WATCH: Michigan celebrates 2021 B1G regular season title on home court
Michigan clinched the Big Ten’s regular season championship with a 69-50 win over Michigan State on Thursday night.
Soon after, the Wolverines went into celebration mode:
.@JuwanHoward and No. 2 @umichbball were hype after becoming the Big Ten regular season champs 😄 pic.twitter.com/aaUh0bRGYY
— ESPN (@espn) March 5, 2021
This season has been an incredible accomplishment for Juwan Howard, who is in Year 2 as Michigan’s head coach. He’s led the Wolverines to a 19-2 record despite dealing with an extended pause due to COVID-19.
While some teams struggled coming out of a COVID-related hiatus, Michigan seemed to thrive. The Wolverines didn’t play at all between Jan. 22 and Feb. 14. But upon their return, they rattled off convincing wins vs. Wisconsin, Rutgers, Ohio State, Iowa, Indiana and now the Spartans.
“It means a lot, it really does,” Howard told reporters after the game. “It’s gratifying to go out here during what we all have dealt with during this pandemic, very challenging times. But we didn’t make excuses, we rolled up our sleeves, figured it out along the way. A lot of things didn’t go our way, but we didn’t make excuses for it. We continued to keep grinding and grinding. Some would say, and I agree, this is the toughest conference in college basketball night in, night out. We’re always going to get every team’s best, just like they’ll get our best.”
There’s no singular star on this team, but rather a trio of excellent scorers who contribute every night. Hunter Dickinson, Isaiah Livers and Franz Wagner are all averaging between 14.5 and 13 points per game this season.
Michigan still has one regular season game remaining — against those same Michigan State Spartans on Sunday.