Northwestern vs. Michigan: Full Game Preview

Northwestern

(12-9, 5-2 away)

(1) Michigan

(19-1, 15-0 home)

Venue: Crisler Arena

6:30PM ET / 3:30PM PT, January 30, 2013

Team Leaders

	Points	Rebounds	Assists
Northwestern	R Hearn 14.0	J Swopshire 6.6	D Sobolewski 4.3
Michigan	T Burke 17.9	G Robinson III 6.0	T Burke 7.1

On Wednesday, Northwestern travels to Crisler Arena to take on No. 1 Michigan. It takes place at 6:30 EST and you can catch it on Big Ten Network. The Wildcats fell to the Wolverines 94-66 on January 3rd and are 3-6 against them over the last four years.

Northwestern is 8th in the conference and Michigan is 1st. Both teams continue to jockey for position.

The Wildcats fell 64-49 to Nebraska on January 26th. Dave Sobolewski finished with 21 points and 6 rebounds in the loss. On top of a team-high 4.3 assists per game, he also scores 11.5 points per game. For the Wolverines, Trey Burke put up 19 points and 5 rebounds in the 74-60 win over Illinois on January 27th. He contributes a team-leading 17.9 points per game, 7.1 assists per game, and 1.4 steals per game.

There are two important categories where Michigan has a statistical edge. The Wolverines have an advantage over the Wildcats in field goal percentage, with an average of 51% to 41%. In addition, Michigan has the edge in scoring, 78 points per game to 64 points per game. Areas of strength for Michigan include: effective field goal percentage at 58.2 and turnover percentage at 15.2.

Michigan StatSmack

Alex Olah is ranked 10th in the Big Ten in blocks.
At least you keep showing up. Northwestern has an average margin of victory of 7 over Michigan in 13 wins since 1980.
The Northwestern rebounding leader (Jared Swopshire) has more rebounds than the Michigan rebounding leader (Glenn Robinson III).
Northwestern has a much better NCSA Academic Ranking than Michigan (#12 vs #27).
Northwestern is better under pressure, and has defeated Michigan in 4 out of the last 7 games decided by 5 points or fewer.
Northwestern has a much lower average debt at graduation according to Kiplinger than Michigan ($20,802 vs $26,819).
Northwestern players are more experienced than Michigan players (12,622 minutes played vs 9,502 minutes played).
The Northwestern basketball team finishes what they start, with a better graduation rate than Michigan (90% vs 36%).
Northwestern has a much better NCSA Power Ranking than Michigan (#9 vs #24).
Dave Sobolewski is ranked 8th in the Big Ten in three-pointers and 5th in the Big Ten in assists.

NU Players		Mins	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO
B	Reggie Hearn	32	14	4	2	1	0	2
B	Jared Swopshire	32	9	7	2	1	0	1
B	Dave Sobolewski	35	12	2	4	1	0	2
B	Drew Crawford	32	14	5	2	1	1	2
C	Alex Olah	21	6	4	2	0	1	1
C	Tre Demps	15	7	2	1	0	0	1
C	A. Marcotullio	18	4	3	2	1	0	1
C-	Kale Abrahamson	14	5	2	0	0	0	1
C-	Mike Turner	16	2	2	2	1	1	1
D	Sanjay Lumpkin	7	1	1	1	0	0	1
D	Nikola Cerina	4	1	2	0	0	0	0
D	Chier Ajou	4	1	1	0	0	0	0
D	J. Montgomery III	3	1	0	0	0	0	0
D	Omar Jimenez	3	0	0	0	0	0	0

MICH Players		Mins	Pts	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	TO
A+	Trey Burke	34	18	3	7	1	0	2
A-	Tim Hardaway Jr	34	16	5	3	1	1	2
A-	G. Robinson III	33	12	6	1	1	0	1
B+	Nik Stauskas	31	13	3	1	1	0	1
B-	Mitch McGary	16	6	6	0	1	1	1
B-	Jordan Morgan	20	6	5	0	1	0	1
C	Caris LeVert	12	3	1	1	0	0	0
C	Max Bielfeldt	6	2	2	0	0	0	0
C	Jon Horford	9	2	2	0	0	0	0
C	Spike Albrecht	7	2	1	1	0	0	0
D+	Blake McLimans	3	1	1	0	0	0	0
D+	Matt Vogrich	8	1	1	0	0	0	0
D+	Eso Akunne	3	1	1	0	0	0	0
D+	Corey Person	2	1	0	0	0	0	0
D	J. Bartelstein	2	0	0	1	1	0	0