After a brief setback, No. 3 Michigan is eager to resume its dominant season.
The Wolverines (25-2, 15-1 Big Ten Conference) will try to bounce back from their second loss of the season when they tip off against Minnesota (13-14, 6-10) on Tuesday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Michigan is coming off a 68-63 loss against then-No. 3 Duke on Saturday in Washington, D.C. The highly touted nonconference matchup offered the Wolverines a test run against top competition as they gear up for what they hope will be a long run in the NCAA Tournament.
The end result was not ideal, Michigan coach Dusty May said, but there was no reason to overreact or to change his opinion about his team.
“It’s good because we’re going to learn a lot from it,” May said. “And we’ve got to turn our focus back to the Big Ten, where we have four games remaining and every one of them is a Big Ten championship-caliber game. And so whether we won (against Duke) or we lost, it’s going to be, what can we learn from it? Let’s turn the page.
“Obviously, we want the best seed and we want more optionality across the board, but it’s over now. So, am I glad we lost? No. Are there a lot of lessons we can learn? Absolutely.”
Minnesota also has goals for the rest of the regular season and beyond, even if the program’s trajectory is much different than that of Michigan. The Golden Gophers have won back-to-back games against Oregon and Rutgers, and they are hoping to skip the first round of the conference tournament, where the bottom four teams compete.
It might sound like an odd goal, but finishing ahead of at least four teams in the Big Ten would mark progress for Minnesota in its first season under coach Niko Medved.
“One of our first goals is we want to avoid Tuesday in the Big Ten Tournament,” Medved said. “From where we’re at, that’s a good first goal. … We knew (our win over Rutgers) was massive in that regard.
“We’ve tried to frame that there’s a lot to play for. The biggest thing this group wanted to do is … be the group that kind of changed the culture.”
Yaxel Lendeborg will look to lead the way for Michigan. He is the Wolverines’ top scorer with 14.6 points per game to go along with a team-high 7.5 rebounds per game.
Morez Johnson Jr. ranks second on Michigan with 13.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Aday Mara rounds out the top three scorers with 11.2 points and 7.0 rebounds per contest.
Minnesota’s top scorer is Cade Tyson, who is averaging 19.5 points on 48.9% shooting, including 40.9% shooting from beyond the arc. Jaylen Crocker-Johnson is next with 13.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game, and Langston Reynolds is averaging 11.1 points.
Michigan leads the all-time series 94-65, including a 57-22 record at home. The Golden Gophers won the most recent matchup 84-81 in overtime on Jan. 16, 2025.
–Field Level Media
