Michigan women’s basketball roundup: Grading last week, this week’s major game

The Michigan women’s basketball team has won three straight games and notched two wins this week. We grade those wins and look ahead. 

Not long ago, the Michigan women’s basketball team hit a snag and lost consecutive games for the first time all season to Indiana and Maryland.

Every team has ups and downs. But the Michigan women’s basketball team has responded in a big way with three consecutive wins. Two of those were this week against Illinois and Michigan State.

We’ll look back at those wins and offer up a grade for this past week in Michigan women’s basketball and then look ahead to the schedule for this week.

Grading Michigan women’s basketball: Week of 1/30 – 2/5

Following a win over Minnesota last Sunday, the Michigan women’s basketball team faced a big test last Thursday against Illinois (6th in the Big Ten), a team that was recently ranked in the top 25.

However, at Crisler, the Wolverines dominated. It was never really competitive and Michigan cruised to a 74-57 win. U-M scored 27 points in the second quarter and took a 19-point lead into the half and never looked back.

Leigha Brown started off a stellar week with a 27-point effort that saw her make 7-of-7 free throws and 10-of-13 shots from the field.

On Sunday, Michigan was at Michigan State and needed to rally for the win, but Brown was spectacular again with 29 points (8-of-12 from the field). She was 12-of-13 from the free throw line making her 19-of-20 for the week. She also made 18-of-25 shots from the field (72 percent).

Maddie Nolan also knocked down five 3-pointers in her second multi-trey game of the week. That’s a good sign for the Wolverines who are now ranked 12th in the AP poll with a 19-5 record and a 9-4 mark in the Big Ten.

Grade: A

Michigan women’s basketball upcoming major game

The Wolverines are tied for fourth in the Big Ten right now with Ohio State and will have a light week with just Nebraska coming to Ann Arbor on Sunday (3 PM ET).

Michigan won in Lincoln earlier this season by double digits. The Huskers are 5-6 in the Big Ten conference and looking to improve their NCAA tournament resume.

That sets up a huge week next week as the Wolverines will travel to Indiana and host Ohio State — teams also in contention for the top four of the final Big Ten standings.