Michigan basketball is in control of its own destiny with less than a month remaining in the regular season.
The Wolverines (18-5, 10-2 Big Ten), winners of four straight, are now 5-1 in their past six league games and find themselves in a tie for second place in the Big Ten. The team they’re tied with? Naturally, in-state rival Michigan State, which is also ranked inside the top 20 and 10-2 in the conference. The teams still have both head-to-head matchups remaining; in Ann Arbor on Feb. 21, then in East Lansing for MSU’s senior day on March 9.
In the meantime, U-M has a pair of games this week, both of which have a level of animus to them. First, top-10 and league-leading Purdue comes to town on Tuesday (7 p.m., Peacock) as the Wolverines look to avenge their only loss of the year which has come by more than four points: a 27-point hammering in West Lafayette a few weeks back.
Then, Michigan travels to Columbus to take on rival Ohio State next Sunday (1 p.m., CBS) in a game where Roddy Gayle will return to his old stomping grounds and certainly won’t be expecting a particularly warm reception.
Each Monday, the Free Press will take a look at the Wolverines’ previous week and assess how their résumé has changed and stacks up to the competition.
All stats and rankings as of Monday.
MORE PROOF: Michigan basketball can beat just about anyone behind their ‘big three’
Michigan basketball NET rankings: No. 18 (Last week: No. 20)
Quad 1 record: 5-3.
Quad 2 record: 5-2.
Quad 3 record: 7-0.
Quad 4 record: 1-0.
Michigan basketball KenPom rankings: No. 20 (Last week: No. 20)
Offensive efficiency: No. 23.
Defensive efficiency: No. 21.
Michigan basketball Bracketology projections
ESPN (Joe Lunardi): 6-seed in South Region vs. Vanderbilt/San Diego State: Cleveland (as of Feb. 7)
CBS (Jerry Palm): 5-seed in East Region vs. TBD: Providence (as of Feb. 7, before win at Indiana).
Fox (Mike DeCourcy): 6-seed in South vs. Texas/SMU (as of Feb. 7, before win at Indiana).
Bracket Matrix: 5-seed as of Feb. 9.
Michigan basketball schedule this week
Tuesday: vs. Purdue, 7:00 p.m., Peacock.
Sunday: at Ohio State, 1 p.m., CBS.
Michigan basketball scores last week
Feb. 5: 80-76 win vs. Oregon: Michigan led Oregon by as much as 14, 64-50, with 12:21 to play after Will Tschetter made a layup. Instead of walking to victory, U-M had to hold on tight, as the Ducks twice got within two points in the final minute and even had a possession with a chance to take the lead late before a turnover gave the Wolverines enough breathing room to survive. While five Michigan players finished in double figures, it was Tschetter off the bench who provided a game-high 17 points, while Danny Wolf had 15 points and 12 boards, Vlad Goldin also scored 15, Nimari Burnett added 13 and Tre Donaldson scored 12 with a game-high five assists.
Feb. 8: 70-67 win at Indiana: Stop us if you’ve heard this before, but Michigan had a huge lead then nearly blew the whole thing. The Wolverines led by as much as 18 in the first half and were up 17, 49-32, early in the second half when it collapsed. IU went on a 20-4 run to pull within one point, then after Michigan put together a 6-0 spurt, Indiana responded with a 7-0 run to knot the game at 59. In the end, U-M’s big three was too much. Wolf scored the final seven of the game for U-M, he finished with 20 points, nine rebounds and five rebounds while Goldin and Donaldson each chipped in 18. The trio scored 25 of U-M’s 27 points after half to hold off the Hoosiers.
How are NCAA tournament at-large teams picked?
Record: The team’s overall record, conference record and nonconference record.
Strength of schedule: The strength of the opponents the team played against.
Head-to-head results: The results of games between the teams being compared.
Conference championships: Whether a conference championship was won in the regular season or tournament.
Common opponents: The results of games against common opponents.
Adjusted Net Efficiency (NET): The NCAA’s preferred metric measuring a team’s overall performance during the regular season.
Team Value Index: A results-oriented component of the NET that ranks teams based on who they beat and where they played.
Rating Percentage Index (RPI): A formula that ranks teams using a team’s winning percentage, opponents’ success and opponents’ strength of schedule.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Where Michigan basketball stands in bracketology for March Madness
