[jwplayer uefZ7nuf-XNcErKyb]
Michigan basketball continues the up-and-down look of the 2019-20 season, as it struggles to secure victories down the stretch without star forward Isaiah Livers.
The Wolverines had but one game this past week, following up the close loss on the road at Minnesota last Sunday with another close loss, again on the road, this time at Iowa on Thursday night.
The script for both was remarkably similar, despite Juwan Howard’s crew changing things up. Still, despite frequent doubling of big man Luka Garza in the post, the forward/center still managed to put up 33 points in the affair, and uncharacteristic fouls, mixed with questionable ones, in the second-half helped the Hawkeyes take down the Wolverines.
Coming into the game ranked No. 19, could Michigan basketball hold on?
Turns out, no, as with the mounting losses, the Wolverines fell out of the AP Top 25 entirely. Also, they no longer have the best win, as one-loss Gonzaga fell to No. 2 behind fellow one-loss team, Baylor, in this week’s rankings.
Up next, Michigan faces a currently unranked Penn State — a team that was just behind the Wolverines in the rankings at one point in time — at home, before hosting No. 21 Illinois, going to unranked Nebraska, then hosting No. 24 Rutgers.
With Iowa moving into the rankings at No. 19 — Michigan’s last spot — the maize and blue have two wins over ranked teams: the win over Gonzaga and a December win over the Hawkeyes.
| RANK | TEAM | PV RANK | POINTS |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baylor (15-1) | 2 | 1,591 |
| 2 | Gonzaga (20-1) | 1 | 1,588 |
| 3 | Kansas (14-3) | 6 | 1,470 |
| 4 | San Diego State (19-0) | 7 | 1,422 |
| 5 | Florida State (16-2) | 9 | 1,335 |
| 6 | Louisville (15-3) | 11 | 1,303 |
| 7 | Dayton (16-2) | 13 | 1,139 |
| 8 | Duke (15-3) | 3 | 1,065 |
| 9 | Villanova (14-3) | 14 | 1,055 |
| 10 | Seton Hall (14-4) | 18 | 1,034 |
| 11 | Michigan State (14-4) | 15 | 1,004 |
| 12 | Oregon (15-4) | 8 | 886 |
| 13 | Butler (15-3) | 5 | 867 |
| 14 | West Virginia (14-3) | 12 | 758 |
| 15 | Kentucky (13-4) | 10 | 755 |
| 16 | Auburn (15-2) | 4 | 637 |
| 17 | Maryland (14-4) | 17 | 525 |
| 18 | Texas Tech (12-5) | 23 | 399 |
| 19 | Iowa (13-5) | 398 | |
| 20 | Memphis (14-3) | 22 | 394 |
| 21 | Illinois (13-5) | 24 | 280 |
| 22 | Arizona (13-5) | 225 | |
| 23 | Colorado (14-4) | 20 | 154 |
| 24 | Rutgers (14-4) | 152 | |
| 25 | Houston (14-4) | 151 |
Others receiving votes:
Wichita State 94, LSU 83, Michigan 73, Northern Iowa 42, Ohio State 36, Stanford 28, Wisconsin 28, Penn State 24, Liberty 21, Florida 21, Arkansas 19, Virginia 13, Creighton 13, Duquesne 13, Purdue 9, East Tennessee State 6, Indiana 6, USC 4, Marquette 2, BYU 2, Harvard 1