Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Iowa

Michigan left Madison on Saturday with its first win at the Kohl Center since 1999; naturally, it wasn't hard to picture the Wolverines throwing out a letdown game their next time on the court.

Luckily for John Beilein and Co., that was most definitely not the case against Iowa on Wednesday night in the Crisler Center, where the Wolverines defeated No. 10 Iowa, 75-67. As usual, I recapped it over at Maize n Brew.

Michigan is perfect a third of the way through the Big Ten schedule, one of only two remaining squads without a Big Ten loss. The other? Of course, the Michigan State Spartans, Michigan's opponent this Saturday.

Like many will express throughout the rest of this week, after wins at Wisconsin and against Iowa, Michigan is basically playing with house money this Saturday. With that said, a win in the Breslin Center would push Michigan's post-McGary-injury run from "unexpectedly great" to "transcendent." Hopefully the Wolverines learned a thing or two from the thumping they took there last season.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Recapping Wisconsin

In spite of my extreme skepticism, Michigan went to Madison on Saturday and won for the first time since 1999. As usual, I threw down some thoughts over at Maize n Brew.

It has been over 48 hours since the game ended, and, quite honestly, I'm still a little shocked. Not necessarily shocked that Michigan won, even though I had thought it an unlikely outcome. I was more surprised by how brutally efficient and downright unfair Michigan was on the offensive end. Watching it unfold live, it was almost too good to be true. Michigan's drought in the second half, when the Badgers made the run, was the only indicator of Michigan's mortality in this game. For the better part of two hours, the Wolverines were unstoppable.

This team doesn't have Trey Burke, but that's okay: they've got Nik Stauskas.

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Wisconsin

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Michigan heads to the Kohl Center tomorrow, a place where they've had no success in recent years. The Wolverines will attempt to break a 12-game losing streak at the Kohl Center against the No. 3 Badgers, who are coming off of their first loss of the season, a high-scoring affair in Bloomington on Tuesday.

As such, I wrote up a little something about Michigan's struggles at the Kohl Center over at Maize n Brew.

Also, my standard Wisconsin game preview is also available for your perusal at MnB.

The game tips off at 6:00 ET and will be televised on ESPN.

Michigan hockey heads to Madison for first two-game series against Badgers since 1981

Fouad Egbaria

The No. 8 Michigan Wolverines (10-4-2) head to Madison tonight to take on the No. 14 Wisconsin Badgers (11-6-1) for the first game of a weekend double-header. This weekend marks the beginning of the Big Ten schedule for the Wolverines; if you're still holding onto any CCHA nostalgia, this weekend might be a good time to let it go.

The puck drops at 9 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

After spending time in the top 5, the Wolverines dropped down to No. 8 after losing both games at the Great Lakes Invitational against Western Michigan and Michigan State, two unranked teams. It's a long season and letdowns are bound to happen, but this weekend's series at the Kohl Center will go a long way toward restoring the good feelings Michigan had before the GLI.

On the bright side, Michigan does get Andrew Copp back; he missed the GLI while he represented the United States at the World Junior Championship in Sweden. Copp leads the Wolverines with nine goals this season.

Meanwhile, the Badgers started the season being predicted by most to finish second in the new Big Ten hockey league, ahead of Michigan but behind Minnesota. Unfortunately for Mike Eaves and Co., the season to date hasn't gone as smoothly as expected.

The Badgers kicked off the season with a pair of wins against Northern Michigan but then took a pair of brutal losses in Massachusetts on consecutive nights, losing to BC 9-2 and to BU 7-3.

They then lost three of four games at Miami and Minnesota. However, things have turned up for the Badgers since then. Since the 4-3 loss at Minnesota on Nov. 30, the Badgers have won seven of eight, facing Penn State, Colorado College, Alabama-Huntsville and Alaska-Anchorage. In that span, the Badgers did drop their first home game of the season, a 3-2 loss against Alaska-Anchorage.

Just like on the hardwood, the Badgers are a tough out on the Kohl Center ice, and Michigan will certainly have its hands full. On the injury front, Wisconsin will be without sophomore Nic Kerdiles, who is third on the squad in goals with eight (17 points). Senior F Sean Little is also out. Kerdiles' absence is an unfortunate one, as you'd always like to face a quality opponent when they're at their best.

