Illinois @ Michigan preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 11, 2019 ) Michigan 62, Illinois 71

No. 22 Illinois looks to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten when it visits Michigan on Saturday. The Fighting Illini have won five consecutive games, including an impressive 79-62 victory at Purdue on Tuesday, to complete the season sweep of the Boilermakers for the first time since 2008-09, and they hope to overtake ninth-ranked Michigan State at the top of the conference standings by posting their first win in Ann Arbor in nearly 10 years.

“We can’t let up now,” Illinois freshman center Kofi Cockburn told reporters. “We have to stick together and keep doing what we’ve been doing.” Michigan is left to go back to the drawing board following a disappointing 72-63 loss to Penn State on Wednesday. The Wolverines, who have dropped four of their last five games to tumble out of the Top 25, went 5-of-28 from 3-point range en route to their first Big Ten home loss of the season, and they hope to turn their fortunes around by avenging a 71-62 road setback to the Fighting Illini on Dec. 11. “We will not lose trust in each other,” Michigan coach Juwan Howard told reporters. “There’s a lot of season to be played and you learn from games like these.”

TIME: Noon ET. TV: Fox Sports 1

ABOUT ILLINOIS (14-5, 6-2 Big Ten): Cockburn scored 22 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in the win against Purdue to record his eighth double-double, which is the third-most among freshmen in the nation. Trent Frazier knocked down five 3-pointers en route to a season-high 21 points, while sophomore Aye Dosunmu added 18 points and 11 assists to register the first double-double of his career. Giorgi Bezhanishvili finished with 10 points and five assists, while Alan Griffin was handed a two-game suspension after he was ejected for stepping on the chest of Purdue’s Sasha Stefanovic with 12:21 remaining in the first half.

ABOUT MICHIGAN (11-7, 2-5): Zavier Simpson led the team with 18 points and six assists but finished 8-of-23 from the floor with six turnovers, while sophomore Brandon Johns Jr. added a career-high 14 points to go along with seven rebounds in the loss to Penn State. Eli Brooks scored 12 points and pulled down four boards while Jon Teske produced nine points and 11 rebounds, but they went a combined 8-of-22 from the field as the Wolverines struggled from the floor. “There’s no need to keep rubbing it in as they understand exactly how they shot the ball,” Howard said. “We didn’t shoot the ball with confidence or maybe the ball just didn’t go in.”

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Michigan has won six consecutive home meetings with Illinois.

2. The Fighting Illini have won five straight Big Ten games for the first time since 2013.

3. Simpson leads the nation in total assists (154).

PREDICTION: Illinois 75, Michigan 70