The Michigan Wolverines’ men’s basketball program suffered five losses last year: Minnesota, Illinois, Michigan State, Ohio State, and UCLA in the Elite Eight.
The Minnesota and Michigan State losses can be chalked up to chaotic COVID-forced scheduling. Michigan had beaten Minnesota 10 days earlier 82-57 and this difficult stretch of the schedule (four ranked opponents in a row) unsurprisingly yielded one defeat.
Michigan State and Michigan played twice in three days: the first game the Wolverines won and secured (at least to everyone outside of the state of Illinois) the Big Ten regular season championship.