Preview: Illinois at Michigan

[March 09, 2017]  Illinois spent most of the last month trying to cool off John Groce's hot seat after digging itself into a huge hole, only to further reduce whatever slim chance it had of saving its coach's job by losing to the worst team in the conference. The ninth-seeded Illini attempt to pick up the pieces following a troubling defeat in their regular-season finale over the weekend when they face No. 8 seed Michigan in the second round of the Big Ten tournament in Washington, D.C. on Thursday.

After opening league play with a 3-8 mark, Illinois won five of its next six to at least put itself into the NCAA Tournament bubble discussion and entered Sunday on a four-game winning streak after a three-point victory over Michigan State. The Illini, who haven't reached the Big Dance since Groce's first season in Champaign in 2012-13, ruined most of the momentum they created in February by falling 62-59 at Rutgers, however, which claimed only its third league victory. The Wolverines overcame their own slow start in conference play but entered their regular-season finale in much different fashion after giving up a game-winning layup at the buzzer off a long inbounds pass in a loss at Northwestern on Wednesday. Michigan bounced back in a big way with a 93-57 pummeling of Nebraska on Sunday, sending the Cornhuskers to their worst home loss in program history.

TV: Noon ET, Big Ten Network

ABOUT ILLINOIS (18-13): Senior guard Malcolm Hill, who landed on the all-conference second team for the second straight season Monday and ranks third in the Big Ten in scoring (17.2 points), is one of only two players from one of the six major conferences to lead his team in total points (532), rebounds (167), assists (96) and steals (36). Maverick Morgan (10.4 points, 4.5 rebounds) ranks ninth in the Big Ten in field-goal percentage (55.2) and is averaging 15.5 points and 7.5 boards over his last two games. Over the second half of their conference schedule (nine games), the Illini allowed 62.7 points on 40.7 percent from the field (as opposed to 74.8 points on 49.2 percent from the floor over their first nine league contests).

ABOUT MICHIGAN (20-11): Senior guard Derrick Walton Jr. (team-high marks of 14.7 points and 4.5 assists) earned co-conference player of the week honors Monday, mostly on the strength of his 18-point, program-record 16-assist and season-best five-steal performance against Nebraska. Zak Irvin (12.6 points) became the 21st Wolverine to top 1,500 career points with 15 on Sunday and needs six more 3-pointers to move past Daniel Horton (233; 2003-06) into sole possession of third place on the school's all-time list. D.J. Wilson (10 points per game, 1.4 blocks) is one of six Michigan players with at least 30 3-pointers, while the 6-10 junior forward's 43 blocks are the most by a Wolverine in the last nine seasons.

TIP-INS

1. The winner will meet top-seeded Purdue in the quarterfinals on Friday.

2. With a victory Thursday, John Beilein will break Johnny Orr's school record for most coaching wins at Michigan (209).

3. All 36 of Illinois G Jalen Coleman-Lands' points over the last five games have come via the 3-pointer. For the season, 64 of his 84 made field goals have come beyond the arc.

PREDICTION: Michigan 73, Illinois 65

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