Michigan vs Northwestern 1/15/23 College Basketball Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Northwestern Wildcats and the Michigan Wolverines meet in college basketball action from the Crisler Center on Sunday afternoon.

The Northwestern Wildcats will try to bounce back from a 65-62 loss to Rutgers last time out. Chase Audige leads the Wildcats in scoring with 15.8 PPG along with 3.3 APG while Boo Buie has 14.6 PPG with a team-high 4.2 APG to lead the Wildcats in the assist department. Ty Berry has 10.1 PPG and 5.2 RPG to cap off the scoring in double figures for Northwestern up to this point in the year. Matthew Nicholson also has a team-high 6.6 RPG to lead the Wildcats in rebounding this season. As a team, Northwestern is averaging 68.4 points per game on 38.7% shooting from the field, 31.9% from behind the arc and 73.9% from the foul line this season.

The Michigan Wolverines will try to rebound from back-to-back road losses after a 93-84 OT loss to Iowa last time out. Hunter Dickinson leads the Wolverines in scoring and rebounding with 18.2 PPG and 8.5 RPG while Jett Howard has 15.5 PPG and Kobe Bufkin’s also chipping in 12.2 PPG with 3.6 RPG and 2.9 APG to cap off the trio of double-digit scorers for Michigan so far this season. Dug McDaniel also has a team-high 3.3 APG to lead the Wolverines in the assist department this season. As a team, Michigan is averaging 75.5 PPG on 45% shooting from the field, 35.1% from three and 68.4% from the foul line this season.

Northwestern is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games following an ATS loss and 5-11 ATS in their last 16 Sunday games while the under is 18-8 in their last 26 games overall. Michigan is 36-15-1 ATS in their last 52 games following an ATS loss and 2-5 ATS in their last 7 home games against a team with a road winning percentage above .600 while the over is 10-4 in their last 14 games against a team with a winning percentage above .600.

I get the case to be made for either side here, but I’m leaning towards Northwestern and the points. Michigan’s struggled in their last couple of games, and while those games were on the road, and now the Wolverines get to go back home, I think this is just a case of too many points. I could see this as a game where it comes down to who has the ball last so give me the points with Northwestern here.