Michigan Wolverines basketball (14-9, 5-7 Big Ten) looks to build off of Saturday's win over Michigan State by traveling to Evanston to take on the Northwestern Wildcats (6-16, 1-11 Big Ten). This will be a homecoming for U-M head coach Juwan Howard, a Chicago native. U-M will aim to notch its second true road win of the season.

Northwestern has struggled all season long, but has played several quality opponents tough, the latest being Sunday at Rutgers, where the Wildcats took the Scarlet Knights to overtime, before falling 77-73.

We caught up with Louie Vaccher of Wildcat Report to get more insight on Northwestern.

The Basics

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 12

Time: 9:00 p.m. ET

Venue: Welsh-Ryan Arena (Evanston, Ill.)

TV: Big Ten Network

Spread: Michigan -5.5

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vs. Merrimack (L, 71-61)

vs. Providence (W, 72-63)

vs. Radford (L, 67-56)

vs. Norfolk State (W, 70-59)

vs. Bradley (W, 78-51)

vs. Pittsburgh (L, 72-59)

at Boston College (W, 82-64)

at Purdue (L, 58-44)

vs. SIU-Edwardsville (W, 72-54)

vs. Michigan State (L, 77-72)

at DePaul (L, 83-78)

vs. Hartford (L, 67-66)

at Minnesota (L, 77-68)

at Indiana (L, 66-62)

vs. Nebraska (W, 62-57)

vs. Iowa (L, 75-62)

at Illinois (L, 75-71)

vs. Maryland (L, 77-66)

vs. Ohio State (L, 71-59)

at Michigan State (L, 79-50)

vs. Purdue (L, 61-58)

at Rutgers (L, 77-73 in OT)

#0 - Freshman guard Boo Buie (6-2, 180) — He averages 10.5 points, 2.5 assists and 1.8 rebounds per game, while shooting 39.1 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three.

#12 - Fifth-year senior guard Pat Spencer (6-3, 205) — He averages 10.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game. He shoots 45.5 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from three.

#10 - Sophomore forward Miller Kopp (6-7, 210) — Kopp leads Northwestern in scoring, with 13.5 points per game. He also adds 3.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game. He shoots 42 percent from the field and 41.4 percent from long range.

#31 - Freshman forward Robbie Beran (6-9, 205) — Beran averages 5.3 points and 3.2 rebounds per game, while shooting 41.8 percent from the field and 42.9 percent from three (15-for-35).

#15 - Redshirt freshman center Ryan Young (6-10, 235) — Young averages 9.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game, while shooting 55.8 percent from the field. He has made three of his 16 attempts from three.

Off The Bench

#4 - Freshman forward Jared Jones (6-10, 240) — He averages 2.5 points and 2.0 rebounds per game in 9.6 minutes, while shooting 46.2 percent from the field. He's coming off an 11-point performance in the last game at Rutgers.

#21- Fifth-year senior forward A.J. Turner (6-7, 200) — The Michigan native averages 5.0 points, 2.3 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game in 24.6 minutes. He shoots 33.6 percent from the field and 22.8 percent from three.

#22 - Sophomore forward Pete Nance (6-10, 225) — He averages 8.1 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in 27.1 minutes. Had started every game this season until Sunday's game at Rutgers, where he came off the bench.

#3 - Senior guard Zavier Simpson (6-0, 190) — Simpson averages 12.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He is second in the country in assists per game, with 8.2. He shoots 46.6 percent from the field and 35.7 percent from three.

#55 - Junior guard Eli Brooks (6-1, 185) — Brooks averages 11.0 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game. He shoots 40.3 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from three.

#21 - Freshman guard Franz Wagner (6-9, 205) — He averages 10.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Wagner shoots 40.2 percent from the field and 28.4 percent on three-pointers.

#2 - Junior forward Isaiah Livers (6-9, 235) — Livers leads U-M in scoring, with 13.1 points per game. He also adds 3.4 rebounds and 1.0 assists per contest, while shooting 50.0 percent from the field and 49.2 percent from three.

#15 - Senior center Jon Teske (7-1, 265) — Teske averages 12.9 points, 7.6 rebounds and 1.1 assists per contest. He shoots 50.7 percent from the field and 25.9 percent from three.

Off The Bench

#0 - Sophomore guard David DeJulius (6-0, 190) — He averages 7.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in 21.2 minutes. He shoots 41.0 percent from the field and 35.8 percent on three-pointers.

#23 - Sophomore forward Brandon Johns (6-8, 235) — Johns averages 6.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. He shoots 49.0 percent from the field and 37.5 percent from three.

#51 - Redshirt junior forward Austin Davis (6-10, 250) — Davis averages 4.7 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in 9.8 minutes. He shoots 70.2 percent from the field.

#11 - Sophomore forward Colin Castleton (6-11, 235) — Castleton averages 3.2 points and 2.6 rebounds per game in 8.9 minutes, while shooting 52.2 percent from the field.

#5 - Sophomore guard Adrien Nunez (6-6, 210) — Nunez averages 2.4 points per game in 8.6 minutes per contest. He is shooting 26.8 percent from long range.

Northwestern has a talented freshman point guard in Buie. He averages in double-figures scoring, and will pose a challenge to Simpson. Against MSU, U-M had Brooks guarding the opposing point guard, so he may get the call to guard Buie tonight, but either way, the freshman is worth keeping an eye on.

Kopp is another young player, a sophomore, for Northwestern that could give U-M fits. He leads the Wildcats in scoring. Wagner will likely be tasked with slowing him down. It's imperative for Wagner to get close out well on three-point attempts, something his length will help with tonight.

Kenpom has predicted Michigan to pull off a road victory, 72-67, and gives the club a 68 percent chance to beat Northwestern.

Q: How have you seen Northwestern's season play out, and what kind of team are the Wildcats?

LV: I guess the word that best describes Northwestern’s season has been painful. Fans knew that this was going to be a lean year as Chris Collins tries to start over and rebuild his team, but few suspected this kind of season.

The Wildcats have played well enough to win several Big Ten games this season, but they simply cannot close out games. Last time out, at Rutgers, they had an 18-point lead in the first half, a 16-point lead in the second and a 10-point lead with five and a half minutes left. But they blew all of those and lost in overtime. The game before, against Purdue, they blew an eight-point lead in the final three minutes to lose by three. A couple weeks ago, against Maryland, they had a 14-point lead at the half but lost by 11. If their season was a movie, it would be Groundhog Day.

Q: When Northwestern does play quality teams tough, what do they do well?