Michigan MBB has clear path to win outright Big Ten regular season championship

Michigan MBB has clear path to win outright Big Ten regular season championship originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Michigan Wolverines returned to their winning ways Tuesday night with a 77-67 win against the Minnesota Golden Gophers in Ann Arbor. The win wasn't a throwaway, however, as the Wolverines celebrated clinching a share of the league's regular-season title.

Coach Dusty May, however, still knows there's more to play for.

"I'm fine with them celebrating," May told reporters. "Yeah, I'm OK with them celebrating. Hopefully, it's not after hours, and we're getting the rest. We have a quick turn, but it's hard for us as a staff. We're so process-oriented. We want to feel good about the way we competed, the way we performed, the way we executed the processes of leading up to the game. And we didn't at our best tonight. And so it's a learning lesson. "

What's next is a motivated Illinois Fighting Illini team still searching for another signature win in February before the calendar shifts to March, with a slim chance of winning the league title themselves. If the Wolverines win one of their remaining regular-season games, a league title (without the share label) is theirs.

May recognizes that past series history against the Illini hasn't been kind to the Wolverines as they try to snap a nine-game skid come Friday night in Champaign. The goal, he says, is always the next game.

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"So proud of our guys that we've been able to weather the storms to go through this marathon that we're on to get to this point," May said. "But if you get to the last five miles of a marathon and collapse and you don't stay dehydrated, then it's all for naught. So we gotta keep pushing forward and keep growing and getting better."

The Fighting Illini split their West Coast roadtrip this past week, as their return to State Farm Center will end a 12-day hiatus. The Illini are 13-2 at home overall, with their only losses coming against the Wisconsin Badgers and Nebraska Cornhuskers.

The game marks the first AP top 10 matchup in Champaign since 2006, as the No.10-ranked Illini will try to keep a 2,600-day streak alive against the No. 3-ranked Wolverines.

Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. ET as the game is a hot commodity. It's one of two Illinois home games left this regular season as they host the Oregon Ducks next Tuesday night (9 p.m. ET) before concluding the regular season in College Park next Sunday against the Maryland Terrapins (3 p.m. ET).

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As for the Wolverines, they finish their road swing against the Iowa Hawkeyes (8 p.m. ET) next Thursday before finishing the regular season with a rematch in Ann Arbor against the No. 13-ranked Michigan State Spartans next Sunday (4:30 p.m. ET).

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