Michigan State took it right to Michigan's big men last night (MGoBlue.com)

Michigan traveled to East Lansing on Tuesday night to complete a brutal four-game stretch and look to steal a win on the road from hated rival Michigan State. Instead, the Spartans came out on fire in the electric Breslin Center and put the game away within the first 14 minutes.

Michigan looked lethargic from the get-go, making sloppy passes and coming up a step too slow on rebounds and loose balls. It resulted in a season worst 16 turnovers and a humiliating 23-point loss.

Michigan State scored the first four before Trey Burke got Michigan on the board. The Spartans’ strategy was clear: feed the ball to Brendan Dawson and Derrick Nix inside and make Michigan’s undersized big men try to stop them. Dawson scored six of State’s first 10 points by the first media time out and Nix had two.

MSU freshman Gary Harris got in on the action with a three to put State ahead 13-7, but Nik Stauskas answered with a three of his own. A jumper by Nix, another three by Harris, and a layup by Denzel Valentine precipitated the under-12 time out and gave Michigan State a seven point lead.

Out of the time out, Caris LeVert hit a jumper, but from there, Michigan went on a five minute scoring drought that allowed the Spartans to build a 29-17 lead. They kept pouring it on the remainder of the half and by the time the buzzer mercifully came, Michigan trailed 38-24. It was the most first half points Michigan had allowed all season and the second fewest first half points the Wolverines had scored all season, resulting in the largest halftime deficit of the season.

In the second, Tim Hardaway Jr. got his first – and only – bucket of the night on a drive through the lane, but Harris answered right back with another three. A three-point play by Burke was answered by a Keith Appling jumper and a frustrated Burke picked up his third foul. That led to a three minute scoring drought that all but sealed the game for the Spartans. By the time Max Bielfeldt tipped in a shot at the 15:27 mark, Michigan trailed by 19. And the lead only grew the rest of the way until both teams pulled their starters for the final minutes.

In the end, Michigan lost 75-52, but it wasn’t even as close as that. On this night, Michigan State couldn’t miss and Michigan couldn’t do anything right. The Wolverines looked as if they had run out of gas, as if the previous three-game stretch – at Indiana, home against Ohio State, at Wisconsin – had taken a toll, both mentally and physically. The latter two of those went to overtime.

Burke managed to score 18 points on 7-of-11 shooting, but was largely ineffective due to foul trouble. Stauskas was the only other Michigan player in double digits with 10, while Mitch McGary, who got the start for the still-injured Jordan Morgan, scored four points and grabbed four rebounds. He also committed four turnovers. Tim Hardaway Jr. managed only two points on 1-of-11 shooting. By comparison, Corey Person scored three and Eso Akunne scored two in garbage time.

As a team, Michigan shot just 39.6 percent from the field and 31.6 percent from three. Michigan State shot 48.4 percent – a number that would have been over 50 percent if you remove the garbage time threes from the end of the bench. Michigan was out-rebounded 41-30, and gave up 14 offensive rebounds.

The loss drops Michigan two games behind Michigan State and Indiana in the Big Ten standings. Both still have to come to Ann Arbor in the final two weeks of the season, but every game remaining on the schedule is a must win if Michigan is to have any chance of sharing the Big Ten title.

The Wolverines return home to host Penn State (8-15, 0-11) at noon on Saturday and then get a much needed week off before Illinois comes to town. Michigan will wear all white retro uniforms on Saturday to pay tribute to the 1968 Wolverine team that opened Crisler Arena.

Michigan took a major hit to its Big Ten title hopes with a heartbreaking overtime loss at Wisconsin on Saturday. With a 8-3 conference record and seven games remaining, do the Wolverines still have a chance to win at least a share of the title for the second straight season? The short answer is yes. But let’s examine the remaining schedule of each of the contenders.

Remaining Schedule
Nebraska	Michigan	Northwestern	@ Minnesota	@ Michigan State
Purdue	@ Nebraska	@ Wisconsin	Ohio State	Penn State
@ Michigan State	Indiana	Minnesota	@ Northwestern	Illinois
@ Minnesota	@ Ohio State	Michigan State	Nebraska	@ Penn State
Iowa	@ Michigan	@ Northwestern	Purdue	Michigan State
Ohio State	Wisconsin	@ Indiana	@ Michigan State	@ Purdue
@ Michigan	Northwestern	Illinois	@ Penn State	Indiana

Indiana (9-2) is widely considered the main challenger and pulled off a big road win in Columbus on Sunday afternoon. The Hoosiers still have trips to Michigan State, Minnesota and Michigan remaining, with home tilts with Nebraska, Purdue, Iowa, and Ohio State. It’s probably a safe bet to assume IU will lose at least one of those games leading into the final game of the season in Ann Arbor.

Michigan State (9-2) has perhaps the toughest remaining schedule of the top contenders, beginning with tomorrow’s matchup with Michigan. The Spartans get a breather with Nebraska before hosting Indiana, traveling to Ohio State and Michigan, then hosting Wisconsin before finishing with Northwestern.

Ohio State (7-4) has the most ground to make up following its loss to Indiana. After failing to hold court at home, the Buckeyes will probably need to win out to secure at least a share of the title. But it’s not an easy road. Trips to Wisconsin, Northwestern and Indiana loom and home bouts with Northwestern, Minnesota, Michigan State and Illinois won’t be easy.

Michigan needs to steal a win in the Breslin Center

The surprise team of the conference has been Wisconsin (8-3), the team that beat Michigan on Saturday and also has a road win over Indiana. The Badgers have perhaps the easiest road of all of Michigan’s challengers the rest of the way as long as they can get through the next two games, a road trip to Minnesota on Thursday and a home battle with Ohio State. From there, they visit Northwestern, Michigan State and Penn State, and host Nebraska and Purdue.

