Michigan basketball leaps up to No. 12 in Coaches Poll as attention turns to MSU

Posted by author February 17, 2025 Basketball

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There’s no more flying under the radar anymore. Not for Michigan basketball.

The Wolverines (20-5, 12-2 Big Ten), sitting atop the Big Ten standings after having won six consecutive league games, have again shot up in the latest polls, this time coming in at No. 12 in Monday’s USA Today Coaches Poll.

This comes on the heels of the best week of the season. It started with a nail-biting 75-73 victory over then-No. 7 Purdue at Crisler Center on Tuesday when the Wolverines out-scored the Boilermakers 21-0 in bench points, highlighted by 14 points from Roddy Gayle Jr.

That was a massive win for U-M, as it vaulted Dusty May’s team half-game ahead of Purdue at the time for the league lead − a loss would have meant a 1½ game deficit plus Purdue owning the tie breaker.

It was a big week for the former Buckeye, Gayle, who returned to Columbus over the weekend to a chorus of boos, but turned it into his fuel as he scored the game-winning layup when he broke an 80-80 tie with 1:45 to play and helped U-M take the final lead for good.

He finished with nine points and a season-high eight rebounds, but it was Area-51 who proved to be the nightmare matchup for Ohio State. Vlad Goldin had 20 points and 10 rebounds while Danny Wolf had 17 points, 11 boards and five assists as Michigan escaped with an 86-83 win.

What is Michigan basketball’s ranking?

U-M now gets a chance to rest a bit before its next critical matchup, a rivalry clash against the Big Ten’s all-time winningest coach, Tom Izzo, and Michigan State. The game is already sold out and former U-M head coach John Beilein told the Free Press on an episode of ‘Hail Yes’ a few weeks back that he too would be in attendance for the game.

On Monday, however, May reminded that his team can’t get too caught up in riding the current wave that it forgets about the task at hand − continuing to inch closer to a potential Big Ten title.

“Our focus has to be on us playing basketball,” May said at Crisler Center. “The rivalry is great for everyone else, but if we’re consumed with all the extra stuff then we’re not focused with what we need to do as far as getting back in transition defense, knowing personnel tendencies, things like that.”

Tony Garcia is the Michigan Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.