The No. 3 Michigan men’s basketball team is now the outright Big Ten regular-season champion. After dominating No. 10 Illinois on the road, the Wolverines are officially taking home the hardware and not sharing with any other team.
Just under a year ago, though, Illinois walked into Crisler Center and bullied Michigan in a dominant 93-73 game in the midst of the Wolverines’ end-of-the-regular-season slump. Michigan didn’t play physical enough, didn’t have the right matchups, and was falling out of contention for a regular-season title.
In the offseason and through constant effort this season — exemplified Friday night in the Wolverines’ 84-70 win over the Fighting Illini — Michigan addressed the issues that plagued it against the same opponent nearly a year ago to clinch an outright Big Ten regular season title.
“This group was different,” Michigan coach Dusty May said. “We felt when we met as a group, the first time we saw the team together, we felt like this was the most talented team that our staff collectively had ever been around.”
Learning from last season, the Wolverines added what has become one of the best frontcourts in the country with graduate forward Yaxel Lendeborg, sophomore forward Morez Johnson Jr., and junior center Aday Mara. Although Danny Wolf and Vlad Goldin were an electric tandem in a 4-5 pick-and-roll, they lacked the physicality needed to take down physical opponents like Illinois with a championship on the line.
Last year, the Illini outrebounded Michigan 43-32 and collected 19 offensive rebounds to the Wolverines’ 12. Michigan, with a revitalized frontcourt, won the rebound battle 34-30. May and his staff adjusted their aim in the portal and acquired three of the best players in the country because of what went wrong last season.
“I thought the physical punch, the physical fight of the game, they brought it to us better than we brought it to them,” Illinois coach Brad Underwood said. “And usually that means the outcome that was there.”
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