Michigan (8-3) still has to survive a home and home with Michigan State and the season ender against Indiana, but the Wolverines also still get two games against Penn State, a home game against Illinois and a trip to Purdue.

If both Michigan and Indiana both win their next six games, it will all come down to the March 10 showdown in Ann Arbor with Michigan needing to win to share the title and Indiana needing to win to take the title outright. Winning seven straight would be a tall task for the Wolverines, but if they can come out of East Lansing with a win tomorrow night, the chances will improve drastically.

A loss on Tuesday would mean Michigan has to rely on help. Both Michigan State and Indiana would need to lose twice. Michigan could help out with one of those for each team, but would then need each to lose again. That’s certainly not out of the question – remember last season when Michigan lost its last home game to Purdue, but ended up sharing the Big Ten title – but it’s a lot to ask for.

That being said, tomorrow’s battle in East Lansing is extremely important. It’s pretty safe to assume that Michigan will win its next three games after that one, so by that time, the Feb. 19 Indiana-Michigan State game will have either all but knocked the Spartans out of the race or dropped the Hoosiers into a tie with both MSU and Michigan with three games remaining.

Michigan has won three of the last four over the Spartans and would love to continue that trend. So far this season, Indiana (at Ohio State), Michigan State (at Wisconsin), and Wisconsin (at Indiana) each have road wins over title contenders. Michigan will need to follow suit and steal one on the road. Regardless, it’s safe to say the conference title race is going to come down to the very last weekend and will set up an epic Big Ten Tournament in Chicago.

#3 Michigan vs Wisconsin
Saturday, Feb. 9 | 12pm ET | ESPN
21-2 (8-2)	Record	16-7 (7-3)
Slippery Rock 100-62 IUPUI 91-54 Cleveland State 77-47 Pittsburgh 67-62 Kansas State 71-57 NC State 79-72 Bradley 74-66 W. Michigan 73-41 Arkansas 80-67 Binghamton 67-39 West Virginia 81-66 E. Michigan 93-54 C. Michigan 88-73 Northwestern 94-66 Iowa 95-67 Nebraska 62-47 #9 Minnesota 83-75 Purdue 68-53 Illinois 74-60 Northwestern 68-46 #10 Ohio State 76-74 OT	Wins	SE Louisiana 87-47 Cornell 73-40 Presbyterian 88-43 Arkansas 77-70 California 81-56 Nebraska-Omaha 86-40 Green Bay 65-54 Milwaukee 74-53 Samford 87-51 Penn State 60-51 Nebraska 47-41 #12 Illinois 74-51 #2 Indiana 64-59 #12 Minnesota 45-44 Illinois 74-68 Iowa 74-70 2OT
#15 Ohio State 56-53 #3 Indiana 73-81	Losses	#10 Florida 56-74 #14 Creighton 74-84 Virginia 54-60 Marquette 50-60 Iowa 66-70 #13 Michigan State 47-49 #11 Ohio State 49-58
77.7	Points Per Game	67.5
60.2	Scoring Defense	56.2
667-for-1,325 (50.3%)	Field Goal %	562-for-1,317 (42.7%)
529-for-1,283 (41.2%)	Def. Field Goal %	483-for-1,206 (40.0%)
193-for-469 (41.2%)	3-point %	176-for-512 (34.4%)
147-for-467 (31.5%)	Def. 3-point %	89-for-291 (30.6%)
260-for-370 (70.3%)	Free Throw %	252-for-405 (62.2%)
11.3	FT Made/Game	11.0
36.2	Rebounds Per Game	36.9
29.6	Opp. Reb. Per Game	32.3
15.5	Assists Per Game	13.2
9.4	Turnovers Per Game	9.2
5.6	Steals Per Game	5.9
2.9	Blocks Per Game	4.0
G – Trey Burke (18.1) G – Tim Hardaway Jr. (16.0)	Leading Scorer	F – Jared Berggren (11.8) G – Ben Brust (11.0)
F – Mitch McGary (6.0) F – Glenn Robinson III (5.7)	Leading Rebounder	F – Ryan Evans (7.7) F – Jared Berggren (6.8)

For the third weekend in the past five, Michigan has a chance to grab the No.1 spot in the national rankings with a win. Whether the Wolverines actually want the ranking and the curse that comes with it is debatable, since it seems to be the poison pill the past few weeks. But no one doubts whether the Maize and Blue want or need the win in Madison on Saturday afternoon.

With Indiana’s loss to Illinois on Thursday night and Michigan’s overtime win over Ohio State on Tuesday, the Wolverines are back in control of their own destiny in the Big Ten race. There’s still a long way to go with two games against rival Michigan State and a home bout with Indiana remaining, but a win tomorrow in one of the conference’s toughest venues would be big.

Nobody expected Wisconsin to be among the Big Ten’s title contenders, but with a win over Indiana and narrow losses to Ohio State and Michigan State, the Badgers have shown how feisty they can be. In essence, they’re a classic Bo Ryan team based around relentless defense and a ball control offense.

Saturday’s early showdown (tip is 11am local time) will be a clash of styles as the Big Ten’s top defense that prefers to play the game at a snail’s pace will try to slow down Michigan’s ultra-efficient offense that relies on a dynamic transition game.

While Arkansas and Virginia managed to beat Wisconsin in Madison early in the season, the Badgers have proven that doing so in conference play is a much tougher proposition. They beat Illinois and Minnesota in the Kohl Center and took Michigan State to the wire. But it was the win at Indiana three weeks ago that let everyone know they’re for real. Wisconsin’s defense held the Hoosiers 24 points below their season average thanks to a defense that limited Indiana to just 37 percent from the field.

A trio of Badgers score at roughly the same clip, led by 6’10″ big man Jared Berggren’s 11.8 points per game. He scored 27 earlier in the season against Creighton, but had a string of five out of six games in which he was held to single-digits beginning with the IU game. Since that game, he has shot just 32 percent from the field. He has the ability to step out and hit the three, but over that span, he has made just 4-of-22. He’s also the second-team’s leading rebounder, which you would expect from a guy his size.

