THE ESSENTIALS

Right: Elon used to be the Fightin' Christians, complete with this mascot, until switching to the Phoenix in 1999. Depending upon your ability to deal with nightmare fuel, this is either fine or terrible. [Photo link]

THE US

Michigan's rotation should continue to take form, but the most important thing to watch tonight will hopefully be the return of Zak Irvin from his nagging back injury. Irvin has been practicing and is expected to suit up tonight; if he doesn't it will be an ominous sign, as there's little question Michigan wants him to get into some live game action before Friday's big step up in competition against Xavier.

THE THEM

While the Phoenix pose a significant step up in competition themselves compared to M's previous two games, they still fall into the proverbial cupcake category. Elon finished 15-18 (6-12 CAA) last year and their season-opening win over a woeful Charlotte squad moved them up from 267th to 240th on KenPom—KP gives Michigan a 96% chance at victory.

Elon is going to push the pace (29th in adjusted tempo in 2014-15) and look to get out in transition off turnovers (48th in TO%), which makes Michigan a particularly tough opponent for them. Beilein's Wolverines are notoriously turnover-averse, and that's essentially the only statistical category in which the Phoenix were even above-average last season.

Their offense should primarily run through the three starting guards. Sophomore point guard Luke Eddy has an intruiging statistical profile; he shot 61% from two and 44% from three in essentially eight games against D-I competition while coming off the bench before an ACL tear cut his freshman campaign short; in consecutive games against Mizzou and Duke he poured in 27 and 16 points. Eddy also had a great assist:turnover ratio. So, why wasn't he starting last year? The answer may lie on the other end of the court; Eddy had three or more fouls in five games, suggesting his perimeter defense has a long way to go.

The other two guards are polar opposites of each other. 6'4" sophomore Dmitri Thompson is a slasher who takes almost all his shots inside the arc. 6'4" senior Tanner Samson hit 35% of his 262 three-pointers last season and just 15/54 two-pointers.

Elon has more size up front that M's previous opponents. They even feature a power forward with 6'8", 240-pound sophomore Brian Dawkins starting alongside 6'8", 225-pound freshman Tyler Seibring. Seibring might pose some problems for Michigan's defense; he hit 4/4 twos and 1/2 threes in his debut, though his lack of a single rebound suggests he's not the most physical presence. 

THE KEYS

Get Irvin going. Assuming Irvin gets on the floor tonight, Michigan needs to integrate him into the offense while also getting the rest of the rotation figured out. It shouldn't be too hard to get Irvin going—just get him the ball on the perimeter—but seeing how his rounded-out game functions with Caris LeVert also in the lineup will be of interest; can Irvin take some of the pressure to create off of LeVert? That would be encouraging.

Defend the glass. Michigan's rebounding hasn't been particularly good so far this season and Brian Dawkins could give the centers trouble if he can stay on the court; he had six boards in eight minutes against Charlotte but four fouls greatly limited his time on the floor. Can DJ Wilson hold up against a bigger guy physically? Can Mark Donnal? And can Ricky Doyle hold onto more defensive rebound chances?

Get out and run. The Wolverines have looked to run a fair amount off misses so far—the return of Walton really helps there—and Elon coughed up 17 turnovers in their opener. If Michigan can continue to jump passing lanes, which they did quite well against Northern Michigan, they could break this game open in a hurry.

THE SECTION WHERE I PREDICT THE SAME THING KENPOM DOES

Michigan by 19.