Michigan Basketball: Wolverines Big Ten lead expands with Iowa loss

This is a really weird year and for Michigan basketball, it got even weirder with this two-week pause. The Wolverines haven’t played in over a week and still won’t until Feb. 11.

However, that didn’t stop their lead in the Big Ten standings from growing, at least in the loss column Friday night as the Iowa Hawkeyes were defeated on the road by Illinois.

That means that Illinois and Wisconsin, two teams sitting at 7-3 overall in the Big Ten right now are tied for second and 1.5 games behind Michigan basketball.

On another positive note, the Wolverines own a victory over Wisconsin, so the Badgers would need to beat Michigan later this season just to even up that tiebreaker.

Interestingly enough, the Badgers and Fighting Illini will each get their chance soon enough to chip away at the Wolverines’ lead, as the first two opponents U-M will face at its two-week layoff, will be Illinois and then Wisconsin.

The Wolverines will get Illinois at home in the only scheduled game between the two teams in the regular season. So whoever wins that matchup, will own the tiebreaker and if Michigan could win that game, it could give it some real separation in the league standings.

If, somehow, the Wolverines were able to win at Wisconsin too, which is going to be a Valentine’s Day showdown, it would be tough for either team to overcome U-M.

Rust could be a factor for Michigan

The problem is that Michigan is going to have to overcome some serious rust. Not only can the Wolverines not play any games right now, they can’t even practice. They aren’t even allowed in the gym.

I’m sure guys are finding ways to get some shots up, but there was also a recommendation for Michigan students to stay in their homes, so it’s possible they will have done very little in a basketball sense for two weeks.

Hopefully, these guys are able to shake off those affects and at least there are a few days of practice between Feb. 7, when the pause is supposed to end and Feb. 11, which is when Illinois is set to come to town for a massive game.

Leading up to that, Illinois will play Indiana and Wisconsin next weekend, while the Badgers play Penn State today before waiting a week to host the Illini.

Iowa also plays Michigan State and Ohio State, another contender at 7-4, next week, as well as Indiana before the Wolverines will be back in action.

We still don’t know if this is going to be determined by overall record, which will probably only be the case if most teams are able to play 20 games, something the Big Ten is working on, or winning percentage.

Either way, the loss by Iowa helped and if teams could beat each other up a bit for the next week and a half, Michigan may have a little more cushion in that first place spot.

And seeing as the team could take some time to get humming again, that cushion could prove to be valuable in the race for a Big Ten championship.