10th on U-M's all-time top 10 for three-point field goals (181). He needs eight more to move into ninth, which is occupied by LaVell Blanchard (2000-03, 189).
