It’s now or never for Northwestern.

After an absolutely brutal loss at Assembly Hall on Saturday, the Northwestern Wildcats (20-9, 9-7 B1G) come home to take on the Michigan Wolverines (19-10, 9-7) Wednesday night at Welsh-Ryan Arena.

Michigan comes in hot, having won 5 of 6, including victories over Purdue and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, Northwestern is anything but hot, coming in 2-5 in its last seven. Both these teams have NCAA tournament aspirations, and the winner might just stamp their ticket to the Big Dance.

For Northwestern it will have to focus on slowing Moritz Wagner and Derrick Walton Jr. while also making sure Michigan’s other weapons aren’t getting good looks from deep. It’s certainly not the easiest matchup for a Wildcats team that has been reeling as of late.

Chris Collins has only ever beaten Michigan once while at Northwestern, with an overall record of 1-4, but 1-0 at Welsh Ryan Arena. That one win? The double overtime thriller in 2015 that involved multiple last second three-pointers from Tre Demps.

You’ll remember the last time these two teams played as well, last year in the second round of the Big Ten Tournament. In Alex Olah and Tre Demps’ last game, the Wildcats played a back and forth affair before tying it on a last second shot from Olah to get to OT. However, despite leading late in the extra session, Northwestern fell to Michigan 72-70.

On Wednesday, Northwestern will finally have a chance for revenge and, more importantly, to get the win that pushes them into the tournament. Make sure to check out our full preview of the game, too.

Broadcast Information

Game time: 6:00 p.m. CT

TV Channel: BTN

Online: BTN2Go

Mobile: BTN2Go app

Radio: 720 WGN, WNUR 89.3, Sirius 84, XM 84

Betting line: Northwestern -1