Wolverines to Return to Crisler for Return Game with Northwestern

» After a road win at Illinois, No. 2 Michigan will close the week with the second meeting of the regular season against Northwestern on Sunday in a sold out Crisler Center.
» In the early Big Ten schedule, U-M escaped with a 62-60 win (Dec. 4) over the Wildcats at Welsh Ryan Arena.
» Sunday night's game will be highlighted by 90s night for all fans in attendance.

THIS WEEK
Sunday, Jan. 13 -- Northwestern, 7:30 p.m. (BTN)

The No. 2-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (16-0, 5-0 Big Ten) returns to a sold out Crisler Center on Sunday (Jan. 13) to take on Northwestern (10-6, 1-4 Big Ten) for the second time in the regular season. With a 7:30 p.m. tipoff, the game will be broadcast on BTN with Kevin Kugler and Jon Crispin on the call. The game is also 90s Night at Crisler.

A Little Bit About Northwestern

• Northwestern is 10-6 heading into Sunday's game with the Wolverines. The Wildcats are coming off a 73-63 Wednesday-night loss against Iowa. The Wildcats are 1-4 in Big Ten play and have three conference games decided by just two points.
• The Wildcats are led by fifth-year senior forward Vic Law, who leads the team with 17.3 points, while adding 6.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.2 steals. Law (Class of 2014) and U-M's Charles Matthews (Class of 2015) were teammates at St. Rita in Chicago.
• Senior center Dererk Pardon averages 13.4 points and a team-high 8.1 rebounds per contest. He adds a team-best 20 blocks and is shooting 61.4 percent from the field. Graduate transfer Ryan Taylor (Evansville) is Northwestern's three-point specialist averaging 12.4 points per game with a team-best 39 long-range buckets.
• Head coach Chris Collins is in his sixth season as head coach at Northwestern, Collins led the Wildcats to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in school history in 2017.
• Assistant coach Billy Donlon is in his second season with the Wildcats. Donlon was an assistant for John Beilein for one season at U-M during the 2016-17 campaign.

The All-Time Series With the Wildcats

• Sunday night's game will be the 173rd all-time meeting in the series between Michigan and Northwestern.
• The Wolverines lead the all-time series with Northwestern, 113-59, but the teams have exchanged wins over the last five games.
• Sunday's matchup will be the second meeting of the Big Ten regular season between the team. U-M escaped Evanston with a 64-62 win on Dec. 4, 2018.
• U-M holds a 65-20 record in Ann Arbor, and has won the last seven at Crisler Center.
• There have been nine overtime games in the series, with U-M holding the edge, 5-4. The last time there was an extra period the first round of the 2016 Big Ten Tournament, when U-M won, 72-70.
• There have been 39 games in the series decided by three points or fewer, with U-M holding a 24-15 record. The last game decided by fewer than three points came in December. Jordan Poole's dunk with 1:53 remaining gave the Wolverines a 62-60 lead. After four more possession neither team was able to score, giving U-M the win.
• U-M head coach John Beilein is 14-7 against Northwestern.

Earlier This Season: #5/5 Michigan 62, Northwestern 60

• After never trailing in the first half and going into halftime with a 36-30 lead, Michigan worked its lead to 13 points before Northwestern called a timeout with less than three minutes left.
• The Wildcats subsequently went on a 15-2 run to take a two-point lead over Michigan, 52-51, with just under seven minutes to go.
• The lead would change hands four times over those final seven minutes before the Wolverines took the lead for good with just under two minutes remaining.
• Jordan Poole took the ball down the center of the lane with 1:53 on the game clock and threw down a dunk that allowed U-M to take a narrow 62-60 lead.
• Following a timeout, back-to-back Wolverine turnovers and a pair of Wildcat misses, the Michigan defense stepped up with 11 seconds left to contest a three-point attempt by hand Ryan Taylor to escape with a narrow two-point victory and snap a three-game losing streak in Evanston, Illinois.
• Ignas Brazdeikis finished with 23 points, while Poole finished with 15 points.

16 Games in for the Maize and Blue

• Through 16 games, U-M is averaging 73.2 points per game, 16.8 more than its opponents (56.4).
• U-M is ranked fourth nationally for scoring defense efficiency by KenPom.com.
• U-M has held its opponents to 70 points or fewer in 15 games, with 10 games in which Michigan held its opponents to 60 points or fewer scored and four contests allowing 50 points or fewer. South Carolina remains the only team to surpass 70 points against U-M, scoring 78 in its loss to the Wolverines on Dec. 8.
• Michigan has posted four games with 80-plus points this season, including a season-high 89 points in its home win over South Carolina (Dec. 8). U-M is 73-4 under head coach John Beilein when scoring 80 points or more.
• After making 14 three-pointers in the first three games, U-M has made an average of 8.5 per game -- recording six 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.
• Michigan has shot 50 percent or better in four games, including a season-best 57.4 percent against North Carolina. Overall, U-M is checking in at a 46.7 percent.
• U-M has taken its game inside the arc 60 percent of the time and is shooting 53 percent (300-for-567) on two pointers. From long range, the Wolverines are 124-for-341 (36.4 percent).
• The Wolverines average 6.3 steals per game and have swiped five or more in 10 games. U-M has three games with 10-plus steals in a game, including a season-high 11 at Villanova (Nov. 14).
• U-M has six players with 10 steals or more this season led by Zavier Simpson's 23 and Charles Matthews' 22. Last season, Simpson led U-M with 53 steals, 15 more than the next closest Wolverine.
• Through 16 games, the Maize and Blue has had 12 games with a Wolverine scoring 20-plus points in a game -- Ignas Brazdeikis (five), Charles Matthews (four) and Jordan Poole (three). In 41 games last season, U-M totaled 24 games with a Wolverine scoring 20-plus points.
• Ignas Brazdeikis (81) and Charles Matthews (74) combine for more than half (155, 52 percent) of U-M's total free-throw attempts on the season (298). The next closest Wolverines are Jon Teske (43) and Jordan Poole (40).