Michigan Rebounds In AP Poll After Two Road Wins

After picking up two wins on a trip to the Pacific Northwest, the Michigan men’s basketball team is slowly moving back up toward the top of the AP Poll Top 25 rankings.

The Wolverines sank to No. 4 in last week’s poll following a loss to Wisconsin, but this week, they were granted a one-position boost up to No. 3.

Michigan won both of its games last week by ten points. The first one came against Washington, with the final score tallying 82-72. The win was a nice bounceback following the loss to Wisconsin, especially in the first half. The Wolverines missed their first 10 3-points and shot just 36% from the field in the first 20 minutes, but they shot over 60% in the second half to collect the road win.

A similar story took shape against Oregon. A rough first-half performance against the short-handed Ducks gave Michigan a first-half deficit, but a rejuvenated second-half showing was enough to take home the 81-71 win.

The wins weren’t of the dominant variety that the Wolverines have grown accustomed to collecting, but going to the West Coast and picking up two 10-point conference wins is nothing to scoff at.

Michigan’s boost in the rankings is largely due to then-No. 2 Iowa State’s rough week. The Cyclones lost two games in a row, the first to No. 19 Kansas, and the second to unranked Cincinnati. Iowa State dropped all the way down to No. 9, giving room for the Wolverines to sidle back into the top three.

Two non-power conference teams round out the rankings, with Saint Louis debuting at No. 24 and Miami (OH) taking the No. 25 slot.

Here are the complete AP Poll rankings from Week 11:

Other teams receiving votes: Wisconsin, St. John’s, Iowa, Kentucky, Tennessee, Utah State, UCF, Miami, George Mason, Saint Mary’s, SMU, Villanova, Texas A&M, NC State.

The simplest, and best, answer will always be, “Just keep winning.” But that’s a given, and since No. 1 Arizona is undefeated, Michigan will most likely need the Wildcats to pick up a loss as well.

The biggest thing that the Wolverines can control, however, is putting together a complete 40 minutes. When they were demolishing teams on a nightly basis, their success was largely due to their constant energy and complete performances. In their games that have been closer, that hasn’t been the case.

Their last three games have followed the same pattern: an inefficient first half followed by a much-improved second half. They’ll have two chances at home against Indiana and Ohio State this week to put it all together before going into a gauntlet the following week, facing No. 7 Nebraska and No. 10 Michigan State.

Michigan already has the benefit of the doubt, but if it wants to keep climbing, it has to erase all of the doubt.