Getty The Michigan Wolverines look to remain unbeaten when they host the Western Michigan Broncos on Saturday.
The Western Michigan Broncos will visit Ann Arbor in a bid to upset the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday.
The game is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the Big Ten Network. If you don’t have cable or can’t get to a TV, you can still watch a live stream of the game (or DVR it) on your computer, phone or streaming device by signing up for one of the following cable-free, live-TV streaming services:
The Big Ten Network and the Big Ten Network “Extra Game channels” (the latter will televise extra games when there are overlapping ones on BTN at the same time) are included in FuboTV’s main package, which includes 75-plus total channels and is largely tailored towards sports fans. You can sign up for a free 7-day trial right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the FuboTV website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the FuboTV app.
If you can’t watch live, FuboTV comes with 30 hours of Cloud DVR (with the ability to upgrade to 500 hours), as well as a handy “72-Hour Lookback” feature, which will allow you to watch the game on-demand up to three days after it airs even if you forgot to record it.
In addition to their extensive Netflix-like streaming library, Hulu now also offers a bundle of 50-plus live TV channels, including the Big Ten Network. You can sign up for “Hulu with Live TV” right here, and you can then watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Hulu website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the Hulu app.
If you can’t watch live, “Hulu with Live TV” also comes with 50 hours of Cloud DVR storage (with the ability to upgrade to “Enhanced Cloud DVR,” which gives you 200 hours of DVR space and the ability to fast forward through commercials).
BTN2Go
Additionally, you can watch a live stream of the game on your computer via the Big Ten website, or on your phone, tablet or streaming device via the BTN2Go app. You’ll need to log in to a cable provider to watch this way, but if you don’t have that, you can still sign up for one of the above options and then use your FuboTV or Hulu credentials to sign in and watch on the BTN digital platforms.
Michigan vs Western Michigan Preview
Dating back to last season, the Wolverines have lost just once in their last 25 games — a 79-62 defeat at the paws of the Villanova Wildcats in last year’s national championship game.
Of those 24 wins, 23 have come by double digits. They’re 10-0 this year, ranked No. 5 in the nation.
“We knew coming into the year that we’d have a target on our backs simply because of what we did last year, but we’re just taking it day by day, we’re locked in at practice, we prepare for the game plan,” Wolverines guard Jordan Poole said after the squad’s most recent win, according to the Associated Press. “The coaches do a really good job of keeping us in the moment.”
The guard dropped 26 points — 19 in the second half — in the 89-78 victory over South Carolina.
“I just feel like I was letting the game come to me, pretty much, but also being aggressive,” Poole added. “I wasn’t being aggressive earlier on in the season, I don’t think.”
Poole is Michigan’s second leading scorer, at 13.3 points per game. He’s taking 4.9 three-pointers per game, and hitting them at a 46.9 percent clip, while hitting 56.4 percent of his shots from inside the arc (3.9 attempts per game).
Freshman forward Ignas Brazdeikis leads Michigan with 17 points per game. He does much of his damage at the free-throw line, shooting 5.9 freebies a game and hitting 81.4 percent of them. In a 17-point effort against South Carolina, the freshman went 11-of-12 from the stripe.
“He’s getting to the foul line a lot,” Michigan head coach John Beilein said, according to Maize n Brew. “That was a difference in the game — getting them in the double bonus early.”
Unlike previous Wolverines squads under Beilein, Michigan is elite on the defensive end in 2018-19, holding opponents to 55.2 points per game, the third-lowest mark in the nation out of 353 teams. Opposing teams hit just 39.2 percent of shots from inside the arc against the Wolverines, fourth-best in the country.
“One of the things that makes it difficult to prepare for them is that the best game plan going in involves different things in different situations,” Broncos head coach Steve Hawkins said, according to STATS LLC. “You can go under ball screens on certain guys and go over ball screens on other guys. There are some situations you would like to switch in, and other situations you don’t want to switch at all.
“For a team like ours that’s very young in nature, to try and decipher through all that information while the game is going on against a team that executes as well as Michigan does, it’s very difficult.”