Guard Ben Brust averages 11 points and just under three assists per game and is coming off back-to-back solid performances. He scored 20 and 18 points against Illinois and Iowa, respectively, and shot 52 percent in the process. He’s a dangerous three-point shooter as well.

Senior forward Ryan Evans is also hot after consecutive 15-point, nine-rebound performances. He leads the team with 7.7 rebounds per game, but is not a threat from three, and if there’s a guy you need to foul down the stretch, he’s the guy with a 42.5 percent free throw clip.

The Kohl Center hasn't been kind to Michigan

Sam Dekker is a freshman who averages 8.7 points per game and is the team’s best three-point shooter at 42.1 percent. Traevon Jackson is the other guard, but has had his share of struggles this season. He turns the ball over nearly twice a game, which is uncharacteristic of the typical Bo Ryan guard, and is shooting just 28 percent from three-point range.

The other big man that plays a lot is Mike Bruesewitz. You might know him as the big white guy with the red afro. He averages 7.1 points and 5.6 rebounds in 27 minutes per game and is the hustle guy that plays a similar role as Mitch McGary. He’s shooting 45.1 percent overall and a smidgen over 30 percent from downtown, but he’s also the guy most likely to bank in a three at the buzzer (yes, I’m still bitter about what Josh Gasser did to us a couple years ago).

The main key for Michigan in this one is to not let Wisconsin dictate the tempo, which is exactly what the Ryan will want his squad to do. The Badgers are not very good offensively, so Michigan wil need to turn up the intensity on defense to force some turnovers and get out on the fast break where the Wolverines are deadly. If the entire offense revolves around Trey Burke taking step-back threes at the end of the shot-clock, Michigan likely won’t win. Push the tempo in the early going, get out to a good lead, and make Wisconsin win with its offense.

Michigan hasn’t won at the Kohl Center since 1999, and with a trip to East Lansing looming on Tuesday, will need to end that streak. Sam says Michigan will do just that with a 68-58 win to regain the No.1 ranking come Monday.

Tim Hardaway Jr hit five threes in the second half to propel Michigan (Gregory Shamus, Getty Images)

Trailing by five midway through the second half of a must-win battle with Ohio State, Tim Hardaway Jr. decided it was time to take over the game. The enigmatic junior drained four straight three-pointers as Ohio State matched him with twos on the other end. The fourth gave Michigan a 55-54 lead – its first lead since just before the half after leading for most of the first half.

But a 6-0 Buckeye spurt again put Michigan down by five, prompting John Beilein to call a timeout. Mitch McGary converted a put-back and Hardaway followed it up with yet another three. But Michigan couldn’t stop the Buckeyes on the other end of the court, and it wasn’t until a Nik Stauskas three at the 3:27 mark that Michigan regained the lead once again.

Following an Amir Williams free throw that tied the game, a pair of strange plays kept the momentums wings going. Hardway drove the lane looking for a dunk, but the ball was swatted away right into the arms of Trey Burke who nailed a three. On the other end, Deshaun Thomas missed a three and Stauskas grabbed the rebound, but as he tried to get it to Burke, a Buckeye defender tipped it right back to Thomas who drilled a three to tie the game once again.

The teams traded baskets and Michigan got the ball back with 21 seconds remaining with a chance to win the game. But Burke’s step-back three over Thomas at the buzzer was no good and overtime ensued.

Burke started the scoring in the extra stanza with a three, but Michigan was held scoreless until Glenn Robinson III hit the front end of two free throws with seven seconds remaining. Fortunately, Michigan’s defense turned up the intensity and got the good fortune of Thomas not even taking a shot in overtime, as the Wolverines limited the Buckeyes to just two points in the period. Aaron Craft’s last-second drive to the basket was swatted away by Hardaway and Michigan came away victorious.

It was a heavyweight bout in front of an electrified Crisler Center, and most importantly, the win kept Michigan well within reach of the Big Ten title.

Hardaway led all scorers with 23 points on 7-of-14 shooting (6-of-9 from three). Burke scored 16 and dished out eight assists compared to just two turnovers against Ohio State’s pesky defender Craft. Mitch McGary played perhaps the best game of his young career, scoring 14 points and grabbing six rebounds, while Stauskas added 11 and Robinson chipped in 10.

Michigan held Thomas to 17 points – three below his season average – on 6-of-15 shooting, and although Ohio State outshot Michigan from the field (51.7 percent to 46.7 percent), Michigan made twice as many threes (14 to seven). Michigan also outrebounded the Buckeyes 32-30, including a 13-9 advantage on the offensive glass.

The Wolverines head back out on the road for a pair of games with Wisconsin and Michigan State before getting a relative breather. The Wisconsin game is Saturday at noon on ESPN.

Trey Burke held his own, but seemingly tried to do too much at times (Andy Lyons, Getty Images)

Winning on the road in the Big Ten is always a tough proposition and it’s even more so when facing third-ranked Indiana in Assembly Hall in a nationally televised primetime game. Michigan found that out on Saturday night with a 81-73 loss to the Hoosiers.

Michigan won the tip and Nik Stauskas drove the lane, took a hard hit as he missed the layup and Indiana recovered. As Indiana crossed midcourt, the ball went loose and in the hustle to regain it, Jon Horford was whistled for a foul. And so the game went. Indiana star Cody Zeller got the scoring started with a pair of free throws and the Hoosiers would get there often, making 22-of-25 for the game.

Michigan took the lead on a Trey Burke three, but Indiana’s Victor Oladipo answered with a three of his own. From there, Indiana went on a 15-4 run to open up a 20-7 lead before Tim Hardaway Jr. scored a piar of buckets. From that point, Michigan outscored the Hoosiers 25-16, punctuated by a step-back three by Burke just before the buzzer to cut the deficit to four.