Senior F Mark Zengerle leads the the team in points (20), but has just two goals to his name. Senior F Michael Mersch leads the squad with 11 goals; senior F Tyler Barnes is second on the team with eight goals.

According to Bucky's 5th Quarter, Joel Rumpel is likely to get the nod in net. Rumpel has started nine games (appeared in 10) and boasts a GAA of 1.93 and a save percentage of .928.

Michigan boasts a 4-1-1 record on the road this season, but this weekend's trip to Wisconsin's capital city will present their toughest test yet.
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For more, check out Bucky's 5th Quarter's excellent preview. Also check out this MGoBlue piece on the renewal of the rivalry. 

Shameless Self-Promotion Time: Nebraska

It wouldn't be a Big Ten road game without some late game drama. The Michigan Wolverines moved to 3-0 tonight in the conference, but not without some struggles. Nebraska drove around Wolverine defenders all game, from the pick and roll or 1-on-1, resulting in one of the most frustratingly poor defensive performances since Michigan's loss to Penn State last season.

But, in the end, Michigan had one more point than Nebraska when the game ended, and that's all that counts when you hit the road in this conference. In any case, my recap of tonight's excitement went up at Maize n Brew a little while ago, as usual.

Spartans survive Buckeye comeback bid, hand OSU first loss of the season

No. 3 Ohio State 68, No. 5 Michigan State 72

While the temperatures in the Midwest continue to plummet, the mercury rose when the undefeated No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes headed to East Lansing tonight. The opening salvos? A thunderous dunk by Ohio State, then answered by two straight Spartan threes. 

Although the Buckeyes came in unbeaten, they had not been tested by an especially strenuous schedule to date; a trip to the Breslin Center would change that the minute the ball went up to open the game. 

Neither squad shot particularly well early, but four Buckeye turnovers helped the Spartans jump out to an 11-5 lead about seven minutes into the game. 

The pace picked up, and the Buckeyes rode a 7-0 run to a 1-point lead. Through about 10 minutes, neither team got much going in the halfcourt game; that is, when either of them took the opportunity to pull up and and run some offense. More often than not, the half progressed at breakneck speed, resulting in stretches of sloppy play. 

However, a 7-0 Spartan run at the end of the opening frame sent OSU into the half down 28-21. The Buckeyes shot just 33.3 percent and turned it over 10 times in the first half. 

OSU's leading scorer, LaQuinton Ross, managed just three first-half points, albeit on only two field goal attempts. The Buckeyes would have to find a way to get him involved in the second half if they were going to avoid the sort of the fate they doled out to Marquette back in November. 

Wisconsin struggles in first half, pulls past Iowa in second after McCaffery ejection

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Wisconsin 75, Iowa 71

One more win would give the No. 4 Wisconsin Badgers their best start in program history (15-0); however, the visiting No. 22 Iowa Hawkeyes posed UW's toughest test yet.

The Hawkeyes, who many --myself included-- have been predicting big things for these last couple of seasons, seem to have finally hit their stride. The Hawkeyes entered tonight's game with a 12-2 (1-0) record, with an overtime loss to Villanova and a 3-point loss at the Hilton Coliseum in Ames the only black marks on their record to date.

Combine Iowa's desire to push the pace and UW's seemingly newfound ability to do so this season and you had all the makings for an up-tempo, decidedly un-B1G game.

The Hawkeyes gave UW problems early with their size, allowing them to jump out to a 9-3 lead, partially helped out by rebounding four of their first five misses of the night.

The Iowa lead ballooned to 15-4, as Iowa had no answer for Iowa on the boards or in transition. Tell me if you've heard this before, but UW's best chance at winning this one seemed to be slowing things down and winning it halfcourt possession by halfcourt possession.

The Badgers started the game 3-of-16 from the field, with Frank Kaminsky converting all three makes. Somehow, UW trailed by just seven after a frigid start from the field.

Things heated up quickly for the Badgers, who rattled off a 13-4 run to pull within two, powered mostly by two triples from Kaminsky and one from Josh Gasser. With a little dribble penetration, the Badgers started to find some open looks. Even so, the Badgers would have to tighten things up on the defensive end, starting with the defensive boards, where the Hawkeyes absolutely demolished them in the opening 20 minutes for an offensive rebounding percentage of 61 percent.

Then again, a combined start of 0-of-9 from the field from Sam Dekker and Ben Brust couldn't continue either if UW planned on walking out into the Madison chill with a victory.