Two teams looking to rebound from defeats will collide Monday night when No. 12 Michigan visits Nebraska for a Big Ten contest in Lincoln, Neb.
The Wolverines are recovering from a tough home loss (75-62) Friday night to rival Michigan State in what was a battle for first place in the conference.
The Wolverines (20-6, 12-3) are still squarely in the race for a league title, but instead of being in firm control with a win over Michigan State, they are a half-game behind the Spartans entering their final five games of the regular season.
Michigan will start with a game at Nebraska; the Wolverines are 6-2 on the road this season.
“This group has proved all year that we respond and unify when things don’t go well,” said coach Dusty May, who agreed to a multi-year contract extension with Michigan before the Michigan State game tipped off. “There’s no reason to expect anything different.”
Michigan has relied all season on arguably the best frontcourt tandem in the country in 7-footers Danny Wolf — who is averaging 12.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per game — and Vladislav Goldin (15.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg).
Even though the Wolverines won six games in a row before the loss to Michigan State, one big concern recently has been their perimeter shooting.
In its last six games, Michigan is shooting 30 percent (40 of 133) from 3-point range, which has made it easier for opponents to clamp down on Wolf and Goldin in the lane.
“We really haven’t shot it well in probably three or four weeks,” May said.
Michigan hopes to break out of its shooting funk against a Nebraska team coming off a lopsided loss (89-72) at one of the league’s worst team, Penn State, on Wednesday.
The Cornhuskers (17-10, 7-9) are still in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament berth, and playing Michigan will present another opportunity to get a Quad 1 win to pad their resume.
Helping the cause will that Nebraska will be at home, where it is 10-3 this year. But the Cornhuskers first want to get the taste of the loss to Penn State out of their mouths.
“We’re playing for something right now,” Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg said. “We still have our goals in front of us. We can reverse this. We still have an opportunity to achieve what we set out to. But we’ve got to fix it in a hurry. We’ve got some soul-searching to do.”
Nebraska features one of the top scorers in the conference in Brice Williams, who is averaging 19.4 points per game. Juwan Gary (13.3 ppg) and Connor Essegian (10.8 ppg) also are averaging double figures.
Nebraska has won the last two meetings against Michigan, although the Wolverines have dominated the rivalry since Nebraska joined the Big Ten in 2011, owning a 16-3 record against the Cornhuskers.
–Field Level Media