To start the second half, Hardaway and Zeller traded buckets and Burke nailed a three to pull Michigan within one. Zeller answered with a dunk, but Stauskas was fouled on a three-point attempt and made all three free throws to tie the game. However, Michigan was unable to capitalize on the momentum, as Indiana scored 11 straight to grab a 51-40 lead with just over 14 minutes to play.

Michigan went to work again, chipping away at the Hoosier lead, cutting it to four by the under-12 timeout. A Horford layup pulled Michigan within two and the teams played evenly for the next four minutes.

With just under four minutes to play, and Michigan down four, Oladipo drove the lane and was tied up by Hardaway. The officials whistled Hardaway for the foul, but inexplicably gave Oliadipo credit for the basket despite the fact that he took two-and-a-half steps after the tie-up before he laid in the basket. He converted the three-point play to widen the IU lead to seven.

Michigan was forced to chuck up threes and send the Hoosiers to the line in the closing minutes and Indiana escaped with the eight-point victory.

Michigan shot 42.9 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from three-point range, while Indiana shot a blistering 52 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from downtown. IU out-rebounded Michigan 38-29, but the game was won on the free throw line where the Hoosiers made 22 compared to Michigan’s six.

Apparently this is a shooting foul in Bloomington

Burke led all scorers with 25 points on 24 shots, while Hardaway had a much more efficient 18 points. Burke also dished out eight assists. Stauskas and Mitch McGary each chipped in 10, though Stauskas struggled with his shot all game, much like he did in Columbus a couple weeks ago. Glenn Robinson was held to just two points on 1-of-6 shooting and looked completely overmatched at times. We may never know for sure, but it seemed like something was off with him.

All five Hoosiers scored in double figures, led by Zeller’s 19 points and 10 boards. Oladipo scored 15, while Christian Watford also had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

Michigan falls a game behind Indiana in the Big Ten standings and will lose the No. 1 national ranking. But let’s not forget – the Wolverines were without Jordan Morgan (he did play two minutes) who was still recovering from an ankle injury he suffered in the previous game. His inside presence was severely missed, as Zeller was able to get several put-back dunks with no body to block him out. Horford and McGary filled in pretty well, but Morgan’s experience was certainly missed.

The Wolverines return home on Tuesday for a must-win battle with Ohio State. Everybody remembers the previous meeting when Michigan fell behind big in the first half and battled back only to fall by three. A loss on Tuesday would put the Big Ten title in jeopardy and give the Buckeyes yet another win over the Maize and Blue. From there, Michigan travels to Wisconsin and Michigan State to complete an early February gauntlet.

#1 Michigan vs Northwestern
Wednesday, Jan. 30 | 6:30pm ET | Big Ten Network
19-1 (6-1)	Record	12-9 (3-5)
Slippery Rock 100-62 IUPUI 91-54 Cleveland State 77-47 Pittsburgh 67-62 Kansas State 71-57 NC State 79-72 Bradley 74-66 W. Michigan 73-41 Arkansas 80-67 Binghamton 67-39 West Virginia 81-66 E. Michigan 93-54 C. Michigan 88-73 Northwestern 94-66 Iowa 95-67 Nebraska 62-47 #9 Minnesota 83-75 Purdue 68-53 Illinois 74-60	Wins	Texas Southern 79-49 Miss. Valley St. 81-68 FDU 80-53 Delaware State 69-50 TCU 55-31 Illinois State 72-69 OT Baylor 74-70 Texas State 74-68 Brown 63-42 Penn State 70-54 #23 Illinois 68-54 #12 Minnesota 55-48
#15 Ohio State 56-53	Losses	Maryland 57-77 Ill.-Chicago  44-50 Butler 65-74 Stanford 68-70 #2 Michigan 66-94 #9 Minnesota 51-69 Iowa 50-70 #2 Indiana 59-67 Nebraska 49-64
78.5	Points Per Game	64.2
59.2	Scoring Defense	61.5
584-for-1,146 (51.0%)	Field Goal %	453-for-1,089 (41.6%)
454-for-1,124 (40.4%)	Def. Field Goal %	461-for-1,117 (41.3%)
166-for-407 (40.8%)	3-point %	163-for-454 (35.9%)
129-for-414 (31.2%)	Def. 3-point %	118-for-353 (33.4%)
236-for-334 (70.7%)	Free Throw %	280-for-426 (65.7%)
11.8	FT Made/Game	13.3
37.0	Rebounds Per Game	32.5
29.2	Opp. Reb. Per Game	36.8
15.6	Assists Per Game	15.1
9.8	Turnovers Per Game	11.0
5.7	Steals Per Game	6.0
2.9	Blocks Per Game	3.4
G – Trey Burke (17.9) G – Tim Hardaway Jr. (15.9)	Leading Scorer	G – Reggie Hearn (14.0) G – Drew Crawford (13.5)
F – Glenn Robinson (6.0) F – Mitch McGary (5.7)	Leading Rebounder	F – Jared Swopshire (6.6) G – Drew Crawford (4.6)

For the first time since the Fab Five graced the streets of Ann Arbor together, the Michigan Wolverines are on top of the college basketball world after another easy win at Illinois on Sunday. Tonight, Michigan will face the first revenge match of the year as they welcome Bill Carmody’s Northwestern Wildcats to the Crisler Center.

At the beginning of January, Michigan trounced Northwestern by 28 points on the road, but the Wildcats were without their steady senior leader, Reggie Hearn, and tonight Michigan will almost assuredly be without their own veteran in Jordan Morgan. With all eyes on Trey Burke, Tim Hardaway, Jr., Glenn Robison III, and the rest of the gang, college basketball fans across the country wonder, will Michigan continue to cruise through the Big Ten? Here are three quick keys to the game:

1. Stay Strong in the Paint: One of Michigan’s many advantages over Northwestern should be in its ability to get in the lane on offense off the dribble and feed the big men down low. Freshman Alex Olah has been serviceable for the Cats so far, averaging 5.8 points per game to go along with 4.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists, but he is still adjusting to the speed of college and should have his hands full with Michigan’s bigs.

