Coming off a dominant West Coast roadtrip with double-digit wins over the USC Trojans and UCLA Bruins, the Michigan Wolverines climbed into the top-10 — No. 10, to be exact — of the KenPom rankings.
In addition to moving up, Michigan is making a case for the most prolific offense in the country after scoring 85+ points in seven straight games.
The Wolverines’ offense has been clicking on all cylinders in recent weeks and currently leads the NCAA in effective field goal shooting (60.2 percent) and two-point field goal shooting (63.0 percent). Dusty May’s team is above the national average in other offensive statistical categories as well, including adjusted efficiency and three-point shooting (37.8 percent).
Michigan shot a remarkable 32-of-52 from the field and 15-of-28 from three-point range in the 94-75 win over UCLA on Tuesday, as center Vlad Goldin (36 points) and point guard Tre Donaldson (20 points) both scored career-highs.
With the exception of committing 16 turnovers, it was a masterful offensive performance as the Wolverines moved to 4-0 in the Big Ten play.
KenPom’s current Big Ten ratings
- Michigan (10)
- Illinois (12)
- Michigan State (18)
- Purdue (19)
- Wisconsin (21)
- Maryland (24)
- UCLA (26)
- Oregon (27)
- Ohio State (31)
- Nebraska (35)
- Penn State (44)
- Northwestern (51)
- Iowa (52)
- Indiana (54)
- USC (77)
- Rutgers (81)
- Washington (87)
- Minnesota (112)
Just a few days before taking down UCLA on the road, Michigan secured an 85-74 win at USC. Forward Danny Wolf stuffed the stat sheet that night with 21 points, 13 rebounds, seven assists and six blocks. The Wolverines knocked down five consecutive three-pointers to open the game and later put together a 10-0 run to fend off USC’s comeback attempt in the final minutes.
The West Coast trip couldn’t have gone better, but it will be interesting to see if the Wolverines can climb even further in the KenPom ratings before the conference schedule really ramps up.
Michigan should be able to keep the momentum going against another former Pac-12 opponent and Big Ten newcomer, as the Washington Huskies come to Ann Arbor on Sunday. The Wolverines can’t take any conference opponent for granted, but Washington is currently No. 87 on KenPom, the second-worst among Big Ten programs.
