Preview: Illinois at Michigan

[December 30, 2014]  Michigan looks to turns its fortunes around when it hosts Illinois in the Big Ten opener for both teams Tuesday. The Wolverines dropped four of their last five games to end a disappointing non-conference slate that included stunning setbacks to NJIT and Eastern Michigan in back-to-back outings. Michigan was ranked as high as 16th before crashing out of the Top 25 and hopes to begin the defense of its Big Ten regular-season title by beating the Fighting Illini for the eighth straight time.

Illinois concluded the non-conference portion of its schedule with three straight victories, including a 62-59 thriller over Missouri on Dec. 20. The Fighting Illini ended Big Ten play with four wins in their final five games last season and hope to build off their strong finish by downing the Wolverines for the first time since Feb. 16, 2011. "Certainly in our league no one gives you anything," coach John Groce told reporters. "We'll start finding out where we're at on Tuesday as we head into season two."

TV: 3 p.m. ET, ESPN2

ABOUT ILLINOIS (10-3): Rayvonte Rice - who leads the team in scoring (17.7) and rebounding (6.5) - poured in a game-high 21 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field in the 93-45 win over Kennesaw State on Saturday. Malcolm Hill added 16 points and matched a personal high with nine rebounds while Jaylon Tate dished out seven assists as the Fighting Illini finished with 19 helpers and six turnovers. Rice has scored 20 or more points in five outings and has finished in double figures in every game this season.

ABOUT MICHIGAN (7-5): Freshman forward Ricky Doyle scored a career-high 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting to go along with five rebounds in the 72-56 victory over Coppin State in the last game on Dec. 22. Freshman guard Austin Hatch - a survivor of two deadly plane crashes - also scored his first career collegiate point from the free-throw line. Caris LeVert (14.9), second on the team in scoring behind Zak Irvin (15.3), was limited to eight versus Coppin State and has failed to reach double figures in his last three games after scoring 10 or more in his previous seven outings.

TIP-INS

1. Michigan hasn't lost to Illinois at home in Ann Arbor since Feb. 23, 2010.

2. The Fighting Illini have scored 80 points or more in six games this season.

3. The Wolverines have won 24 of their last 27 Big Ten games at Crisler Center.

PREDICTION: Michigan 71, Illinois 70

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