With Jordan Morgan sitting out due to a sprained ankle sustained on Sunday, John Beilein will look to Jon Horford and Mitch McGary to pick up the slack. Both Horford and McGary did an admirable job replacing Morgan on Sunday along with Max Bielfeldt, combining to score 17 points and grab 14 rebounds in 39 minutes. Another strong performance from that trio should be plenty enough. Pay special attention to who gets the starting nod tonight as well; McGary has obviously been seeing the lion’s share of minutes between him and Horford, but that is partially due to the lingering knee injury Horford has had. My money will be on Beilein to give the older and more experienced Horford the start and a few more minutes than his counterpart as Horford’s game continues to improve.

2. Focus: With the way ESPN and everyone else have been hyping up Michigan’s huge game at Indiana this Saturday, one would think that the game tonight was a scrimmage, or perhaps that Michigan didn’t even have to play at all. As we’ve all seen before, however, we know teams are most dangerous when the focus of the opposition is dwelling in the past or looking forward to the future. Perhaps no team is more dangerous in this regard than Northwestern.

Because Carmody has taught his team the rarely-heralded ways of the Princeton offense, the Wolverines need to be on guard at all times, watching for backdoor cuts, unique switches, and a variety of defensive looks. If Michigan is not focused on the game at hand, it will quickly become apparent, because Northwestern will get open shot after open shot against any team that plods around. The focus tonight will all start with Trey Burke. The sophomore All-American has certainly been putting up remarkable numbers all year, but all the more impressive is how he has molded this team into his own by playing a key role as a vocal leader as well. Coming into this season, questions abounded about who would take over for Zack Novak and Stu Douglass as leaders both on and off the court. Burke has stepped up to the challenge in every way, and even though he doesn’t wear the captain’s ‘C’, everybody on the team is looking up to one of the shortest guys alongside them.

NW's best player, Reggie Hearn, missed the game a couple weeks ago

3. Check Reggie Hearn: Northwestern doesn’t need much more motivation than it already naturally has tonight; after all, the Cats are playing on the road in the Big Ten against the number one team in the country, the same team that also already pounded them in Evanston to start the conference season. That is plenty enough right there. To add onto the already towering pile, however, Northwestern will look to senior leader and former walk-on Reggie Hearn to draw out the fire in them. Hearn had to sit out the first matchup between these two teams because of an injury, but he is fully healthy and ready to go now. The 6’4″, 210-pound guard from Fort Wayne has averaged a hair over 13 points per game since his return from injury earlier this month, including back-to-back 20-plus point efforts against Illinois and Indiana, and has been getting to the line at a torrid pace as well, averaging 7.7 attempts from the charity stripe per night in that same time period, with not one single game below four freebies. Hardaway, Jr. and Nik Stauskas will likely draw the tall task of defending Hearn throughout the night. They would be wise to stick to him closely and leave him off the line, where he has been doing the majority of his damage. Hearn is easily Northwestern’s best slasher, so if Michigan’s D can get the job done, Beilein will be pleased.

Prediction: All truth be told, Michigan could and should win this game with one eye on the calendar, but Beilein, Bacari Alexander, Lavall Jordan, and Jeff Meyer will do everything they can to keep this team from losing focus. A couple mistakes here and a couple mistakes there can be the difference between breezing through the second half and sweating it out at the line by the end of the night. I expect Burke and Hardaway, Jr. to lead the team vocally and statistically again tonight, combining for 35 points and 14 assists. Horford gets the starting nod and puts up double digits for the first time this season in a 78-63 Michigan win.

#2 Michigan vs Purdue
Thursday, Jan. 24 | 7pm ET | ESPN
17-1 (4-1)	Record	10-8 (3-2)
Slippery Rock 100-62 IUPUI 91-54 Cleveland State 77-47 Pittsburgh 67-62 Kansas State 71-57 NC State 79-72 Bradley 74-66 W. Michigan 73-41 Arkansas 80-67 Binghamton 67-39 West Virginia 81-66 E. Michigan 93-54 C. Michigan 88-73 Northwestern 94-66 Iowa 95-67 Nebraska 62-47 #9 Minnesota 83-75	Wins	Hofstra 83-54 UNC-Wilmington 66-40 Clemson 73-61 Lamar 72-39 Ball State 66-56 William & Mary 73-66 #11 Illinois 68-61 Penn State 60-42 Nebraska 65-56 West Virginia 79-52
#15 Ohio State 53-56	Losses	Bucknell 65-70 Villanova 81-89 OT Oregon State 58-66 Xavier 57-63 E. Michigan 44-47 #22 Notre Dame 68-81 #18 Michigan State 61-84 #15 Ohio State 64-74
79.3	Points/Game	66.8
59.5	Scoring Def.	61.1
526-for-1,032 (51.0%)	FG %	450-for-1,064 (42.3%)
410-for-1,008 (40.7%)	Def. FG %	390-for-1,018 (38.3%)
154-for-376 (41.0%)	3-point %	80-for-253 (31.6%)
116-for-366 (31.7%)	Def. 3-Pt %	85-for-275 (30.9%)
222-for-311 (71.4%)	FT %	223-for-355 (62.8%)
12.1	FT Made/Gm	12.4
37.2	Reb/Game	41.2
28.8	Opp. Reb/Gm	34.1
15.9	Assists/Gm	13.8
9.7	TOs/Gm	12.7
5.5	Steals/Gm	5.2
2.8	Blocks/Gm	4.9
G – Trey Burke (18.0) G – Tim Hardaway Jr. (16.4)	Lead. Scorer	G – Terone Johnson (13.3) G/F – D.J. Byrd (10.4)
F – Glenn Robinson (5.8) F – Mitch McGary (5.7)	Lead. Reb.	C – A.J. Hammons (6.3) G – Terone Johnson (4.7)

Last week Michigan had perhaps its two toughest games of the season within a five-day period when the Wolverines traveled to both Columbus and Minneapolis to take on top-15 Ohio State and Minnesota on the road. They came out of the brutality with a respectable 1-1 mark after avenging the Sunday loss to the Buckeyes with an impressive 83-75 win over the Golden Gophers.

