By Sam Federman
There are only two undefeated teams left in the Big Ten, and both are in the state of Michigan. The Wolverines took down UCLA, 94-75, in Westwood late Tuesday night when most of the country had already gone to sleep.
Vlad Goldin scored 36 points on 13-18 from the field, as Michigan put together a very strong final ten minutes to pull away after trailing by as much as 4 in the second half.
With the win, Michigan swept its west coast trip, defeating both USC and UCLA by double digits, moving to 4-0 in the Big Ten. It was Michigan's second Big Ten road win against a top 30 opponent, after beating Wisconsin at the Kohl Center in early December.
The Wolverines entered KenPom's top 10, at the tenth spot, after Tuesday night's win, ranking in the top 20 of both offense and defense. It's the first time Michigan has been in the top 10 of KenPom since Dec. 1, 2021, the morning before losing by 21 to North Carolina and falling to 4-3 in Juwan Howard's third year.
Sure, that's not that long, but few anticipated Michigan's ceiling scraping this point this early in the Dusty May era, and yet, here we are in January of year one.
Michigan is the top effective field goal percentage offense in the country, with the two-big duo of Goldin and Danny Wolf being able to generate easy looks in the paint, and they have a versatile mix of outside shooters complementing the two.
Sitting at 12-3, Michigan is just a few possesions away from being 15-0, as the three losses came by a combined five points. Michigan owns a 25-point win over Xavier, a 48-point win over Western Kentucky, and now, the 19-point road win at UCLA, boosting the metrics.
Michigan is the only team in KenPom's top 20 with a first year head coach. Here's a look at the KenPom rankings of the teams with a first-year head coach.
Michigan (10)
Kentucky (22)
Ohio State (31)
Louisville (37)
Arkansas (40)
Utah State (45)
BYU (47)
West Virginia (48)
Vanderbilt (53)
SMU (55)
Washington State (71)
USC (77)
Drake (86)
Washington (87)
Stanford (98)
Florida Atlantic (100)
Oklahoma State (103)
Virginia (106)*
DePaul (110)
Saint Louis (118)
Western Kentucky (123)
Charleston (124)
James Madison (142)
Cornell (146)
South Florida (147)
Wednesday's Games to Watch
High-Major
6:30 PM: UConn at Villanova, FS1
7:00 PM: Mississippi at Arkansas, ESPN2
9:00 PM: Penn State at Illinois, BTN
9:00 PM: Texas A&M at Oklahoma, SECN
Mid-Major
7:00 PM: Drake at Bradley, CBSSN
8:00 PM: St. Bonaventure at Saint Louis, Peacock
9:00 PM: South Dakota State at St. Thomas, MidCo