Big Ten Basketball Power Ranking Through Nov. 26
By Jeremy Karll
No. 4 – Michigan Wolverines (5-1)
A week after being ranked 25th in the AP Poll, the Michigan Wolverines suffered their first loss of the season. South Carolina upset Michigan 61-46 to give them their first loss of the year. Although, the Wolverines bounced back nicely with a 17 point win over Mt. Saint Mary’s.
Despite the Wolverines loss, they’re playing very good basketball to start the season. The Wolverines have wins over Marquette and a very good SMU team.
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In a game where SMU was favored, Michigan took a 19 point lead into halftime and won 76-54, despite losing the rebounding battle 41-13. Michigan shot an astounding 52.9 percent from the field and hit 13 threes, while holding SMU to a mere 37.3 percent shooting.
That being said, Michigan’s worst nightmare came into fruition against South Carolina. Derrick Walton Jr shot 3-of-14 from the field and a dreadful 2-of-9 from deep. As a team, Michigan shot a terrible 19.2 percent from the field and connected on just 2-of-26 threes.
Not many teams can win with those shooting numbers, and it also shows how poor of a shooting team Michigan can be.
Michigan has winnable games against Virginia Tech and Kennesaw State before taking on Texas and UCLA in back-to-back games. The Wolverines’ outside shot has been trustworthy so far, but it’s been inconsistent in the past, and that’s the scary part for this team.