After a sloppy, heartbreaking defeat to Minnesota on Thursday night, Michigan basketball gets a chance to rebound against Northwestern on Sunday in a critical game.
The Big Ten title race is going to be extremely tight. Michigan basketball wasn't the first contender to have a surprise loss and they won't be the last. But they can't lose back-to-back games, especially another that would qualify as a quadrant-2 loss.
Northwestern is ranked 53rd according to the Kenpom rankings. They have the 27th adjusted defense and the 95th-ranked offense. Michigan basketball is ranked 12th overall via Kenpom and looking ahead to Sunday's conference tilt at Crisler (2:00 PM EST, Big Ten Network) here are three keys and a prediction.
Take care of the ball
This a common theme for Michigan basketball this season. The Wolverine are turning the ball over 14.8 times per game. Northwestern forces 14.4 per game and they are one of the best teams in the country at stealing the ball.
Brooks Barnhizer averages 2.4 steals per game. He also scores 18 points per game and is likely to be matched up with Danny Wolf.
Wolf scored 21 points against Minnesota. He also struggled to protect the ball. He gets loose with it at times. The entire team does frankly. Northwestern will press and be aggressive on defense, sort of like Minnesota.
Michigan basketball has to do a number of things better offensively in this game, but taking the care of the ball and minimizing turnovers will be essential.