With its Big Ten title hopes still alive, Michigan hosts Illinois on Sunday (3:45 p.m., CBS) at the Crisler Center in a battle of teams with records that don’t match their KenPom ratings.
The Wolverines are 22-6 and ranked 24th; the Illini are 18-11 and ranked 22nd. The Wolverines have won eight of their last nine games — all by two possessions or less — in a magical run where everything has gone right. For Illinois, it has been the opposite. Injuries, close losses and frustration for a young team that the numbers say is dangerous, but hasn’t won more than two games in a row since early January.
Despite divergent paths through Big Ten play, both programs have similarly trying relationships with the 3-point shot. Illinois takes the second-most 3-point attempts in the Big Ten, but is the least accurate team at 29.2%. Michigan takes the third-most long-range attempts in the Big Ten, but is the third least accurate at 32%.
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