Game 14: Minnesota at Michigan Recap

Twenty-five months ago, Michigan lost at home to Minnesota in a December Big Ten game. It was a result that shocked me at the time and was the worst loss of Juwan Howard’s tenure.

Up until that point, Howard had lost a total of two games to teams ranked 60th or worse on KenPom. A road defeat at Minnesota without Eli Brooks and at Michigan State a couple of days after clinching a Big Ten title at home.

Things weren’t perfect all the time, but there was never any reason to question the program’s direction. Just over two years later, Michigan lost to Minnesota at home again tonight. It was their 9th loss against sub-60 ranked opponents since that Minnesota defeat and fourth this season.

There was no shock or surprise. It felt routine and mundane.

The Wolverines fell to 6-8 on the season and 3-4 on their home floor. They have already lost two Big Ten home games despite not facing any of the six programs in the league likely to make the NCAA Tournament (and all six are still scheduled to appear at the Crisler Center).

Michigan’s defense continues to test the KenPom algorithm to see how far it could fall. The most recent update says 154th.

Only five high-major programs have played worse defensively this year: Louisville, Vanderbilt, DePaul, California, and Georgetown. All programs that just started over, or need to.

Michigan’s worst defensive team in the KenPom era was Brian Ellerbee’s final squad, which finished 232nd. There are a lot of games left to challenge that mark.

For the 12th time in 14 games, the Wolverines allowed over a point per possession. They’ve held one top-300 team under a point per possession this year.

The defense issues cut so deep for two reasons.