Michigan basketball on verge of Big Ten feat not done in 50 years

ANN ARBOR — Players and coaches were doused with liquid as a trophy was hoisted inside the State Farm Center’s visitors’ locker room. Michigan has made a habit of happy postgame scenes at opposing team’s arenas.

Three wins, no losses, and a 37-point margin against top-10 teams. That’s what Michigan basketball has done in three of the country’s more difficult road environments this season.

The Wolverines will try to build on that impressive résumé Thursday at Iowa (8:02 p.m. ET, Peacock) in their final true road game of the season.

Michigan has been great everywhere. The Wolverines have lost once at home (to Wisconsin) and once on a neutral floor (Duke). That’s it. They have quality nonconference wins, like their three wins in as many nights in Las Vegas.

Road games are supposed to be harder though. For the most part, they have not been for Michigan. Friday’s was the latest example, an 84-70 win at Illinois. Double-digit victories at Purdue and at Michigan State preceded that.

A win Thursday would make Michigan the first Big Ten team to win every league road game since Indiana 50 years ago. The league went from 18 to 20 Big Ten games seven years ago; if the Wolverines beat Iowa and return home to top Michigan State in the finale, they’d be the first team ever to win 19 regular-season Big Ten games.

Those stats will be presented to the players. If it serves as motivation, all the better. If not, May expects his team to be motivated when the ball is tipped.

There have been questions before each of the Wolverines’ toughest road games. The Jan. 30 game at Michigan State had been circled for a while leading up to it. Then-No. 7 Michigan State briefly led in the second half before Michigan owned the final seven minutes to win 83-71. Yaxel Lendeborg tallied 26 points and 12 rebounds.

May earned acclaim for sitting in front of the student section before the tip, soaking in the hate. Michigan State has lost just one other game Breslin Center this season and only one last year.

On Feb. 17, Michigan went to then-No. 7 Purdue and dominated all but the first five minutes in a 91-80 win. A boisterous Mackey Arena crowd left unhappy.

Friday at then-No. 10 Illinois, Michigan started strong, led by seven at half, and used a 16-2 second-half run to win 84-70. Michigan had lost nine straight to Illinois but that didn’t matter Friday. The hostile State Farm Center was silenced. Michigan’s defense, ranked second nationally at kenpom.com, has been elite most of the season, including in those road wins against some of the country’s best teams.

“Proud of our effort,” May said Monday of the defensive performance. “We fought, we competed, we played well together, we covered for each other. We looked like a team that was motivated but also still fresh mentally this late in the season, which is a good sign going forward.”

It had been 10 years since a team had pulled off the Michigan State/Purdue/Illinois road trifecta. Michigan has won all but four of its games by at least 10 points and seven by at least 40.

May said there is real love inside the Michigan locker room that has fueled the success. Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg makes much more money than his teammates but that hasn’t been an issue, May said.

“They genuinely care about each other and playing the game with each other the right way,” May said. “I think that’s the biggest reason we’ve been successful.”

That buy-in, it turns out, travels.