The Michigan Wolverines and the Iowa Hawkeyes meet Thursday in college basketball action from Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Michigan is 9-6 on the year. The Wolverines lost to Michigan State in their last game. As for Iowa, they’re 10-6 overall following a Sunday win over Rutgers. Check back all season long for free college basketball picks at Sports Chat Place.
Michigan went 7-3 over their first 10 games this year, losing to Arizona State, Virginia and Kentucky. The Wolverines are 2-3 since then, losing to North Carolina, Central Michigan and Michigan State.
In the Michigan State game back on Saturday, the Wolverines were down 27-18 by halftime. Michigan got better with 35 second-half points but ended up losing 59-53. Hunter Dickinson finished with 18 points and seven rebounds to lead the team.
Over on the Iowa side, they went 7-3 over their first 10 as well. The Hawkeyes lost to TCU, Duke and Wisconsin in that stretch. Iowa has since gone 3-3 with wins over Southeast Missouri State, Indiana and Rutgers.
Matched up against Rutgers on Sunday, the Hawkeyes were up 42-30 in the first half. Iowa posted a 35-34 deficit in the second half and held on for the 76-65 win. Payton Sandfort led the team on 22 points with five rebounds.
PICK: I’m going to try Iowa in this one. We should have a pretty good matchup on our hands if both teams play well, however. The Hawkeyes are scoring quite well lately; they’ve hit 75 or more points in seven of their last eight games. A few of those matchups came against some tough teams, so I like Iowa to put up a nice total in this one as well. As for Michigan, they’ve been a mixed bag lately depending on the matchup. The Wolverines have 61 or fewer points in two of the last four, and though I think they’ll score decently here I don’t believe Michigan will cover.