The Michigan Wolverines are in a strong place through the first two weeks of the 2025-26 season, going into the Players Era Festival in Las Vegas with a 4-0 record.
Michigan handled business last Wednesday, taking down Middle Tennessee
behind Yaxel Lendeborg’s 25 points. Now, it will face two strong opponents in San Diego State and Auburn over the next two nights, with a to be determined third matchup depending on the outcomes.Last winter, the Wolverines were selected to play in this tournament. Each
team will receive at least $1 million in NIL opportunities outside of the competition, and the winning team will earn even more. Not only is this great publicity for the program and another source of income for the players in the NIL era, but for head coach Dusty May, it should be great experience for a team that has its sights set high this season.
The structure of the tournament is such that the Wolverines will play two games in two nights (Monday and Tuesday), and if they win both matchups, they will play a third game on Wednesday for the championship. Even if Michigan lost, there would be a third consolation game on Thanksgiving.
Playing multiple games in a single week is uncomfortable for any team, but that experience could benefit the Wolverines in March.
“I know some coaches and programs don’t value an 18-team tournament this year against 18 really good teams, winning three games in three days, a lot of times against Sweet 16 teams,” May said Wednesday night. “(But), we want to win the Big Ten tournament again, we want to be in position to compete for it. So three games in three days gives us an opportunity to prepare like that, to take care of our bodies and prioritize the next game immediately when the buzzer sounds after Game 1 and Game 2. And then we’ve got to be able to learn on the fly where we don’t have time to practice in between when we go straight from a game film session, walk through and be able to apply things. That’s the secret sauce of an elite team. So hopefully we’ll see us doing that on the fly.”
After winning the Big Ten Tournament, along with his Final Four run at FAU a few years back, May knows what it takes to get far into the season. Tournaments can be a big marker for top programs to see where they are compared to other top-tier teams. With the aspirations Michigan has, this tournament can only be positive.
“Nothing gives me confidence that we’re gonna pick up a few quality wins other than just we have a really good team, we’re capable of playing really good basketball,” May said. “I haven’t watched San Diego State, but I’ve watched Auburn; obviously, we’re very familiar with them, they sent us home last year … the confidence that I have to go get a couple of wins is simply because we have a really good staff and really good players. That’s it right now. Now it’s time to turn the page and start studying for what we need to do.”
Michigan will tip-off Monday at 10:30 p.m. ET against San Diego State on TruTV, and then on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. ET on TNT.
