It’s almost a home game for Stu Douglass and Zack Novak.

The two Indiana natives on the Michigan basketball team are both juniors, and they know what to expect Saturday with their latest trip to Bloomington, Ind.

Both guards know they’ll have friends in the stands. And it goes beyond family and friends. One of Douglass’ closest friends is Daniel Moore, a reserve from Carmel, Ind., on the Indiana basketball team.

Then there’s Novak.

“I know just about everybody on their team,” Novak said. “I’ve got a couple of really good friends on their team.”

Novak played AAU with Matt Roth and some of the other Hoosiers. He went to the Michigan-Indiana football game in October in Bloomington and hung out with them.

Yet once the game starts, none of that will matter. Before and after, they’ll be friends.

Other than that, Novak just wants to help Michigan (11-6, 1-3 Big Ten) win the game against Indiana (9-8, 0-4) on Saturday (8 p.m., Big Ten Network).

“It is just fun to go back and play in front of your old friends,” Novak said. “Probably see some people I haven’t seen since high school.”

Douglass in a slump

One of the more interesting things during Michigan’s difficult stretch in the Big Ten season has been how teams have limited Douglass’ offense.

The Carmel, Ind., native was shooting well for the majority of the season before the past three games, when he’s gone 0-of-10 from the 3-point line.

It was extremely evident against Ohio State, when Douglass took just two shots and missed his only 3-pointer.

“He hasn’t been getting many looks,” Michigan coach John Beilein said. “People are really taking away his look, and I think he rushed a couple when he’s had a look. He has an absolute green light to shoot it when he feels it, and I expect him to do it against Indiana.

“But he hasn’t had many good looks.”

For the season, Douglass is still Michigan’s second-best 3-point shooter statistically, having made 38.6 percent.

Freshman forward Evan Smotrycz is the team’s leading shooter at 41 percent.

This and that Michigan went to Bloomington on Friday in order to practice at Assembly Hall, which is a rarity for Beilein. A gymnastics meet at Crisler Arena prevented Michigan’s normal practice time. … Besides Douglass, the only player on Michigan to have carte blanche when it comes to shooting 3-pointers is Novak.

Michael Rothstein covers University of Michigan basketball for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at (734) 623-2558, by e-mail at michaelrothstein@annarbor.com or follow along on Twitter @mikerothstein