The Michigan Wolverines and Northwestern Wildcats meet up tonight in Big Ten College Basketball action. The game is scheduled for a 9:00 p.m. start time and it will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Currently the College Basketball Betting Odds for the game have the Wildcats favored to pick up the win at home.

Northwestern had been on fire before dropping their most recent game to Illinois on the road. Prior to that Northwestern has pieced together four straight wins to help them climb out of the Big Ten cellar. Michigan has been marred by injuries all season and with just a 14-14 record on the season it's been a bit of a disappointment. They opened the season ranked inside the Top 25 nationally but had to replace three starters from last year's team, all of which are playing major minutes in the NBA.

Michigan has lost six of the last seven games overall with two tough games left against Northwestern and Rutgers. Michigan has been playing pretty well in most of the games since Caris LeVert went down with injury, but they just don't have the go-to guy that can score points when needed. Michigan has been playing a ton of games without Derrick Walton Jr. as well.

The Wildcats don't score a lot of points, don't shoot the basketball well and they lack a go-to guy as well. This game tonight could come down to the team that plays better in transition. Michigan narrowly escaped a game at home against the Wildcats in the early part of the Big Ten schedule, a game where LeVert and Walton combined to score 32 points. Michigan has to find a way to make up for that scoring.

But the benefit to Michigan playing without two of their stars is their young guys have been forced into logging major minutes. The team has really come together well, despite their win/loss record, and moving forward they will be a better team for it. 

In this one tonight, Muhammad-Ali Abdur-Rahkman hits some nice shots in transition, Michigan plays well on defense and finds a way to get it done around the rim with Ricky Doyle and Max Bielfeldt.

Free Pick: Michigan 59, Northwestern 55

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