A pivotal Big Ten Basketball affair will take place Thursday from Ann Arbor Michigan. The Fighting Illini of Illinois will play at the Wolverines of Michigan. Illinois is 12-4 on the season, but coming off a loss at home to Maryland. The Fighting Illini are 7-3 in their last 10 games.
For Michigan, they have had a tough season so far. The Wolverines are 7-10 on the season. Michigan is coming off a rivalry win at home over Ohio State. Despite that win, Michigan is 3-7 in their last 10 games.
Illinois comes into this game as the favorite. The Fighting Illini are -2.5 over the Michigan Wolverines on Thursday. The total is listed at 153.5.
Illinois Without Leading Scorer
The biggest news for the Illini is Terrence Shannon remaining out, suspended by the team for legal issues. It will be interesting to see if the star guard returns this season. The former Texas Tech guard was scoring nearly 22 points per game, playing 33 minutes per game for the Illini.
The leading scorer now for Brad Underwood’s squad is former Southern Illinois star Marcus Domask. He is scoring 14.9 per game. The recent loss to Maryland saw Domask score a team high 26 points. He was 9 for 19 from the field. Quincy Guerrier struggled, making just 2 of 10 shots.
The Illini will wrap up the month of January with a home game against Rutgers on Sunday, followed by a trip to Northwestern on Wednesday, followed by a home game against the Indiana Hoosiers, and then a road game at Ohio State. The Illini start February with a home game against Nebraska.
Howard in Hot Water in Ann Arbor
Juwan Howard and the Michigan Wolverines have got to find it and find it soon. The win over Ohio State was encouraging, and snapped a five game losing streak, which included a December 29th loss to McNeese State. The Wolverines lost all three January Big Ten games before this to Minnesota, Penn State and Maryland.
Michigan is led in scoring by Dug McDaniel and Olivier Nkamhoua. They are both scoring more than 17 points per game for the Maize and Blue. Michigan as a team is scoring just under 80 points per game.
The Wolverines are on the road next, as they will take on the Purdue Boilermakers on Tuesday. After that, the Wolverines have a home game against Iowa, and then a trip to Michigan State to finish January. On February 3rd, the Wolverines are hosting Rutgers.
Illini Pick up Huge Road Win
We like the Fighting Illini to bounce back in this game. Sure, it is on the road, but Michigan is down. The Illini know if they want a chance at a Big Ten title, they are going to need to get that home loss back. Here is a chance to grab a win. We are going to take Illinois 2-5. over Michigan. Enjoy the game and best of luck!
