New Year, same Wolverines. No. 2 Michigan Basketball won in dominant fashion against No. 24 USC, with Morez Johnson Jr. posting a new career high in points. Here are 5 takeaways from the game:
In its first game of 2026, the No. 2 Michigan Wolverines won in dismantling fashion yet again, blowing out the No. 24 USC Trojans at Crisler Center by a final score of 96-66.
With the Trojans entering this game ranked 38th on KenPom, this is the fourth-highest ranked team the Wolverines have played this season behind Gonzaga (fifth), Villanova (28th) and Auburn (34th). Behind a respectable coach in Eric Musselman, USC is led by a handful of transfers, including Chad Baker-Mazara, Ezra Ausar and former Wolverine Terrance Williams II. This game marks the first time T-Will has been back in Ann Arbor since graduating from Michigan two years ago.
It’s just getting ridiculous how good Michigan has been. Even on a night where they start 0-for-8 from three and struggle to get into a rhythm on offense early, Michigan still beat the brakes off a USC team that should finish the season in the top half of the Big Ten standings.
Each win of this fashion solidifies Michigan’s case for being the best team in the country, and they ranked No. 1 in every poll/computer model outside of the AP Poll. On a similar note — and I can’t believe I’m typing this — but looking at the schedule, there’s a real chance the Wolverines don’t lose until February. Hell, they’ve been projected to win every game on their regular season schedule on KenPom for a few weeks now.
Here are the takeaways from yet another dominant performance.
Morez Johnson Jr. continues to feast inside
Coming off a 24-point performance against McNeese where he tied his previous career high, Morez Johnson Jr. feasted in the paint yet again and scored a career-high 29 points. He slammed down an alley-oop with 1:20 left in the first half to give Michigan a 43-26 lead, and even on a night where the new head football coach got introduced to the Michigan faithful, that oop was the loudest Crisler Center got all night.
Elliot Cadeau set him up for success, too. At one point, he logged three straight assists to the big man.
Young bigs should be watching how Johnson moves without the ball — he positions himself perfectly, seals off opponents so well on post touches, and always puts himself in position to grab rebounds. He’s such a presence in the paint, which opens up threes and other open looks for Johnson’s teammates.
This guy is going to play in the NBA, especially if he can extend his range a bit.
Defense stays dominant, with Yaxel Lendeborg setting the tone
Michigan’s defense has been one of the best units in the country, and that didn’t change on Friday night. USC missed its first seven shots and didn’t score until the 13:20 mark of the first half. The defensive tone was set by Yaxel Lendeborg, who had a nice block about six game minutes into this one, swatting a Baker-Mazara layup attempt off the backboard.
As they have with opponents all season, the Wolverines just did not let USC get comfortable. With first and second options denied with length and excellent foot speed, the Trojans forced a lot of looks, shooting a few airballs in that first half.
Michigan’s offense got off to a relatively slow start (6-of-16 in first 10 game minutes), but the dominant defense still got it to a double-digit lead early. It was cut in half by the midway point of the first half, but Michigan’s solid defense made up for a so-so start on offense; that’s the luxury of being elite on one end of the floor.
No threes, no problem
All these blowouts have been impressive in their own ways, but what was impressive about this victory was that Michigan didn’t need to make threes to get out to a big lead.
Michigan missed its first eight threes and 16 of its first 18 attempts. Overall, Michigan shot just 20 percent from three, well under the season average of 38.3 percent. The great thing about a team this dominant is they are not reliant on threes to score. Michigan pounded the ball inside, scoring 46 points in the paint and capitalizing off turnovers whenever possible.
Michigan can beat you in more ways than one, and a good night from three isn’t a requirement for a win like this.
Turning defense into offense
Like many of the teams in the College Football Playoff, Michigan won this one because it was able to capitalize on turnovers. The Trojans turned the ball over 12 times in the first half, with Michigan turning those turnovers into 14 points. This was a big reason the Wolverines led at the half, 49-31.
Michigan continued to swarm defensively, with USC turning the ball over 19 times for 20 Michigan points. You can afford to have an okay night offensively when your defense is good enough to do that.
A few injury notes
Two Michigan starters went back to the locker room at various points in this game. Lendeborg was holding his back and limping a bit when he was subbed out in the first half. He left for the locker room midway through the half before returning in the second half.
Early in the second half, Nimari Burnett left for the locker room after getting hit in the face underneath the basket. He didn’t return after that and wasn’t on the bench for a large portion of the second half, but he did come back eventually.
Michigan has had good health all season long. It seemed like both these instances were relatively minor, but we’ll keep you updated on both players as we learn more.
Up Next
I hope you didn’t get used to those long layoffs between games. With the holidays wrapped and Big Ten play underway, Michigan will be playing two games a week for the rest of the season.
The Wolverines travel to Penn State to take on the Nittany Lions on Tuesday, Jan. 6 at 7 p.m. on FS1. After that, they return home to host the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday, Jan. 10 at a TBD time on CBS.
Category: General Sports
