Michigan Basketball: Key takeaways from domination of Iowa

Michigan basketball did to Iowa what it has done to plenty of teams this season, which is run away in the second half in another impressive victory.

It’s becoming more and more clear that Michigan basketball is the best team in the Big Ten and possibly even the country after the Wolverines did what few teams have — stop Iowa.

And I don’t mean beat the Hawkeyes. Five other teams had done that this season prior to Thursday night’s game at the Crisler Center.

But no team dominated the Hawkeyes on the defensive end like Michigan did. It was as impressive a win as Michigan has had this season and here are our quick takeaways:

The defense was unbelievable

Iowa came into this game averaging 1.20 points per possession, which is really hard to do. And Michigan held Iowa way below that. Late in the second half, Iowa was under 0.9, which shows just how dominant this defense was.

The biggest reason was the defense on Luka Garza. Hunter Dickinson deserves major props, despite getting in foul trouble, the gameplan of having Dickinson and Davis single up against Garza worked to perfection.

Holding Garza to 6-for-19 shooting from the field was huge but limiting Iowa as a team the same number from the 3-point line, which is only 31 percent, was the key to the game.

The bottom line is Iowa just can’t match-up with Michigan and that includes at the center position where I would take Dickinson every day of the week and twice on Sundays over Garza.

Franz Wagner’s coming out party

The defense was a huge reason for this win by Michigan basketball but the other reason was Franz Wagner, who had maybe his best game as a Wolverine.

With U-M leading by just three at the half, Wagner scored eight points early in the second and helped Michigan extend its lead to double digits.

Wagner was 9 of 12 from the field, dished out four assists, and made two of three from deep. Iowa didn’t stand a chance of guarding him and his ability to take over was one of the biggest differences between the two teams.

Joe Wieskamp is a really good player, but he’s not Franz Wagner, who should get serious consideration for Big Ten Player of the Year.

Michigan needs No. 1 consideration

Gonzaga and Baylor are both really good teams and one of them might win the national title in April. The Zags beat Iowa after allowing them to score 88 points and while they have beaten a number of ranked teams, not a single victory came on the road.

They also haven’t played a ranked team during conference play because the West Coast Conference is a joke.

I don’t mean that as a slight. But compared to the Big Ten, it’s a joke. Gonzaga is beating up on nobody’s while Michigan won four consecutive games over teams that will be playing in the NCAA tournament, with two of them on the road.

Yes, the Zags are a wonder in analytics. But they have played like one team with a pulse in a month.

No team in college hoops has a better resume than Michigan and that’s why at this point, the Wolverines should be ranked No. 1.