Previewing Indiana's Top-15 Showdown With Michigan

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Michigan has had no issue getting back into the swing of things after returning from the athletic department-wide pause due to COVID-19.

Since returning to the court last week, the Wolverines have won two games over Purdue and Michigan State. They are now 12-1 overall and 7-1 in the Big Ten.

Their only loss was to Ohio State back on Jan. 21. Michigan was left off of the NCAA's top 16 rankings for the tournament and felt like it was snubbed. Their opponent Thursday night, Indiana, was included in it at No. 15.

"Well for us, it's great because it's the first time in school history that has ever happened," Indiana head coach Teri Moren said. "I understand Michigan's I guess frustration... Let's be honest, they haven't played the amount of games that we've played. I'm not saying Michigan is suggesting that we shouldn't be in there, all I'm saying is they've been on pause for almost a month and have all those games."

The Hoosiers are currently 13-4 overall and 11-2 in the Big Ten, but have had their fair share of struggles against top-25 teams this season. All four of Indiana's losses have come against top-25 teams, and Indiana has only one top-25 win, which was at Northwestern.

All games have been competitive, and Thursday's game with Michigan will be no different. The Wolverines present a lot of weapons on the offensive end.

They are led by Big Ten preseason player of the year candidate junior forward Naz Hillmon, who averages 26.1 points and 11.7 rebounds per game. Junior guard/forward Leigha Brown adds 19.8 points per game. The Wolverines average 80.2 points per game while outrebounding its opponents by a Big Ten high plus-14.0 per game.

"This is a really, really good team," Moren said. "Although they haven't played a lot of games because of their pause, and again out of their control circumstances, there's still obviously a lot of talent over there."

For Indiana, the Hoosiers are currently riding a four-game winning streak and have won eight of their last nine games.

This game will be very vital to both teams and their chances toward a Big Ten title and NCAA Tournament seeding.

Indiana leads the all-time series 46-29, and the Hoosiers won the last meeting a season ago by 18, but this Wolverine team is much more skilled than they were last year.

Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET inside Assembly Hall, and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

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