After a gut-wrenching loss by Michigan basketball to #13 Maryland in Crisler to conclude the last home game of the season, the Wolverines will have to turn the page and pay attention to the Michigan State at Iowa game. The game tips at 8:00 PM ET on FS1.
Now Why is this game important for Michigan basketball?
After the loss to Maryland, the Wolverines are two games behind the Spartans (in the loss column) for first place in the conference. With just two games to go, the Wolverines need the Spartans to lose to Iowa, and then Michigan needs to beat MSU in the Breslin Center on Sunday.
If the Hawkeyes can pull off a win at home, it would set up a monumental show down between the two in-state rivals as the Wolverines will look to get revenge and grab a share of the Big Ten Title in Year 1 of the Dusty May era.
The Hawkeyes have lost 4 of their last 5 games, so the momentum is not in their favor. However, on the positive side, they are 14-6 as the home team this year. Iowa also needs to win its last two games to make the Big Ten tournament, so there is plenty on the line for the Hawkeyes, too.
Even if the game on Sunday doesn't have any implications on the Big Ten title race, it means everything in the state of Michigan and in the College Basketball world.
The Wolverines also have locked up a top-four seed and a bye into the quarterfinals of the Big Ten tournament and will get a high seed in March Madness due to their whole body of work, so they have themselves set up pretty well in March.