Michigan
Rutgers
Wolverines to Host Sold-Out Big Ten Opener Against Rutgers
12/4/2025 12:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Promotions
Dec. 6
• Education Day
• Wolverine Kids Club Day -- Wolverine Kids Club members can check in to receive bonus loyalty points at this game. The first 100 kids club members to check-in at the promotions table outside of Secton 136 will receive a wristband to participate in postgame free throws.
• Halftime Entertainment -- Simon Sez
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Coming off its Players Era Festival championship run in Las Vegas, the third-ranked University of Michigan men's basketball team (7-0, 0-0 Big Ten) returns home to host Rutgers (5-4; 0-1 Big Ten) on Saturday (Dec. 6) in an early-December Big Ten matchup at a sold-out Crisler Center. As part of Education Day, tipoff with the Scarlet Knights is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Big Ten Network, with Jason Horowitz and Shon Morris on the broadcast call.
Notes
• Michigan returns to Ann Arbor for just its third home game of the season, and its first sellout, as the Wolverines close out 2025 with four of their next five contests at Crisler Center.
• Michigan is 63-45 all-time in Big Ten openers and has won 10 of its last 12, including strong results at home (36-21; 63.2 percent) and on the road (27-24; 52.9 percent).
• Since the Big Ten expanded to a 20-game regular-season schedule in 2017, early-December conference games have become a fixture (first played in 2017-18, with no games in 2020 due to COVID-19), and Michigan has gone 9-4 in those matchups, including three straight wins, while posting a 4-2 record at Crisler Center and 5-2 mark on the road.
• Michigan dominated Las Vegas, winning three games in three days -- all by 30+ points -- to claim the Players Era Festival title. U-M had wins over San Diego State (94-54, +40), No. 21 Auburn (102-72, +30) and No. 12 Gonzaga (101-61, +40). Verified by multiple researchers, U-M's back-to-back 30-point wins over ranked opponents mark a first in college basketball history. Yaxel Lendeborg was named the MVP after averaging 17.3 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.0 steals.
• Michigan's dominance at both ends has fueled its 7-0 start, as the Wolverines lead the nation in defensive field-goal percentage (.344) and defensive rebounds per game (34.8), have topped 40 rebounds in every game and have scored 40+ points in 10 of 14 halves -- including five halves of 50+.
• After tying the program record with 19 threes in the season opener vs. Oakland, Michigan hit just 14 total over its next three games before rediscovering its stroke in Las Vegas — burying 38 triples during the Players Era Festival (11 vs. SDSU, 14 vs. Auburn, 13 vs. Gonzaga). Trey McKenney helped fuel the surge, doubling his season total with eight makes in Vegas and now leading U-M with 17 threes on the year.
• In Michigan's three 100-point outings, Elliot Cadeau has averaged 9.3 assists (28 total), highlighted by a career-best 14 vs. Oakland and 13 vs. Gonzaga, while he and Lendeborg remain the only Wolverines with a made three in every game (Lendeborg 13-for-33, Cadeau 10-for-27). Lendeborg has also led U-M in scoring in five straight contests, averaging 16.0 points per game in that span.
• Michigan's frontcourt triumvirate -- Lendeborg, Morez Johnson Jr. and Aday Mara -- has fueled more than 40 percent of U-M's scoring output. Together, the Big Three averages 39.3 points per game, anchoring an offense that has scored 93.7 per outing.
