Michigan Basketball: 3 Keys to Wolverines beating Northwestern

Michigan basketball is rolling right now as they head back home to Ann Arbor to face their first ranked opponent of the season, the Northwestern Wildcats.

Yes, you read that correctly. Northwestern, who was picked to finish near the bottom of the Big Ten this season, has had themselves a very nice year so far and is ranked inside the top-20. They have already beaten ranked teams in Michigan State and Ohio State, and played a competitive game against top-10 ranked Iowa earlier this week.

What was thought of as a cupcake game for Michigan basketball a few weeks ago has turned into possibly the biggest test for the Wolverines so far in this young season.

Michigan comes into this game 8-0 and on a roll. The Wolverines defeated Maryland on Thursday night and probably played their best half of basketball of the season in that second half. True freshman Hunter Dickinson has been Michigan’s best player this season and really showed out against Maryland.

Dickinson grabbed 11 boards and scored 26 points while going 10-of-11 from the field. He now leads Michigan in points, rebounds, and blocks this season.

Northwestern comes into this game 6-2 with their only two losses coming to Pitt early in the season and Iowa on Tuesday. They sit at 3-1 in the conference and in 2nd place. Northwestern is only ranked 54th in the Kenpom rankings, which is behind Maryland and Penn State, but I still feel like based on results alone, this is the best team Michigan has faced so far.

Here are three keys to beating Northwestern and moving to 9-0 on the season.