With a 71-68 win at Iowa Thursday evening, the 2025-26 edition of Michigan basketball joined Indiana as the only Big Ten programs to achieve a couple historic milestones.
And a few more historic achievements remain possible.
Led by former IU basketball manager Dusty May, the Wolverines (28-2, 18-1) became the first Big Ten team other than Indiana to win 18 conference games in a league season. Under the direction of legendary coach Bob Knight, the Hoosiers hit that win mark in both 1975 and 1976, years when the conference only played 18 games.
May was a manager from 1996-2000 under Knight. He was born in Terre Haute and grew up in Solsberry, Ind., less than 20 miles from Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. You’ve probably read his story, how cutting IU basketball team physician Larry Rink’s grass led to that manager role under Knight.
He arrived at IU with modest ambitions.
“When I went to Indiana, even for the first year or two I wanted to be a high school basketball coach. That’s why I went there. I thought if I learn from Coach Knight, if I have Coach Knight on my résumé, I could maybe get one of these high school jobs in my mid-twenties in Indiana. That was my dream,” May said last year.
And now, surreal as it sounds, May is joining Knight in the record books as a Big Ten head coach.
Michigan is also the first team since the 1975-76 Hoosiers to go undefeated on the road in conference play. IU did that in both 1975 and 1976 as well. With the benefit of an extra game, Michigan is the first Big Ten team to go 10-0 on the road in league play.
With a home win Sunday against Michigan State, the Wolverines can also became the first Big Ten team other than Indiana to lose one or less games in an 18 or more game league schedule. The Hoosiers also hit that mark in 1993.
Michigan can also become the league’s first-ever 19-game winner, albeit in a 20-game conference season.
Of course Indiana made its most notable accomplishments in the NCAA Tournament, with five national titles.
Michigan appears to be the Big Ten’s best contender to end another long-standing mark. No Big Ten squad as won the NCAA Tournament since Michigan State in 2000.
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