Northwestern vs Michigan Pick – Basketball Predictions & Odds 2/2/23

The Michigan Wolverines and the Northwestern Wildcats meet Thursday in college basketball action from Welsh-Ryan Arena. Michigan is sitting at 11-10 overall this year after a loss to Penn State on Sunday. As for Northwestern, they played Iowa on Tuesday. In that one the Wildcats lost by 16 points. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.

Michigan Wolverines 

Michigan lost to Arizona State, Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Central Michigan, Michigan State and Iowa in their first 16 games this year. The Wolverines are 2-3 in their last five with wins over Northwestern and Minnesota. 

In the Penn State matchup on Sunday, Michigan was down 49-32 by halftime. The Wolverines didn’t get any closer on a 34-29 deficit in the second half and lost 83-61. Jett Howard led the team on 21 points. 

Northwestern Wildcats 

Over on the Northwestern side, they came out of the gate at 12-4 with losses to Auburn, Pittsburgh, Ohio State and Rutgers. The Wildcats hit a 3-1 run in their next four with wins over Wisconsin, Nebraska and Minnesota.
On Tuesday versus Iowa, the Wildcats had the game all tied up 39-39 going into the second half. Northwestern was outscored 47-31 from there however and lost 86-70. Boo Buie was tops in scoring with 20 points and three rebounds. 

ANDREW’S FREE PICK

I’ll probably stick with Northwestern—even with the bad second half in the Iowa game on Tuesday. The Wildcats took a loss 85-78 the last time these teams met up back on January 15 at Crisler Center. Northwestern had a halftime lead but fell behind in the second, getting out-rebounded 41-29 by game’s end. Michigan had 18 turnovers in that one but the big rebound total and the 51.8 percent shooting from the floor helped bridge the gap. I like this one to be fairly close the whole way, but with the change in venue I think Northwestern pulls off the cover here.