Following a seven-point loss to Northern Iowa on Wednesday night, ISU guard Chris Allen described the Cyclones’ next opponent, No. 14 Michigan, as somewhat of a “UNI 2.0.”

“It’s going to be a lot of preparation,” Allen said. “Considering I’ve played against Michigan numerous times, honestly I feel like they’re a better UNI team because they run the same style of offense.”

The ball movement and multitude of screens that dictated Northern Iowa’s offensive success Wednesday night will be similar to what the Cyclones (5-2) will see on Saturday as they travel to Ann Arbor, Mich., to take on the Wolverines (5-2).

Allen’s familiarity with the Wolverines comes from his two seasons spent at Michigan State, where the Spartans went 4-0 against their in-state rivals, including two wins in Ann Arbor. Fellow guard and Penn State transfer Chris Babb also saw the Wolverines four times, finishing with four threes and 14 points against the Wolverines the last time they met on Jan. 7, 2010.

“They’re going to run their plays and run the [shot] clock out until the last 20, 15 seconds and then they’re going to start trying to advance the ball and try to be aggressive, so it’s going to be a tough game however you want to look at it,” Allen said.

While the Cyclones haven’t been held below 60 points yet this season, two of Michigan’s five wins have come when failing to reach the 60-point mark — 59-33 against Fresno State and 59-55 against Western Illinois.

The Wolverines, who rank 37th nationally in field goal percentage while shooting 48.3 percent, have averaged only 66.7 points through their first seven games as they wear teams down with their half-court offensive sets.

“I don’t think it was nothing too complex, I just think that we didn’t talk it out like we’re capable of,” said ISU forward Royce White of the UNI offense. “When we were down in South Padre, we played great team defense, and I think tonight we just had a letdown in that area.”

Like the guard trio of Anthony James, Matt Morrison and Marc Sonnen that combined for 43 of Northern Iowa’s 69 points on Wednesday, the Wolverines boast three talented guards in their lineup.

Leading the group is sophomore Tim Hardaway Jr., the son of former NBA player Tim Hardaway, who averages a team-high 15.4 points per game. True freshman point guard Trey Burke (11 ppg) and senior guard Zach Novak (10.1 ppg) join Hardaway in averaging double figures.

Both teams will be looking to bounce back after losses as the Wolverines lost at unranked Virginia on Tuesday 70-58.

“What I talked about early with this group is how do we handle adversity and right now we don’t handle adversity well,” said Fred Hoiberg, ISU men’s basketball coach. “We didn’t handle it well against Drake, we didn’t handle it well tonight. 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.”

Tip time is set for 11:30 a.m. at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Mich.