Now, they look to carry that momentum into tonight’s game against the struggling Boilermakers of Purdue before entering another very difficult stretch in the Big Ten season. Still without a signature loss on the resume, Purdue will come out tonight with their best effort to take down the team everyone seems to be talking about. If Michigan gets through this game and a Sunday battle in Champaign, Ill. unscathed, the Wolverines will likely be rewarded with the top ranking in the country, but a loss tonight would again hold them back. Here are three keys to the game:

1. Make Purdue Shoot: There is really no secret as to why Purdue has struggled thus far in the 2012-13 season and has lost to the likes of Bucknell, Villanova, Xavier, and Eastern Michigan: they can’t shoot the basketball. Senior D.J. Byrd has taken nearly half of Purdue’s threes and makes them at a decent clip (36.5%), but there are very few others on Matt Painter’s roster that provide a consistent deep threat. Of the players who see more than 10 minutes of court time per game, Raphael Davis makes the highest percentage of his bombs at 38.5 percent, but he has only taken 13 shots from behind the arc, and junior Terone Johnson has improved his stroke this year, but his 35.2 percent rate from three is unimpressive.

None of the six other Boilermakers who play significant minutes make even one quarter of their deep looks, and half of those guys have yet to attempt a trey all season. Michigan continues to struggle at times defending the long ball, most recently letting Minnesota nail half of their 16 three-point attempts, but they would be well-advised in this game to dare Purdue to beat them with shots they are uncomfortable taking. Obviously, it would be unwise to leave Byrd open or anybody else wide open on a consistent basis, but Michigan can and should bait Purdue into taking contested three-point looks as opposed to contested looks in the paint, where they are likely to execute better.

2. Play Aggressive Defense: One of the hotly-debated topics in college basketball these days, particularly for Michigan fans, is the strategy involved in teams that foul frequently versus teams that foul infrequently. The Wolverines are in the latter category, putting their opponents on the line fewer times per 40 minutes than any other team in the country, and John Beilein likes it that way. But many argue that Michigan can afford to play tougher defense, even though it may result in more fouls, as long as it also improves their aggressiveness on the defensive end and causes teams to shoot a low enough percentage to make it make sense. The time to try this might never be better than tonight.

Leaving Purdue off the free throw line will not avoid much damage, as the Boilermakers only make 63 percent of their attempts from the charity stripe as a team, but it could lead to more open looks and easy layups. Terone Johnson, A.J. Hammons, and Ronnie Johnson (Terone’s brother) will rarely beat anyone from long range or from the free throw line (60.1% combined), but they can make layups. Terone Johnson destroyed Michigan on Senior Day in Ann Arbor last year, spoiling the Wolverines’ undefeated home record, by lowering his shoulder and driving hard to the hoop en route to 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting from the field (0-for-1 from downtown). Michigan needs to make sure they are playing strong, aggressive team defense to close all driving lanes on players like Johnson to make Purdue work hard for any basket or shot they get.

Terone Johnson ruined Michigan's senior night last season

3.Get Stauskas Involved: Michigan has all the makings of a team that can make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament in March – an All-American point guard, a cold-blooded veteran scorer, a variety of options down low, a superb athlete that finishes everything around the hoop, and a dead-eye shooter – but for that dream run to become a reality, Michigan will need every part clicking. Trey Burke has been about as consistent as it gets and Tim Hardaway, Jr. played tremendously in the win at Minnesota, but freshman Nik Stauskas has been regressing slightly in conference play.

Earlier in the season, the Canadian sniper was making nearly two-thirds of his three-point looks and surprised the crowd more when he missed a deep bomb than when he made one. His swagger was off the charts and he mentioned a couple time how he could not wait to play in the hostile road environments in the Big Ten. Last week, however, Stauskas went scoreless against Ohio State and put up 11 on Minnesota, combining to go 1-of-7 from deep, showing that he still has a ways to go before becoming a bona fide scorer.

He will continue to be an integral part of this team’s season, though, and Michigan would be wise to get him as many open looks as possible tonight to get his confidence back on track and his shooting percentage a couple points up. The two games last week ended a 12-game streak in which Stauskas drained multiple threes every night out, and the donut marked the first time since early November that he failed to score double-digits. Nik has already shown that he is much more than a one-dimensional shooter and can produce even when his shot is slightly off, but his best asset is still that deadly stroke that can be such a game-changer in close battles. Watch for Beilein to draw up a couple of set plays to get Stauskas open looks and look for him to lead the team in scoring with around 18 points.

Prediction: Purdue has won three straight games against lesser talent and will be looking for a signature, resume-making win tonight in Ann Arbor, but the Boilermakers simply do not have the talent or the shooting to get the job done. Michigan should put the game away by halftime and roll after that behind a strong performance from Stauskas and a double-double from Mitch McGary. Wolverines move to 18-1 with an 82-58 win.

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 21 points on just eight shots (Paul Battaglia, AP)

After suffering defeat for the first time on Sunday, Michigan answered bounced back with an impressive performance on the road in one of the Big Ten’s toughest venues. The Wolverines knocked off the 9th-ranked Minnesota Gophers 83-75 for their first road win over a top 10 team since beating Duke in 1996.

