The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542067
36 THE WOLVERINE ❱ JANUARY 2026 BY CHRIS BALAS F or much of November, Michigan's men's basketball team looked like a squad with great potential that might take a while to find its groove. A couple tight wins over solid Wake Forest and TCU teams had some questioning if this team would really be as good as some predicted. And then — the Wolverines flipped a switch. An incredible three-game run just before Thanksgiving produced wins over San Diego State, Auburn and Gon- zaga in Las Vegas to capture the title at the Players Era Festival championship. A 101-61 win over Gonzaga was so con- vincing it left veteran coach Mark Few struggling to find the right words. Michigan had beaten San Diego State by 40 and Auburn by 30 in much the same way, using stifling defense and selfless offense to run them both out of the gym. But that wasn't supposed to happen to the Bulldogs. That team had played some outstanding basketball in ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL Wolverines Rise Up The Rankings To No. 2 After An Incredible Run Graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg is pacing the high-flying Wolverines (94.7 points per game and a 27-point average point differential through 10 games) with a team-high 16.4 points and 7.2 rebounds per contest. PHOTO BY LON HORWEDEL ASSOCIATED PRESS TOP 25 (As of Dec. 15, 2025) Rk. Team (1st-place votes) Record 1. Arizona (42) 9-0 2. Michigan (15) 10-0 3. Duke (3) 10-0 4. Iowa State (1) 11-0 5. UConn 10-1 6. Purdue 10-1 7. Gonzaga 10-1 8. Houston 10-1 9. Michigan State 9-1 10. BYU 9-1 11. Louisville 9-1 12. North Carolina 9-1 13. Vanderbilt 10-0 14. Arkansas 8-2 15. Nebraska 11-0 16. Alabama 7-3 17. Kansas 8-3 18. Illinois 8-3 19. Texas Tech 7-3 20. Tennessee 7-3 21. Auburn 8-3 22. St. John's 6-3 23. Florida 6-4 Virginia 9-1 25. Georgia 9-1