March 5, 2026; Iowa City, Iowa, USA; Michigan Wolverines forward Jashel Rendeborg (23) controls the ball in the first half against the Iowa Hawkeyes at Carver-Hawkeye Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Image When No. 8 Michigan State and No. 3 Michigan meet Sunday afternoon in Ann Arbor for the regular season finale, the Big Ten title will not be at stake because the Wolverines won the trophy nine days earlier.
NCAA Tournament seeding shouldn’t be on the line, as the Wolverines (28-2, 18-1) appear to have secured the No. 1 seed and the Spartans (25-5, 15-4) have earned the No. 2 seed. Especially if the Wins Above Bubble metric is as important to the selection committee as everyone suggests. The Wolverines started the weekend first on WAB, with the Spartans ranked fifth.
So what exactly is going on?
Well, it goes without saying that Spartans and Wolverine live to crush each other. Considering Michigan downed Michigan State 83-71 in East Lansing on Jan. 30, the Spartans are eager to restore balance.
Since Tom Izzo took over at Michigan State prior to the 1995-96 season, the Spartans have compiled a 36-22 record against the Wolverines. That’s despite Michigan getting off to a 5-0 start against Sparty while Izzo rebuilds the program.
But Dusty May’s arrival in Ann Arbor created a new urgency for both sides. The Wolverines currently have the highest overall winning percentage (.933) and league play (.947) in school history.
If Michigan wins Sunday, it will complete its best record in Big Ten play since Bob Knight’s 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers went 18-0 en route to a perfect 32-0 season.
Don’t suggest to May that his team is based solely on transfers, despite four offseason acquisitions. Yaxel Lendeborg (14.3 ppg, 7.3 rpg), Morez Johnson Jr. (13.5 ppg, 7.4 rpg), Aday Mara (11.5 ppg, 2.6 bpg) and Elliot Cadeau (10.1 ppg, 5.6 apg) — his top four players are:
“That’s a misnomer,” May said after Michigan completed its Big Ten road record of 10-0 with a win at Iowa on Thursday. “If you look at the number of players who entered the portal this year, there are four. I think it’s probably lower than the (national) average.
“And considering we’re sophomores… when you take over a program, you don’t have 10 guys coming back. From the first day they came on campus, they knew how special we could be. But we also had a core of guys doing the right things. And Trey McKenney was Mr. Basketball at Michigan, where we had to beat a lot of really good teams. And then we had Will Tschetter and Nimari (Burnett) and LJ. Cason and Roddy Gayle were really, really good. It’s a combination.”
Both Michigan and Michigan State had a tough time trying to win their games heading into Sunday’s showdown. The Wolverines won Game 3 after struggling to maintain a 10-point lead in the second half at Iowa. The Spartans had a 19-point lead against Rutgers with six minutes left, but it was down to two before MSU held on for a four-point win.
Afterwards, Izzo hinted at how much the specter of Michigan’s upcoming game hangs over his Senior Night game against Rutgers. First, he declared all questions about Wolverine off-limits, but addressed this a few minutes later.
“Yeah, I’m going to enjoy tonight, you know?” Izzo said: “I’m going to enjoy it until I get upstairs (to my office) and start working on the next game that I’m not going to burn the tape and talk about.”
Sunday’s game will be the fifth meeting between Michigan State and a team ranked in the top 10 of the Associated Press Top 25. In the two previous seasons this occurred (2012-13 and 2018-19), one of the teams made it to the Final Four.
The game has another subtext. It’s a battle for Big Ten Player of the Year. Lendeborg is considered the leader considering he’s the No. 3 player in the nation according to KenPom, but Michigan State point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. (15.3 ppg, 9.1 apg) leads the nation in assists and ranks sixth.
–Field level media
