Michigan @ Iowa preview

Michigan at Iowa

Last Meeting ( Mar 1, 2018 ) Iowa 71, Michigan 77

Fifth-ranked Michigan looks to take sole possession of first place in the Big Ten when it visits No. 25 Iowa on Friday. The Wolverines cruised past Ohio State 65-49 on Tuesday to extend their home winning streak to 20 games, which is the third-longest in program history, while pulling even with No. 8 Michigan State at the top of the conference standings, and hope to stay hot by beating the Hawkeyes for the fourth consecutive time.

Michigan continues to flex its muscles on the defensive end as it held the Buckeyes to their lowest point total in the rivalry since 1949 while limiting their third straight opponent to fewer than 58 points. Iowa has fallen to .500 in conference play after dropping back-to-back games. The Hawkeyes had won their previous five contests to vault back into the Top 25 before suffering setbacks to Michigan State (82-67) on Jan. 24 and Minnesota (92-87) on Sunday, and hope to lock in defensively after giving up 82 or more points in three of their last four games, as they hope to knock off the Wolverines for the first time since Jan.1, 2017. "This is the best league in the country with a lot of great teams so there's going to be some ups and downs," Iowa forward Tyler Cook told reporters. "We've just got to come back and be ready."

TV: 7 p.m. ET, Fox Sports 1

ABOUT MICHIGAN (20-1, 9-1 Big Ten): Jordan Poole scored a team-high 15 points and Ignas Brazdeikis tallied 14 against Ohio State to hand John Beilein his 120th Big Ten win, which matched the program record set by Johnny Orr. Isaiah Livers broke out of a shooting slump by knocking down three 3-pointers en route to 12 points while Zavier Simpson added 11 points, a career-high 12 assists and 10 rebounds to become the sixth player in program history to record a triple-double. "You can't say enough about what Zavier Simpson accomplished," Beilein told reporters. "The triple-double is incredible but just as big of a feat was to have the ball that much and have 12 assists and no turnovers."

ABOUT IOWA (16-5, 5-5): Luka Garza equaled his career high with 25 points against Minnesota to become the first Hawkeye player to finish with at least 20 points in four straight games since Aaron White in 2015. Isaiah Moss drained six 3-pointers en route to 23 points to go along with six rebounds and three assists in the loss to the Golden Gophers while Cook added 18 points to move into 30th place on Iowa's all-time scoring list with 1,156 points. Nicholas Baer produced nine points and five rebounds while freshman Joe Wieskamp, who is averaging 11.2 points and 4.9 boards this season, was limited to three points.

TIP-INS

1. Michigan is ranked second nationally in scoring defense (56.1).

2. Moss is 15-of-22 from 3-point range over his last four games.

3. Four of the last eight meetings in Iowa City have gone to overtime.

PREDICTION: Michigan 73, Iowa 69