Previewing Michigan Basketball’s next game against Northwestern

The 22-1 Michigan Wolverines will travel to the 10-14 Northwestern Wildcats this Wednesday. Michigan is coming off a blowout win over rival Ohio State, while the Wildcats are coming off a win big over Penn State. Despite their big win in their last game, Northwestern so far this year has been one of the worst teams in the Big Ten with a 2-11 conference record. They will be getting the Wolverines at home, but this will be one of the bigger mismatches that Michigan gets in conference play this year on paper. Let’s dive more into this matchup below.

Northwestern Wildcats

Northwestern, at least based on the statistics, is one of the worst teams in the Big Ten. They are 14th in average points scored per game, 12th in shooting percentage, 18th in 3-point percentage shooting, 7th in assists, and 1st in turnovers per game. The only real statistic they’re good at it moving the ball on offense and not turning the ball over.

On defense, they’re 10th in opponents scoring per game, 11th in opponent field goal percentage allowed, 11th in opponent 3-point percentage, 16th in rebounding, 16th in steals, and 7th in blocks per game. The defense isn’t quite as bad as the offense, but it’s very much a middle of the road to bottom of the Big Ten type unit.

Individually, they're led by Nick Martinelli at 22.7 points per game, and the only other two averaging over 10 points per game are Arrinten Page at 10.9 and Jayden Reid at 10.2. Clearly, Stopping Martinelli goes a long way towards stopping Northwestern's scoring overall.

Michigan Wolverines

Michigan on the other hand is 1st in points per game, 1st in shooting percentage overall, 4th in 3-point shooting percentage, and 2nd in assists. It's an elite offensive unit by pretty much every category on offense.

The defense is similarly elite by the statistics, as they rank 5th in opponents points per game, 1st in opponent shooting percentage from the field, 1st in 3-point shooting percentage defense, 1st in rebounding, 7th in steals, and 1st in blocks.

Individually, Michigan is led by Yaxel Lendeborg at 14.3 points per game, followed by Morez Johnson Jr. at 13.6, Aday Mara at 11.3, and Trey McKenney at 10.1. The Wolverines also have Elliot Cadeau and Nimari Burnett at just under 10 points per game on average as well. Michigan's offense is very well balanced, and that's a big part of what makes them so hard to stop on offense.

This Michigan team is simply one of the nation’s elites and when you compare them to Northwestern, this should be a game Michigan wins by a lot. It is on the road though and there’s always the chance the other team shoots the lights out on any given day because it is college basketball after all. Nonetheless, this should be a game Michigan wins comfortably coming up against the Northwestern Wildcats.

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