Michigan will try to strengthen its NCAA Tournament resume when it travels to Illinois on Thursday night. The Wolverines have won three straight games and six of their last eight to get back onto the tournament bubble. Illinois appears to be safely in the field even after its 72-60 loss at Ohio State on Sunday.
Michigan was never able to get its footing underneath itself from the end of November to the end of January, losing nine out of 15 games. The Wolverines were well outside the NCAA Tournament picture at 11-10, but they have been able to work their way back onto the bubble by winning six of their last eight games. They are riding a three-game winning streak coming into this contest, beating Michigan State, Rutgers and Wisconsin. Their overtime win against the Badgers boosted them into the “First Four Out” in the latest bracketology projections from ESPN’s Joe Lunardi.
Game 29: Roll the tape ??? pic.twitter.com/mFH3AcH1Ul
— Michigan Men's Basketball (@umichbball) February 28, 2023
They have done an excellent job of taking care of the ball this season, ranked ninth nationally in turnover rate. Michigan is outside the top 115 in 2-point percentage (51.6) and 3-point percentage (34.5), along with sitting at No. 274 in offensive rebounding rate. Head coach Juwan Howard has yet to beat Illinois since taking over in 2019-20, with the Illini sweeping all five meetings between these teams over the last four years. Illinois comes into this game ranked No. 20 in effective field goal percentage and No. 25 in adjusted efficiency. Junior center Hunter Dickinson leads Michigan with 17.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game. Second-leading scorer Jett Howard has been sidelined the last two games due to an ankle injury and he is questionable for this game. He went through pregame warmups against Wisconsin on Sunday, which is certainly a good sign.
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