The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1542067
JANUARY 2026 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 37 ❱ MICHIGAN BASKETBALL November, and they were actually fa- vored against Michigan. It turned out they were no match for head coach Dusty May's rapidly im- proving team, either. Few called timeout early — "a few of them," he corrected a reporter — when things started to get away, but there was nothing even one of the best coaches in the game could do to slow this maize-and-blue train. "As of November, whatever today is, we have a really good basketball team with an extremely high ceiling and a low floor," the Michigan coach said after the drubbing of the Zags. "But to win big at this level, a conference championship, a conference tournament, whatever the case, a lot has to go right. In this tourna- ment, a lot went right. We played three incredible programs. "I never would have dreamed this would have happened in a million years, but it happened. Now it goes back to, 'How are we going to respond to this?' I think we have a mature group. I think we have a group that will continue to put their teammates above themselves." They proved him right. After moving to No. 1 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 2 in the Associated Press poll following the week in Vegas that included a 94-54 win over SDSU and a 102-72 victory over the Tigers in addition to the win over the Bulldogs, Michigan won three straight and were never challenged. The 2025- 26 team raced to the sixth 10-0 start in program history, joining 2018-19 (17-0), 2012-13 (16-0), 1985-86 (16-0), 2020- 21 (11-0) and 1988-89 (11-0). A 101-60 home win over Rutgers opened Big Ten play Dec. 6. "We have a very, very good ball club, and when you have two of everything — we have experience, we have size — you know there's nothing that is going to keep us from being our best, other than ourselves," May said. "When we play against really good teams, they're going to have to beat us." The others — well, they really have no shot. Michigan shot only 27 percent from three-point range and 56 percent from the free throw line against Villa- nova the next game, numbers that might not ordinarily win games against a solid team. Time will tell how good the Wild- cats are, but the Wolverines weren't challenged — again — in an 89-61 win that wasn't as close as the score. The Wolverines led by 30 at the half, and it was game over. They expanded the lead a bit, got somewhat sloppy in the second half (to May's chagrin), and still won by 28 with the reserves on the court for about the last six minutes. Villanova's Kevin Willard was the lat- est head coach to heap praise on the suf- focating (and No. 1-ranked nationally) Michigan defense. "Defensively … everyone talks about their offense, but everything is predi- cated off their defense," Willard said about what makes U-M hard to beat. "They use length well. They switch great. They're so well connected defen- sively right now." May agreed after the victory over Rutgers. "Obviously, if we can get our defense set then we're going to be tough to score on," he said. "We're really big, we're athletic … I don't think we have a posi- tion where you could just line them up and go at the guy. And then I think we have a really good rim protection." The 10th win, meanwhile — a 101-83 victory at Maryland in the first con- ference road game — didn't come easy. The Terps shot the lights out in the first half and led by nine early in the sec- ond before U-M rallied. The Wolverines countered with great looks from three, made 63 percent, and hung tight against the Terps' barrage despite being a step slower than usual defensively. Sometimes you have to rely on your offense, and these Wolverines — though usually elite defensively, too — fought fire with fire. "Give Maryland credit, I thought the first half, they played really, really good basketball," May said. "And, obviously, their shot-making was at an elite level. It was a night where we had to coun- ter their shot-making with our shot- making to hang around until we were able to get our defense ignited, and we got contributions from a lot of guys. Obviously, Yaxel Lendeborg and Elliot Cadeau played exceptional floor games. "But the beautiful thing about these guys, they trust and believe and respect each other's unique talents. When one guy gets it going, they play through that guy because they also understand that once we cause that overreaction, then that's all we needed. So, we played through Yax, and as we played through him more and more, they gave him that much attention, and he just made the right plays." Lendeborg led Michigan in scoring through 10 games with 16.4 points, adding 7.2 rebounds per game. Forward Morez Johnson Jr. was at 12.9 and 6.6, center Aday Mara 10.4 and 8.3 for the loaded frontcourt. Roddy Gayle Jr. led guards with 10.8 points and 3.6 rebounds, freshman Trey McKenney was at 10.0 and 3.0, point guard Elliot Cadeau was scoring 9.7 points per game plus a team-leading 61 assists, while wing Nimari Burnett and L.J. Cason rounded out the top eight ❱ 2025-26 U-M Men's Basketball Schedule Date Opponent Result/Time (TV) Oct. 17 CINCINNATI (exh.) L, 100-98 Oct. 25 at St. John's (exh.) W, 96-94 (OT) Nov. 3 OAKLAND W, 121-78 Nov. 11 vs. Wake Forest* W, 85-84 (OT) Nov. 14 at TCU W, 67-63 Nov. 19 MIDDLE TENNESSEE W, 86-61 Nov. 24 vs. San Diego State^ W, 94-54 Nov. 25 vs. Auburn^ W, 102-72 Nov. 26 vs. Gonzaga^ W, 101-61 Dec. 6 RUTGERS W, 101-60 Dec. 9 VILLANOVA W, 89-61 Dec. 13 at Maryland W, 101-83 Dec. 21 LA SALLE 4 p.m. (Peacock) Dec. 29 McNEESE 7 p.m. (BIG+) Jan. 2 USC 7 p.m. (Peacock) Jan. 6 at Penn State 7 p.m. (FS1) Jan. 10 WISCONSIN 1 or 2 p.m. (CBS) Jan. 14 at Washington 10:30 p.m. (BTN) Jan. 17 at Oregon 4 p.m. (NBC) Jan. 20 INDIANA 7 p.m. (Peacock) Jan. 23 OHIO STATE 8 p.m. (FOX) Jan. 27 NEBRASKA 7 p.m. (Peacock) Jan. 30 at Michigan State 8 p.m. (FOX) Feb. 5 PENN STATE 6:30 p.m. (FS1) Feb. 8 at Ohio State 1 p.m. (CBS) Feb. 11 at Northwestern 8:30 p.m. (BTN) Feb. 14 UCLA 1 p.m. (CBS) Feb. 17 at Purdue 6:30 p.m. (Peacock) Feb. 21 vs. Duke# 6:30 p.m. (ESPN) Feb. 24 MINNESOTA 8:30 p.m. (BTN) Feb. 27 at Illinois 8 p.m. (FOX) Mar. 5 at Iowa 8 p.m. (Peacock) Mar. 8 MICHIGAN STATE 4:30 p.m. (CBS) Mar. 10-15 Big Ten Tournament$ TBA All times Eastern * Wolverine-Deacon Challenge at Detroit ^ TruTV Players Era Championship at Las Vegas # Duel in The District at Washington, D.C. $ at Chicago