Michigan plays at Northwestern on Tuesday night.<\/b>
\nWho: No. 5 Michigan Wolverines (8-0) vs. Northwestern (6-2) Where: Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Illinois) When: Tuesday, Dec. 4,9:07 p.m. ET (8:07 CT) Point spread: Michigan -5.5 Watch: BTN Listen: Detroit: WWJ-950 AM; Ann Arbor: WWWW-102.9 FM; anywhere: MGoBlue.com Tickets: Sold out Follow: Andrew Kahn
Michigan’s first Big Ten road game is at the new Welsh-Ryan Arena, which underwent a $110-million renovation that forced Northwestern to play its home games elsewhere last season.
This is the second Big Ten game for both schools. After Thursday, the conference will return to non-league play for the rest of the month. Big Ten play resumes in early January. Northwestern is one of seven Big Ten schools Michigan will play twice in the regular season, with the Wildcats coming to Ann Arbor on Jan. 13.
Michigan and Northwestern have split the past six meetings.
Chris Collins is in his sixth season as Northwestern’s head coach. One of his assistants, Billy Donlon, is in his second year on the staff after spending the previous season at Michigan. Freshman Pete Nance is playing 13 minutes per game. The skilled forward chose Northwestern over Michigan.
Michigan is 8-0 and ranked fifth in the country, both the best since the 2012-13 season.
«We’re going to have to be that type of team that’s going to go on the road knowing that you come in there with that target on your back,» Michigan head coach John Beilein said. «The other team is going to have extra juice playing a highly rated team. If ratings mean anything right now, certainly the opposing coaches would love to talk about that. For us it’s an early-season Big Ten game.»
Pre-game reading:
+ Michigan vs. Northwestern scouting report
+ How Jon Teske turned himself into a Big Ten force
+ Jordan Poole, still a shooter, has some new tricks
+ Moe Wagner scores first NBA points; Lakers bench goes nuts
+ Beilein didn’t know that Poole and Brazdeikis earned Big Ten honors<\/p>\n