The day before the Michigan Wolverines took the court against No. 9 Iowa, Michigan associate head coach Phil Martelli expected the Hawkeyes to push his team to its defensive limits.
For one, the third-ranked Wolverines were coming off one of their worst defensive efforts in a 92-87 win over No. 4 Ohio State. The going was only expected to get tougher on that end of the floor, as Iowa entered Thursday night’s top-10 matchup with the nation’s No. 1 adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Buoyed by the Big Ten’s best 3-point shooting clip and National Player of the Year frontrunner Luka Garza (24.