4 Takeaways From Michigan’s Win Over Illinois

The smiles and sheepish grins began spreading wider and wider around the 9:13 mark of the second half, following back-to-back eye-popping buckets from Michigan center Aday Mara, the second of which extended the Wolverines’ lead to 13 points. He followed his skyscraping alley-oop dunk with a remarkable offensive rebound-turned-twisting-reverse layup that drew a foul and produced a traditional three-point play. Mara and frontcourt partner Morez Johnson Jr. beamed with glee. Senior forward Will Tschetter unleashed a screaming fist pump. All of it in recognition of what the moment represented: the Big Ten title was secure. 

Michigan arrived at State Farm Center needing to win just one of its final three games in order to secure an outright Big Ten regular season championship. And while a highly ranked showdown against No. 10 Illinois figured to be the most difficult of those opportunities — especially since it was away from home — the Wolverines hardly seemed to care. They ballooned a seven-point halftime advantage into a lead that swelled as high as 21 in the second half, thoroughly demoralizing a crowd that was ready and waiting to play spoiler. 

Instead, the evening ended as just another impressive Michigan victory in a season chock-full of them, the 84-70 score on Friday night somehow failing to properly capture the gulf between these two teams. The Wolverines, now humming toward a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, are legitimate national championship contenders. And Illinois head coach Brad Underwood now sits with the harsh reality that his team, almost certainly, is not.  

Here are my takeaways: 

1. The Wolverines are deserving Big Ten champions

Michigan center Aday Mara celebrates with teammate Will Tschetter during the second half against Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)

Following Michigan’s loss to then-No. 3 Duke in a high-profile, non-conference matchup earlier this month — a game in which head coach Dusty May’s group was out-toughed and out-muscled in a manner that surprised the Wolverines — it was easy to question whether that showing was indicative of what might happen in the NCAA Tournament against teams from beyond the Big Ten. Were the Wolverines truly as good as their performances have been all season? Or did they rack up one blowout victory after another against a schedule that was largely devoid of elite opposition? 

The answers to those questions won’t be revealed for another few weeks as Michigan embarks on what it hopes will be a lengthy postseason run. But for now, at this particular moment and on this particular evening following yet another comprehensive win over a ranked Big Ten opponent, the only thing that matters is the Wolverines’ remarkable conference dominance that has been on display all season. 

Sure, detractors will point toward a league schedule that ranks 18th out of 18 teams in difficulty, according to KenPom, but all May and his group could control was how they performed each time the ball was tipped. And with one lopsided beatdown after another, one dismantling of a ranked opponent after the next, it’s clear this Michigan squad is the class of the Big Ten. 

The Wolverines notched victories over fellow title challengers Nebraska, Michigan State and Purdue by 26 combined points entering Friday night and then obliterated Illinois in the second half, saddling the Illini with their largest loss of the season and first non-overtime defeat since Dec. 13.

2. Michigan forward Morez Johnson Jr. shines against his old team

Johnson’s return to State Farm Center as a member of the Wolverines was among the primary talking points before and during Friday’s showdown. A former four-star prospect and Illinois native, Johnson played an important role for Underwood as a freshman during the 2024-25 campaign. He made 30 appearances for the Illini, including eight starts, while averaging 7.0 points and 6.7 rebounds in fewer than 18 minutes per game. That kind of production in such a small amount of playing time made Johnson one of the most coveted players in the transfer portal.

“Morez is an unbelievable kid,” Underwood said in a media session earlier this week. “I just love him to death. And his time here was, I hope, just as beneficial for him as he was for us. I always look at guys, while we have them, they’re part of our family. They make decisions for whatever the reasons, and you wish them well.

“I don’t begrudge anybody in today’s world. I hope I’m not that petty. But he’s a very talented player. I told their coach [Dusty May] in the summer [that] I think he’s a future pro. Somebody else will decide that, but he’s tough, he plays very hard and he’s impacted that team.”

Johnson certainly impacted the game Friday night, no matter how boisterously and ferociously the Illinois crowd seemed to boo his every move, beginning in early warmups. Eager, perhaps, to put on a show against his old team, Johnson poured in 13 points and grabbed five rebounds in the opening half, terrorizing the Illini on the offensive glass and in transition, where his end-to-end speed posed problems for the slower Illinois big men. His consecutive putbacks in the waning moments of the first half — both of which came in the open floor — helped punctuate a 10-0 Michigan advantage in fast-break points. 

When Johnson slammed home a dunk in the second half on a big-to-big feed from Mara, he bellowed and roared at the Illini faithful to show just how much this victory meant to him personally. He finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season. 

