Wolverines to Open 2018, Continue Big Ten Season at Iowa

» Michigan and Iowa are both riding five-game winnings streaks heading into Tuesday's game. The Hawkeyes have won their last five against the Wolverines including four straight at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
» Four of the last seven games played in Iowa City have gone to overtime, dating back to 2009.
» After missing two games with a bone bruise in his right foot, Moritz Wagner returned against Jacksonville and recorded seven points, six rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes.
» U-M's three point guards -- Eli Brooks, Zavier Simpson and Jaaron Simmons -- combine to provide the Wolverines 8.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists per game.

THIS WEEK
Tuesday, Jan. 2 -- at Iowa (Iowa City, Iowa), 6 p.m. CT (TV: ESPN2)
Saturday, Jan. 6 -- Illinois (Crisler Center), Noon (TV: BTN)

The University of Michigan men's basketball team (12-3, 1-1 B1G) will open 2018 and continue its Big Ten season when it heads to Iowa City, Iowa, to face Iowa (9-6, 0-2 B1G) on Tuesday (Jan. 2) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The Wolverines will be looking to snap a five-game skid against the Hawkeyes. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST with the game broadcast on ESPN2.

THE SERIES WITH IOWA

• For the second straight season, U-M will start the New Year playing at Iowa. Last season, the Hawkeyes used an 86-83 overtime win to ring in 2017. It was the Hawkeyes' fifth straight win over the Wolverines.
• Tuesday's game will mark the 155th all-time meeting is the series and will be the first of two meetings this season. U-M leads the overall series with a 91-63 record.
• The Wolverines have a 36-38 record in Iowa City and have dropped the last four in Carver-Hawkeye Arena. U-M's last win at Iowa was a 75-72 overtime victory on Feb. 19, 2011. In fact, four of the last seven games played in Iowa City have gone to overtime, dating back to 2009.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 11-8 all-time against the Hawkeyes.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE HAWKEYES

• Iowa is on a five-game winning streak during which the Hawkeyes have averaged 90.2 points per game. In fact, Iowa has scored 90 points or more in seven of its nine wins.
• The Hawkeyes rank third in the country in assists per game, averaging 19.7 per contest. Additionally, Iowa ranks ninth in total free throw attempts (349), 15th nationally in total rebounds per contest (41.4), and 38th in rebounding margin (+7.0).
• Iowa's top six scorers are underclassmen with sophomore Tyler Cook leading the pack (13.8). Freshman Luka Garza leads the squad in rebounding (6.6) and blocks (1.4), and sophomore Jordan Bohannon ranks first in assists (4.8).
• Fran McCaffery is in his eighth season as head coach in Iowa City. McCaffery has led the Hawkeyes to the NCAA Tournament three times (2014, '15, '16). He has also taken UNC Greensboro (2001) and Siena (2008, '09, '10) to the NCAA Tournament.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

• Michigan has won its last five games.
• Concentrating on defense the last few years, Michigan is eighth in the nation for scoring defense (60.7). So far this season, U-M has held eight opponents to 60 or fewer points including its last four games.
• After missing two games with a bone bruise in his right foot, Moritz Wagner returned against Jacksonville. Showing definite signs of a layoff, he finished with seven points, six rebounds and two blocks in 20 minutes of action.
• With a team-best 49 assists (3.2 apg), Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman is second nationally with a 5.44 assist-to-turnover ratio. He has just nine turnovers.

ANOTHER MILESTONE WITHIN REACH FOR COACH B

• John Beilein needs just one more Big Ten win to become the second Michigan coach to reach 100. Johnny Orr (1968-80) holds U-M's all-time mark at 120. Beilein's 99 wins place him second as he passed Bill Frieder (98) with the win over Indiana early in December.
• Beilein, who has 227 wins at U-M, passed Orr (209) last year for all-time victories by a Wolverine coach. The coaching duo are the only two U-M coaches with 200-plus wins at Michigan.

THE EARLY BIG TEN WEEKEND

• Michigan played two early Big Ten games over the first weekend in December. U-M opened with a 69-55 win over Indiana (Dec. 2) before losing its lead in the second half in a 71-62 setback at Ohio State (Dec. 4).
• Why play two conference games early? Well, with the 2018 Big Ten Tournament moved up a week due to playing in New York City and Madison Square Garden, the conference had to condense its regular-season schedule as each team will not have any byes and play two league games early.
• In fact, with the announced expansion of Big Ten play to 20 games next season, playing two early conference match-ups will now be part of the conference regular season moving forward.
• The league also announced protected rivalries as Michigan and Michigan State, Purdue and Indiana, and Illinois and Northwestern will always play home-and-home games.

SOME INTERESTING MICHIGAN POINTS

• U-M coach John Beilein prefers to stick to an 8-9 man rotation. However, he has played up to as many as 10 or even 11 players this entire season.
• Four Wolverines are scoring in double figures with Charles Matthews leading at 16.1 points per game and Moritz Wagner just behind at 14.9. Veterans Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman (10.6) and Duncan Robinson (10.4) help give the Wolverine four in double digits.
• Michigan's shot distribution has been pretty even between U-M's "Big Four" as Matthews leads at 172 (11.4), with Wagner second with 140 (10.7), Abdur-Rahkman third at 133 (8.8) and Robinson fourth with 125 (8.3).
• U-M's "Big Four" has scored in double figures in 43 of 58 total chances. In fact, they have 43 of U-M's 54 total double-figure scoring games and all 11 20-plus point games.
• Overall, U-M's "Big Four" have accounted for 65 percent of the U-M offensive production, averaging 50.1 points per game together.
• As with most John Beilein-coached teams, nearly 44 percent of U-M's offense comes via the long-range shot, and the Wolverines rank 18th nationally with 400 three-point field goal attempts. U-M has made eight or more three-pointers in 12 of its 15 games. In fact, the Wolverines have eight games with 10-plus triples including a season-best 15 twice -- vs. Chaminade and Alabama A&M.
• Flipping it, U-M's opponents are averaging just 5.4 three-pointers per game. After a slow start in the first four games (32 3FG), U-M has buckled down and allowed five or fewer triples in nine of the next 11 games.
• With more defensive intensity stressed this season, U-M already has 110 steals in 15 games -- 7.3 per game -- with seven Wolverines collecting 10 or more swipes. The highest team total with Beilein at U-M was 239 during the 2012-13 season (39 games, 6.1 spg).

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