Good luck, Big Ten. Michigan is your problem now.
Consider the latest Wolverines’ numbers, just in time for the schedule to go all conference, all the time. Imagine a runaway locomotive, barreling through the first two months of the seasons. The Big Ten may consider this litany fair warning.
Michigan is 12-0 and second in the country in field-goal percentage. Meanwhile, at the other end of the court, the Wolverines are also first in the nation in field-goal percentage defense, a 1-2 punch that so far has decked anyone in the way.
They’re also first in the nation in winning margin, third in scoring, eighth in rebound margin. Anything Michigan can’t do? Well, the Wolverines are 191st in the country in free throw shooting. That could theoretically hurt them in a close game. Assuming they ever have one again. Speaking of which…
They have won six games by at least 40 points, eight of their past nine by at least 25. The closest game they’ve played since Nov. 14 was 18 points at the end. The early-season outliers to this rampage were the one-point overtime win over Wake Forest and four-point escape at TCU, but those seem a long time ago now.
Historic pic.twitter.com/OmuVBb8yu6
— Michigan Men’s Basketball (@umichbball) December 30, 2025
In the past nine games, they have destroyed opponents in the paint 402-180 and overwhelmed them in fast-break scoring 149-42.
They are only vaguely acquainted with playing from behind. In those nine games, they trailed just under 23 of 360 minutes. They have seen only 42 lead changes the entire season, and 24 of them came in two games. The biggest deficit they have faced all year is nine points.
They have five players averaging double figures and eight scoring at least 8.2 points a game. Five of the players in the rotation are shooting at least 52.4% from the field. Yaxel Lendeborg is the only Wolverine playing more than 23 minutes a game. 63% of Michigan’s field goals have come off an assist.
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Of the six unbeaten teams remaining — the most on a New Year’s Day in 11 years by the way — Nebraska’s average scoring margin is 17.3, Miami Ohio 23, Vanderbilt 23.5, Arizona 24.1, Iowa State 27.5…and up in its own orbit is Michigan at 30.3.
The Wolverines have shot 13 more free throws than the opponents have taken. Not one player has fouled out of a game yet. Michigan’s opponents are averaging 66.5 points a game. The Wolverines are averaging 50.3 points just in the first half. Michigan scored 60 points in the first half against McNeese and had only four 3-pointers. The Wolverines’ bench scored more points than the entire La Salle team.
Might the head coach be a little shocked by all this?
“Yeah, I’d be lying if I said that we, as a group, felt like we would have this margin, just because we know how difficult that is and we have such respect for the teams we played,” Dusty May said after the last game. “We can come at you in waves.”
So a lot of opponents have noticed. To lead Gonzaga by 46 points and Auburn by 35…to go the last 47 days of 2025 without playing a game that was decided by single digits…to have 89 points as the low scoring output the past six weeks. Surely the beefy Big Ten will slow down the Wolverines. Then again, they’ve already played Rutgers and traveled to Maryland. They scored 101 points in each game and won by 41 and 18.
It has been something of a loud conference. Purdue has beaten two ranked opponents — Texas Tech and Auburn — by 30 and 28 points and just plastered a 10-2 Kent State team 101-60.
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Nebraska has the nation’s longest winning streak at 17 and went unbeaten in regular season non-conference play for the first time since 1928.
Michigan State outshot Yale 114-97 the other night, the most combined points in a regulation game in the history of the program. The last time the Spartans gave up 97 points and won was 1964.
KenPom has Purdue the No. 1 rated offense in the country and Illinois second. On the NCAA’s latest NET rankings, six of the top 14 teams and 10 of the top 42 are from the Big Ten. They’ll all have their turn with Michigan. May believes his steamroller is ready.
“All signs point towards us being a really mature group that we’re not going to take anyone lightly,” May said. “We’re not going to make certain games bigger than they need to be, and our ability to stay the course and play it at a really even keel is something that we’re going to need to have and be able to lean on, especially in the environments we’re going into. Now the target’s going to be even bigger on our backs.”
Next to take aim at that target, Southern California in Ann Arbor on Friday. January will bring the long-distance swing through Oregon and Washington, and at the end of the month a stop at Michigan State. Jan. 27 in Ann Arbor should be especially interesting if the Wolverines and Nebraska are both still unbeaten. The last midnight of 2025 will come with Michigan arguably the scariest college basketball opponent in America. Not that May is certain to see it.
“Usually, I don’t make it to New Year’s, to be honest,” he said. He’ll sleep well. Which is more than Michigan’s upcoming opponents might be able to say.