Just like in Sunday’s loss to Ohio State, scoring was hard to come by at the beginning, as Michigan scored just two points in the first three-and-a-half minutes. But the difference in this one was that the game didn’t get away from them during that time as Minnesota only managed six points.

Two threes by Tim Hardaway Jr. tied the game at 10 heading into the first TV timeout. Gopher Austin Hollins hit a three out of the break, but a free throw followed by a three by Hardaway gave Michigan a lead it would never relinquish. The Wolverines carried a 36-30 lead into the half.

In the second, Jordan Morgan scored the first two baskets for Michigan and a Hardaway dunk opened up a 10-point lead. Michigan continued to pull away over the next few minutes, punctuated by a Glenn Robinson steal at midcourt and 360 dunk that silenced the Gopher crowd. Michigan led 56-37.

However, just like Minnesota did against Indiana last week, they started chipping away at the lead. But the closest they would ever get was seven. The final six minutes of the game became a free throw competition and Michigan hit enough of them – and Minnesota didn’t – to seal the win.

Hardaway led the way for Michigan with 21 points and six rebounds on 4-of-5 three-point shooting. Trey Burke matched his season average with 18 and dished out nine assists. Nik Stauskas was the only other Wolverine in double figures with 11. Robinson and Morgan each added nine, while Mitch McGary scored eight.

Michigan shot 54.9 percent for the game and hit 10-of-20 three-pointers, while Minnesota shot 48.1 percent and was also 50 percent from downtown. Michigan pulled in just 25 rebounds, a season low, compared to Minnesota’s 33, but the Gophers are one of the best rebounding teams in the Big Ten.

Michigan now gets a week off before hosting Purdue (9-8, 3-2) next Thursday and then visiting Illinois (14-4, 1-3) on Sunday.

#2 Michigan at #15 Ohio State
Sunday, Jan. 13 | 1:30pm ET | CBS
16-0 (3-0)	Record	12-3 (2-1)
Slippery Rock 100-62 IUPUI 91-54 Cleveland State 77-47 Pittsburgh 67-62 Kansas State 71-57 NC State 79-72 Bradley 74-66 W. Michigan 73-41 Arkansas 80-67 Binghamton 67-39 West Virginia 81-66 E. Michigan 93-54 C. Michigan 88-73 Northwestern 94-66 Iowa 95-67 Nebraska 62-47	Wins	Albany 82-60 Rhode Island 69-58 Washington 77-66 UMKC 91-45 N. Kentucky 70-43 Long Beach St. 89-55 Savannah St. 85-45 UNCA 90-72 Winthrop 65-55 Chicago State 87-44 Nebraska 70-44 Purdue 74-64
	Losses	#2 Duke 68-73 #9 Kansas 66-74 #11 Illinois 55-74
80.8	Points Per Game	75.7
58.8	Scoring Defense	58.1
480-for-934 (51.4%)	Field Goal %	409-for-887 (46.1%)
363-for-906 (40.1%)	Def. Field Goal %	306-for-809 (37.8%)
138-for-336 (41.1%)	3-point %	108-for-293 (36.9%)
103-for-335 (30.7%)	Def. 3-point %	86-for-274 (31.4%)
194-for-271 (71.6%)	Free Throw %	210-for-314 (66.9%)
12.1	FT Made/Game	14.0
38.4	Rebounds Per Game	38.9
28.5	Opp. Reb. Per Game	32.2
16.3	Assists Per Game	15.2
9.3	Turnovers Per Game	10.9
5.1	Steals Per Game	7.2
2.6	Blocks Per Game	4.4
G – Trey Burke (18.2) G – Tim Hardaway Jr. (16.3)	Leading Scorer	F – Deshaun Thomas (20.3) G – Lenzelle Smith Jr. (10.7)
F – Glenn Robinson (6.1) F – Mitch McGary (6.1)	Leading Rebounder	F – Deshaun Thomas (6.8) G – Lenzelle Smith Jr. (5.5)

Sixteen games into the season, and heading into a Big Ten gauntlet that starts on Sunday, Michigan finds itself one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the entire country. The other is Duke who already passed the test that Michigan faces on Sunday afternoon. Michigan will be looking to achieve the best start to a season in program history, but the school’s biggest rival, the Ohio State Buckeyes, stand in the way as the toughest challenge the team has faced to date. It will be a game of great interest for the rest of college basketball as we will learn just how good this Wolverine team is.

Ohio State ranked as high as fourth early in the season until the Buckeyes fell 73-68 at then-No.2 Duke. In that game, Ohio State was within two with 28 seconds remaining, despite shooting just 34 percent from the field. The Buckeyes also out-rebounded the Blue Devils 40-37, and if not for the poor shooting night may have won.

A month later, Ohio State hosted No. 9 Kansas and again fell, this time 74-66. Once again, it was cold shooting that doomed the Bucks as they hit just 9-of-36 shots in the second half.

Last week. it was then-No. 11 Illinois that beat the Buckeyes, and this one wasn’t even close. The Illini led 37-25 at halftime and opened the second half on a 13-2 run to open up a 50-27 lead that Ohio State could never come back from. Once again, cold shooting was the culprit as Ohio State shot just 33 percent for the game.

In each of those three losses, aside from poor shooting, there was a common theme: the opposing teams each got big games from a guard and a big man. For Duke, it was Rasheed Sulaimon who scored 17 points, all in the second half, to go along with Mason Plumlee’s 21-point, 17-rebound performance. For Kansas, Ben McLemore went for 22 points and six rebounds, while big man Jeff Whitney recorded 14 and 10. For Illinois, Brandon Paul score 19 points and seven rebounds, and center Nnanna Egwu scored a career high 16 points. It seems that the recipe for beating the Buckeyes is an offense that gets big production from both inside and out.

