Michigan vs. Illinois: 2019-20 college basketball game preview, TV schedule
In this Big Ten match-up, Illinois welcome #4 Michigan to Champaign. Illinois will have another chance to knock off a top seed after falling short recently.
TV Schedule: Wednesday, December 11 at 9:00 pm ET. BTN.
Location: State Farm Center in Champaign, IL.
After just falling short at Maryland, Saturday, Illinois will have a shot at another top-class college basketball side when they welcome the Michigan Wolverines to their home floor this Wednesday night.
Illinois came ever so close to knocking off #3 Maryland, ultimately losing by a single point (59-58) in what will be a crushing loss to the Fighting Illini. However devastating though, this should give them plenty of confidence in their basketball ability as their season continues. Now 63, the Illini’s trying early-season schedule keeps going with this Wolverine game. Their other two losses came in a blowout to #12 Arizona a couple of weeks back, and another tough loss, which was by two points to Miami. Michigan, who is 8-1 on the year, has looked worthy of their seeding throughout the early games of the year.
Last Wednesday’s game against #1 Louisville, however, showed that they’re far from perfect. Obviously, Louisville is currently the best team in the nation, and this was a game Michigan wasn’t supposed to go out and win, but their first-half offense set up for it to be a grueling night for themselves – they scored just 43-points in their first loss of the year.
There’s no doubt that Illinois will think they’ve got a real chance of getting a big win under their belts on Wednesday. For Michigan though, it’ll be important to follow-up a big win over another conference rival in Iowa with another victory here in Illinois. A strong start will be important for the Wolverines, meaning it’ll be important for the Illini to play conservative defense early on from tip-off. As long as the Illini can keep within about ten points of Michigan until the last ten minutes of the game, they’ll always have a chance.
Michigan will want to continue to move the ball well and keep a fluid offensive style going into this game, wanting to keep the Illinois defense on their toes. There have, however, been struggles sometimes on the defensive end for Michigan, which could definitely get punished against an offense that ranks 11th in scoring across the nation. There’s plenty of great scorers in the Illinois line-up, headed by freshman center Kofi Cockburn who is their clear go-to option. His length and versatility give a phenomenal core to this Illini team, and with plenty of scorers around him too, you can see why this team causes so many top teams trouble.
Senior guard Zavier Simpson will be the key player for Michigan here. His experience is irreplaceable in games like this. His leadership from the point will settle the Wolverines down and help get them into a steady rhythm on both ends. Once they step into their groove, then it’s going to be hard for Illinois to stop them.
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Overall these are two very good offensive teams. Perimeter shooting is the only downfall for Illinois. But, Giorgi Bezhanishvil makes up for a lot of their misses. He’s averaging 62.5% from three on the year. This could be a shoot out, but considering that it’s a conference match-up it could go against the trends. It should be a high-intensity game, with plenty of highlight plays between a team who are desperate to knock off a giant, and a team that needs to keep their reputation up.