3. Boswell and Wagler backcourt pairing gives Illinois a different dimension

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Kylan Boswell #4 of the Illinois Fighting Illini shoots over Yaxel Lendeborg #23 of the Michigan Wolverines. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)

When Underwood announced on Jan. 20 that starting guard Kylan Boswell had suffered a broken hand in practice, an injury that would sideline him for nearly a month, the intrigue surrounding freshman backcourt partner Keaton Wagler reached new heights. Wagler had already tallied four 20-point games across the first few months of the season, raising the expectations for a player who arrived at Illinois as a three-star prospect and the No. 261 overall recruit, according to 247Sports. 

Within a week of Boswell’s injury, Wagler poured in 46 points and drilled nine 3-pointers in a virtuoso performance at then-No. 4 Purdue, driving the Illini to a critical victory. He quickly became the focal point of Underwood’s squad, assuming the role of primary ball handler and playmaker for an offense that leads the nation in efficiency. 

Still, there were questions — or at least some fascinations — regarding how the backcourt responsibilities would be shared when Boswell returned, which wound up happening on Feb. 15 against Indiana. Boswell quickly regained his place in Underwood’s starting lineup and immediately gave Illinois a second high-level ball handler. He scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds against the Hoosiers, then had 12 points, five rebounds and eight assists against USC, followed by 13 points, six rebounds and five assists against UCLA ahead of the matchup with Michigan. Neither rusty nor worse for wear.

And once the game began on Friday night, it was Boswell who catalyzed Illinois’ offense in the early going. He knifed into the lane for a pair of Euro-step layups. He stopped on a dime — twice — for short floaters that evaded Michigan’s cadre of towering shot blockers. His speed with the ball provided a change of pace, which seemed to catch the Wolverines by surprise, slicing inside the 3-point line and then kicking the ball back out for a triple from forward David Mirkovic. By halftime, Boswell had a team-high 11 points compared to just six for Wagler, who missed four of his first six attempts.

The second half, though, is where Wagler began asserting himself with more aggressiveness on drives to the rim and a willingness to hunt his own shot. He scored 15 of his 23 points after the break to eclipse his season average of 18.2 points per game. Wagler and Boswell combined to score 38 of Illinois’ 70 total points. 

4. Porous Illinois defense is cause for NCAA Tournament concern 

Trey McKenney #1 of the Michigan Wolverines dribbles past Andrej Stojakovic #2 of Illinois. (Photo by Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)

There is a fascinating, and potentially calamitous, dichotomy developing around Underwood’s team as postseason play approaches. On one hand, Illinois entered Friday’s game with the most efficient offense in the country, a multi-faceted machine that is averaging more points per 100 possessions (132.8) than any team in 30 years of KenPom data. On the other hand, Illinois’ defense is beginning to slip at the worst possible time: From Feb. 7 through tipoff against Michigan — a five-game stretch that included three losses before getting dispatched by the Wolverines — the Illini rank 61st nationally in defensive efficiency, and 31st across the entire season overall. 

The current downward spiral includes a trio of overtime defeats to then-No. 10 Michigan State, Wisconsin and UCLA in which Underwood’s group surrendered an average of 90.7 points per game. And unfortunately for the Illini, that trend continued in a loss to Michigan in which the Wolverines shot 52.5% from the field — including a sizzling 60% in the second half — and pounded the interior for 42 points in the paint and a plus-10 margin in that category. Though Underwood’s frontcourt pairing of Tomislav Ivisic (7-foot-1, 255 pounds) and David Mirkovic (6-foot-9, 250 pounds) had the size to contend with the Wolverines down low, it became increasingly clear as the game wore on that they lacked the requisite physicality and strength to compete.   

Now, Underwood and his staff will have to solve the following riddle in extremely short order: How to become the first team in 30 years to win a national championship while ranking worse than 22nd in defensive efficiency. 

4½. What’s next?

In defeating Illinois on Friday night, the Wolverines secured just their fourth Big Ten regular-season title in the last 40 years and second this decade. It represents the first of three championships Michigan is chasing in this remarkable second year under May, with more potential trophies to come in the Big Ten Tournament and NCAA Tournament. The program has made eight Final Four appearances all-time — with its most recent coming in 2018 under former coach John Beilein — but is still searching for the second national title in school history. 

Between now and the postseason, though, Michigan must navigate a difficult two-game finishing stretch against Iowa (away) and Michigan State (home) — two teams ranked among the top 23 in KenPom. Having already beaten the Spartans in East Lansing on Jan. 30, the Wolverines are now aiming for their first multi-game, regular-season sweep of their in-state rivals since the 2013-14 campaign. 

Illinois, meanwhile, should have no issue bouncing back from Friday’s loss in two remaining games against highly overmatched opponents. The Illini will host Oregon on Tuesday before traveling to Maryland for the regular-season finale. Those two teams have combined for just eight conference victories thus far, none of which have been against ranked foes. There’s no reason Underwood’s team can’t regain its form ahead of the Big Ten Tournament.