But that’s easier said than done. Ohio State is a very talented team in and of itself and is led by junior forward Deshaun Thomas. He leads the team with 20.3 points and 6.8 rebounds per game. He’s extremely long and athletic and is shooting 47.2 percent from the field and just over 40 percent from three-point range so far. He has a season high of 31 points against Washington and a low of 14 against Northern Kentucky. He scored 16 against both Duke and Kentucky, shooting a combined 10-of-25, though he did hit 6-of-13 three-point attempts. In Big Ten play, Thomas is averaging nearly 23 points per game so far.

Deshaun Thomas leads the Big Ten in scoring (Joe Robbins, Getty Images)

The only other Buckeye averaging double figures is junior guard Lenzelle Smith, Jr. at 10.7. He also ranks second on the team in rebounding with 5.5 per game. His season high is 18 points against Albany, but he has been held below ten six times, including a goose egg against Washington and two points against Purdue on Tuesday. He shoots 44.8 percent overall and 43.5 percent from three-point – the team’s best three-point shooter.

Point guard Aaron Craft ranks third on the team in scoring at 8.9 points per game and ranks third in the Big Ten with 4.7 assists per game. He’s not a great shooter, averaging 39.8 percent overall and 33.3 percent from downtown, but he does have the ability to hit shots when he’s on. Against Albany in the season opener, he hit 5-of-7 threes en route to a season high 20 points. In the three losses, he made just 4-of-13. He’s more of a set-up man that has the ability to finish around the rim, but he’s best known for his relentless defense. He tends to get away with a lot of hand checking, so the way the officials call the game could very well determine how Michigan’s day goes offensively. In last year’s three meetings, he largely held his own with Trey Burke, but Burke’s progression this season has made him nearly unstoppable. It will be a great matchup to watch.

Sophomore forward LaQuinton Ross averages 8.7 points off the bench, but most of his production has been against the weaker teams on the schedule. He scored nine against Duke, four against Kansas, and two against Illinois while averaging just under 12 minutes per game.

Sam Thompson averages 7.1 points per game, although in the last six games he’s averaging just five points. The 6’7″ sophomore from Chicago is a decent shooter (44.3 percent), but not a good three-point shooter, having hit just 6-of-25 attempts this season.

Senior forward Evan Ravenel has been the fifth starter most of the season and averages 6.5 points and 4.7 rebounds per game. He’s coming off his best performance of the season, a 6-of-8 shooting night against Purdue.

Amir Williams started the four games that Ravenel didn’t and has a season-high of eight points against Nebraska. Shannon Scott is the backup point guard who plays 21 minutes a game. He averages 6.1 points, 4.6 assists, and 2.1 steals per game and had his best game of the season against Kansas when he scored 15 points.

As a team, Ohio State ranks fifth in the Big Ten with a 46.1 shooting percentage and fourth with a 36.9 three-point percentage.

Michigan can – and should – beat the Buckeyes, but it will take a better shooting performance than the Wolverines displayed against Nebraska on Wednesday. I don’t see Michigan putting up two bad performances in a row, so the Wolverines should win a close one in Columbus.

Check back on Saturday afternoon for Sam’s quick thoughts to find out specifically what Michigan needs to do to win.

Following a pair of dominating performances against Northwestern and Iowa, Michigan took to the court Wednesday night against an overmatched Nebraska team with the goal of equaling the best start in program history. The Cornhuskers gave Michigan a game, but a strong second half led Michigan to a 62-47 win to match the 16-0 start of the 1985-86 team.

Scoring was hard to come by in the first half as Michigan displayed a rare cold spell that allowed Nebraska to hang tough. By the time of the first official TV timeout, Michigan held just a 5-2 lead. The teams went back and forth through the rest of the first half with Michigan never getting a chance to pull away by more than six. Every time the Wolverines showed signs of pulling away, Nebraska would hit a shot or two to stay right there. Michigan took a 25-20 lead into the half.

Glenn Robinson III made two big plays in the second half to fuel Michigan to victory (Gregory Shamus, Getty Images)

The second half started off with a three-point play by Trey Burke, but Nebraska’s Daryl Talley answered with a three. After two more Burke free throws, Nebraska hit another three, giving the ‘Huskers hope of coming back. But Michigan scored nine of the next 13 points to open up a 39-30 lead. The teams traded baskets for the next six minutes, and with about eight minutes remaining in the game, Glenn Robinson III made back-to-back big plays to give Michigan the lift it needed to finish off the ‘Huskers.

First, he stole the ball around mid-court and threw down a monstrous fast-break dunk. On Michigan’s next possession, Caris LeVert missed a three, but Robinson came from the three-point line, caught the carom in mid-air and flushed it home. It put Michigan ahead 49-42 and sent the crowd into excitement. Michigan made most of its free throws down the stretch to hold on.

Burke led the way with 18 quiet points on 6-of-16 shooting. He made just 1-of-5 three-point attempts. Tim Hardaway Jr. added 15 points and 11 rebounds – all on the defensive end. Robinson scored 14 and Nik Stauskas had 13. Perhaps the strangest line of the night was that of Jordan Morgan who scored no points, but pulled down 11 rebounds in 23 minutes of action. Mitch McGary scored the only two points for the Michigan bench.

Michigan shot just 38.9 percent from the field (the Wolverines were just 32.3 percent in the first half) and made just 3-of-17 three-pointers. Nebraska was worse from the field, shooting just 33.9 percent overall. Michigan out-rebounded Nebraska 47-30. The 47 rebounds were Michigan’s highest of the season and it was the 14th time in 16 games that Michigan has out-rebounded its opponent.

While it wasn’t pretty, it was Michigan’s third straight 15-point victory in Big Ten play. The last time Michigan has done that was during the 1987-88 season.

Michigan was bound for a cold shooting night after such a great start to the season, and especially the way they started Big Ten play. Perhaps it is good that it happened against Nebraska when it didn’t really matter, and will fuel the Wolverines to perform better when they travel to Columbus on Sunday. The game begins at 1:30pm and will be televised by CBS.