Iowa St.-Michigan Preview

In its first true road game earlier this week, Michigan fell apart during a second-half scoring drought.

Iowa State coach Fred Hoiberg is tired of seeing his team fold when shots aren't falling.

The 14th-ranked Wolverines open a stretch of seven straight games in Michigan on Saturday when they face the Cyclones for the first time in 19 years.

Looking to build off a third-place finish at the Maui Invitational, Michigan (5-2) lost 70-58 at Virginia on Tuesday. The Wolverines were outscored 19-2 after taking a five-point lead with 13:42 left.

"It's going to happen, especially when they're shooting on their own rim," senior guard Zack Novak said after scoring a team-high 12 points. "Some of our principles they forced us to break there defensively led to a couple of their shots that they might now make."

The Wolverines won't have to worry about an opponent shooting at friendly rims for a while, as their only game outside of Ann Arbor until next month is a Dec. 10 meeting with Oakland at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Michigan, though, faces a potentially tough matchup against Iowa State (5-2), among the nation's leaders with 72 3-pointers.

The Cyclones are hitting 45.9 percent (62 for 135) from beyond the arc in their wins, but only 27.0 percent (10 for 37) when they lose. When the 3s aren't going in, like in a 69-62 loss to Northern Iowa on Wednesday when Iowa State made a season-low four in 18 attempts, Hoiberg needs to see a better reaction from his team.

"When things got tough for us, we put our head down tonight, and good basketball teams don't do that," Hoiberg said after the Cyclones were outscored 17-8 down the stretch and had a four-game winning streak snapped.

"... You have to find a way to play through the good and the bad when you're a basketball player. And we'll get it, we'll get there."

Hoiberg has been getting great production from sophomore Royce White, averaging team highs of 14.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 4.4 assists.

The job of slowing down White will likely go to forwards Evan Smotrycz, Jordan Morgan and Jon Horford. Michigan coach John Beilein is hoping for better results from his post defenders after Virginia forward Mike Scott had 18 points and 11 rebounds Tuesday.

Novak and fellow starting guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Trey Burke have been solid perimeter defenders - Michigan is holding teams to 32.1 percent from long range - but Cyclones guards Chris Allen and Chris Babb could be tough covers. The two are averaging a combined 26.6 points while hitting 42.9 percent (39 of 91) from 3-point range.

Hardaway tops the Wolverines with 15.4 points per game but was held to five Tuesday.

While Iowa State makes just its second visit to Ann Arbor - the first was a 101-78 loss Dec. 2, 1989 - Allen and Babb will get a chance to reacquaint themselves with Crisler Arena. Allen, a senior, spent his first three seasons at Michigan State before transferring, while Babb played at Penn State for two years.

Michigan and Iowa State have split eight all-time matchups. The last time these teams met, Hoiberg scored 13 points in the Cyclones' 94-72 loss in Auburn Hills on Dec. 19, 1992.