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If Michigan is going to have any chance of turning around its season, Saturday’s Big Ten game against visiting Iowa at Ann Arbor, Mich. would be the logical place to start.
The Wolverines (7-12, 2-6 Big Ten) have faced adversity all season. Michigan was without head coach Juwan Howard for the first 10 games as he recovered from an offseason heart procedure.
More recently, the Wolverines have only had part-time service from their most dynamic player, sophomore point guard Dug McDaniel.
On Jan. 10, McDaniel was suspended by Howard for a string of six road games to work on academic issues. The Wolverines have already lost both road games without McDaniel, falling at Maryland on Jan. 11 and at Purdue on Tuesday.
The Wolverines’ 99-67 loss at Purdue was the worst defeat by scoring margin of Howard’s tenure. Since the 2021-22 season, Michigan is just 44-43 overall and 24-24 in Big Ten play.
“Wow, we have a lot of work to do,” Howard said. “We’re going to roll up our sleeves, continue to scrap, claw, and make sure we compete.”
McDaniel leads Michigan with 17.4 points per game and 5.1 assists, while Olivier Nkamhoua checks in with 16.5 points and 7.2 rebounds.
The Wolverines defeated Iowa on the road 90-80 on Dec. 10.
The Hawkeyes (11-8, 3-5) have lost two in a row, the latest a 69-67 defeat at home Wednesday to Maryland when they led by six at halftime and did not score a field goal in the final 5:44.
Iowa is led by a pair of seniors, forward Ben Krikke at 16.1 points and guard Tony Perkins at 14.7 points.
“We were not in sync, I think most of the game,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery said after the loss to Maryland. “I think that was obvious. … I’ll take the blame for that.”
Michigan leads the all-time series 99-67.
–Field Level Media