The Michigan Wolverines (14-3, 4-1) look for their first Big Ten road win of the season when they visit the Iowa Hawkeyes (10-8, 2-3) on Saturday afternoon at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.
In their only other Big Ten road game this season, Michigan started slow at Indiana and saw their late-game rally fall short, 73-71. With all of the upsets around the conference so far this season, the Wolverines will need to stay focused on the Hawkeyes today without looking ahead to Tuesday's monster matchup with rival Michigan State.
The MSU game would lose some luster if Michigan can't take care of business today and as usual the Wolverines will need to lean on Tim Hardaway Jr. and Tim Burke to make plays and fuel the offense. The duo is combining to average 30 points per game and would benefit from some help in the front court with a strong game from forward Evan Smotrycz.
The Hawkeyes have been up and down all season and are coming off a pair of 30-point losses to Ohio State and Michigan State. Pride and desperation may be in play as well today since Iowa has had since Tuesday to prepare for Michigan.
Senior guard Matt Gatens leads Iowa with 13.1 points per game with sophomore swingman Roy Devyn Marble adding 10.7 points per game.
The game tips off at 1:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
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