Michigan has tripped up after Christmas the last few seasons, but this team looks different. Our game preview for the 2024 finale:
The Michigan Wolverines needed to get back in the win column after two narrow neutral-site losses and did so in a big way against Purdue Fort Wayne. Though the Wolverines were big favorites, a 31-point win over a top-150 KenPom team is not insignificant, and now they get a chance to put on an encore performance against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to close out the non-conference schedule.
Like the Mastodons, WKU is a quality mid-major team, sitting 110th in KenPom. Michigan will be expected to roll in Ann Arbor again, but this is a good chance to end 2024 on a positive and keep growing ahead of a two-game stint in Los Angeles to start the new year. The Wolverines have infamously stumbled for three years in a row immediately following Christmas, so a win Sunday would show this program is different.
Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (9-3) vs. Michigan Wolverines (9-3)
Date & Time: Sunday, Dec. 29, 8 p.m. ET
Location: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, MI
TV/Streaming: BTN
The Hilltoppers started 0-2 but have since won nine of the last 10, with their lone loss coming at Kentucky. None of those nine wins are overly impressive, with no other games featuring Power Five competition. Still, this is solid team that is coming off a Conference USA tournament championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance; Steve Lutz used that success to earn the Oklahoma State head coaching job, leaving assistant Hank Plona to take over.
The last meeting between these two teams was in the Fifth Place Game of the 2007 Great Alaska Shootout. That was a rough season for the Wolverines in John Beilein’s inaugural campaign, but it was one of WKU’s best ever with a magical run to the Sweet Sixteen. Obviously not a lot of relevance from a meeting 17 years ago, but hey, there is some history at least!
One Big Question: Has the mentality changed?
Last weekend’s win over PFW was everything Dusty May wanted to see: highly efficient offense (1.27 PPP), shutdown defense (0.83 PPP), and no relapse after getting out to a big lead. That last point is key after all of the slumps the Wolverines have endured during games this season and certainly was a possibility in a late-December buy game following some bitter defeats. The risk remains on Sunday in the dreaded contest between holidays.
WKU is not particularly strong offensively but does have one of the country’s fastest tempos. The Hilltoppers are prone to steals and do not do well in the paint (both making buckets and offensive rebounding), so as long as the defense can prevent easy looks in transition this should be another manageable opponent; any breakdowns will likely be effort and focus-based.
One Thing to Watch: Bring it
Nearly everything was working for Michigan last weekend, but I love how it was the fourth straight time with two-point shooting over 50 percent. Feasting in the paint is clearly the team’s strength, and I want to see the bigs challenge a Hilltoppers’ group that is top-50 nationally in interior defense. Much of this has to be competition driven, and it is difficult to see the visitors matching up to the Wolverines’ size, but May’s squad is still in habit-forming mode.
Big Ten play is notoriously physical, and Michigan’s identity will need to be centered around Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin. The two have blossomed into a beautifully lethal combo, and these are the types of games they can really take over. The goal in this one is simply to wrap up the non-conference slate without a major blemish, but there is no reason why this cannot be an exclamation point as the calendar turns to 2025.