Wolverines Welcome No. 6 Buckeyes for Saturday Matinee

» The No. 7 Wolverines continue their season-opening homestand at Cliff Keen Arena, hosting the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday (Feb. 3) at 1 p.m. U-M looks to break its two-meet losing streak to the Buckeyes.
» The Wolverines enter the week ranked fourth in the country on vault (70.850) and still rings (68.750), and own the top team average in the country on pommel horse (66.850).
» Redshirt-junior Alec Krystek (14.50) owns the fourth-highest floor exercise score in the country.

THIS WEEK
Saturday, Feb. 3 -- vs. #6 Ohio State (Cliff Keen Arena), 1 p.m.
Live Results | Live Video

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The No. 7 University of Michigan men's gymnastics team continues its season-opening homestand, welcoming the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes to Cliff Keen Arena on Saturday (Feb. 3) at 1 p.m.

WOLVERINE BITES
• U-M enters the matchup with a 403.650 team score average that ranks tied for No. 7 in the country, as well as the top spot on pommel horse (66.850). The Wolverines are No. 4 in the nation on vault (70.850) and still rings (68.750), as well as No. 7 on parallel bars (66.450).

• Redshirt-junior Alec Krystek owns the top floor score average, and the fourth-highest score in the country on the event this season after his 14.50 against Oklahoma. The score was good enough for the first event title of his career. Freshman Jacob Moore also ranks No. 8 on the exercise (14.05), while redshirt-junior Marty Strech checks in at No. 7 on still rings (14.10) to round out Wolverines in the top-eight nationally.

• The Wolverines marked the nation's seventh-best score in their opening meet of the season against No. 1 Oklahoma (Jan. 27) with a 403.650. U-M led the matchup through the first four rotations, but eventually fell after a subpar score on high bar (63.400) in the final rotation of the meet.

• The challenging schedule for the Wolverines continues, as Ohio State enters as the defending 2017 Big Ten champions. Last week's opponent, Oklahoma, entered the meet as the reigning and defending three-time NCAA team champion.

• The Wolverines stuck seven of 30 routines against the Sooners, highlighted by a trio on parallel bars and two on high bar. One stick also came on floor and still rings. Senior captain Dmitri Belanovski owned a pair of the sticks, with one coming on high bar (12.80) and parallel bars (13.55).

• Against OU, four freshmen made their NCAA debuts in Moore, Nick Guy, Jonathan Liu, and Cameron Bock. The quartet accounted for 11 of U-M's 36 routines. Guy had the fourth-best score of the afternoon on vault with a 14.30. Moore finished fourth on pommel horse with a 13.35. In Liu's career debut, he finished ninth on pommel horse (12.50) and 10th on high bar (12.70).

OPPONENT PREVIEW
• Ohio State enters the matchup as the No. 6 team in the nation, according to RoadToNationals. The Buckeyes were also picked first in the Preseason Big Ten Poll.

• The Buckeyes rank No. 2 in the nation on still rings (69.600) and No. 4 on high bar (66.660). OSU also boasts two of the top all-around gymnasts in the country in redshirt-senior Sean Melton and junior Alec Yoder.

• Yoder owns the top pommel horse average in the country (15.25) and is fourth on still rings (14.325) and ninth on high bar (13.65). Melton, a United States Senior National team member and six-time Big Ten champion, owns the top still rings score in the country (15.150) and is third on high bar (14.100).

• The Wolverines are 18-10 all-time against the Buckeyes under head coach Kurt Golder, with the last dual-meet victory coming in the 2015 season in Columbus, Ohio.

Tweet of the Week

Back in Keen on Saturday!

Let's #GoBlue?#BeatOhio pic.twitter.com/ZjukdQXFdg
— Michigan Gymnastics (@UMichGym) January 30, 2018

KEEP UP WITH THE WOLVERINES
Stay current with everything going on with the Wolverines by following Michigan men's gymnastics on Twitter (@umichgym) and "liking" the Wolverines on Facebook! Fans can also follow in-meet commentary via the Twitter channel, with live streaming available for select meets via Facebook. Additional content will be provided via Instagram (@umichgym), and Snapchat (@umichathletics).

NEXT EVENT
Thursday-Saturday, Feb. 15-17 -- at Winter Cup Challenge, Las Vegas, Nev.