The 1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in intercollegiate

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

during the 1988–89 season. The head coach was

Bill Frieder William Samuel Frieder (born March 3, 1942) is a former basketball coach at Michigan (1981–1989) and Arizona State (1989–1997). Frieder's 1985–86 team was the last Michigan team to win a Big Ten Championship until the 2011–12 team. J ...

, who was dismissed before the

1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball. It began on March 16, 1989, and ended with the championsh ...

and replaced by assistant Steve Fisher. They played their home games at

Crisler Arena Crisler Center (formerly known as the University Events Building and Crisler Arena) is an indoor arena located in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the home arena for the University of Michigan's men's and women's basketball teams as well as its women's ...

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

as members of the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

. They finished the season 30–7, 12–6 in Big Ten play to finish in third place. The Wolverines received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Southeast region. They defeated Xavier and

South Alabama South Alabama is the various parts of southern Alabama. Although it is not a strictly defined geographic region, it generally includes all Alabama counties south of the Black Belt. In that view, ''South Alabama'' consists of just the two counties ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, they defeated No. 5-ranked

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

and

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

to advance to the Final Four. In the Final Four, they defeated fellow Big Ten member and No. 3-ranked

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

to advance to the National Championship game. There they defeated No. 11

Seton Hall Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesa ...

in overtime to win the school's first and, to date, only National Championship.

Previous season

The

Wolverines The wolverine (), (''Gulo gulo''; ''Gulo'' is Latin for " glutton"), also referred to as the glutton, carcajou, or quickhatch (from East Cree, ''kwiihkwahaacheew''), is the largest land-dwelling species of the family Mustelidae. It is a muscul ...

finished the 1987–88 season 26–8, 13–5 in Big Ten play to finish in second place. They received an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament as a No. 3 seed. There they defeated

Boise State Boise State University (BSU) is a public research university in Boise, Idaho. Founded in 1932 by the Episcopal Church, it became an independent junior college in 1934 and has been awarding baccalaureate and master's degrees It became a publ ...

and

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to North Carolina.

Season summary

The team was ranked all eighteen weeks of the season in the Associated Press Top Twenty Poll where it began the season at number three, ended at number ten and peaked at number two. and it also ended the season ranked tenth in the final UPI Coaches' Poll. The team repeated as the national statistical champion in team

field goal percentage Field goal percentage in basketball is the ratio of field goals made to field goals attempted. Its abbreviation is FG%. Although three-point field goal percentage is often calculated separately, three-point field goals are included in the gener ...

(56.6%, 1325 of 2341). During the season the team set numerous national and conference records.

Glen Rice Glen Anthony Rice Sr. (born May 28, 1967) is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA). As a small forward, Rice was a three-time NBA All-Star and made 1,559 three-point field goal ...

set the current Big Ten single-game

three-point field goal A three-point field goal (also 3-pointer, three, or trey) is a field goal in a basketball game made from beyond the three-point line, a designated arc surrounding the basket. A successful attempt is worth three points, in contrast to the two poi ...

s percentage record against

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

on February 25, 1989 (100% most made, 7 of 7). He also broke Mike McGee's Big Ten career points record with 2442, but that was eclipsed in 1993, although it remains the school record. The team set the following current Big Ten records: single-season points (3393), single-season field goals made (1325), single-season field goals attempted (2341), single-season

(.566), single-season field goals percentage (conference games only, .561, 606 of 1,080), and single-season assists (745). Rice and

Mark Hughes Leslie Mark Hughes (born 1 November 1963) is a Welsh football coach and former player who is the manager of Bradford City. During his playing career he usually operated as a forward or midfielder. He had two spells at Manchester United, and a ...

served as team co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

s and Rice earned team

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

. Rice was also recognized as a consensus All-American. Dave Balza was student manager. Rice's 949 points established the current school single-season record, surpassing

Cazzie Russell Cazzie Lee Russell (born June 7, 1944) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. An NBA All-Star, he was selected by the New York Knicks with the first overall pick of the 1966 NBA draft. He won an NBA championship with ...

's 1966 record of 800. He also set the current school single-season

field goals A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ball ...

record of 363, surpassing Mike McGee. He set the current single-season three-point field goal percentage record of 51.56%, surpassing Gary Grant's previous season mark of 48.53%. Additionally, he set the school record for career and single-season three-point shots made with 135 and 99, respectively, that would last for ten years and eight years, respectively. He also set the current single-game field goal percentage record of 100% (7-for-7) against

on February 25, 1989, surpassing Garde Thompson's 8-for-9 1986 performance.

Loy Vaught Loy Stephen Vaught (born February 27, 1968) is an American former professional basketball player who spent ten seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA), primarily with the Los Angeles Clippers. Vaught played at East Kentwood High Sch ...

also broke the Michigan single

record of 62.18% that he set the prior year by reaching a 66.12%, which would stand as the record until 1995. For the third year in a row, the team established a new Michigan single-season scoring record with 3393 points. For the last of five consecutive seasons, the team set the school record for single-season

on with a 56.6% (1325-for-2341) performance. This continues to be the school record. The team also set the current school single-season three-point field goal percentage record of 46.8% (196-for-419), surpassing the 1987 record, while setting a school record for three-point field goals made of 196 that would last until 1997. The team set the current school single-season free throws made record of 547, which surpassed the 1977 mark of 510.> For the third of three consecutive seasons, the team set the school single-season total assist record with a total of 745, surpassing the prior total of 694 and establishing the current record. Rice ended his career with 134 games played, which surpassed Gary Grant's 1988 school record of 129 games. Vaught would surpass this record the following year. The team earned numerous conference statistical championships. Rice won the scoring average championship for conference games only with a 24.8 average as well as the three-point shot championship with 55 in his conference games. Vaught won the field goal percentage title with a 67.7% mark. Terry Mills won the

blocked shot In basketball, a block or blocked shot occurs when a defensive player legally deflects a field goal attempt from an offensive player to prevent a score. The defender is not allowed to make contact with the offensive player's hand (unless the de ...

s championship with a 1.22 average in conference games. In addition, the team won scoring offense (87.8), scoring margin (10.3), field goal percentage (56.1%) and three-point field goals made (103). During the six-game championship tournament run, Rice set the current

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as NCAA March Madness and commonly called March Madness, is a single-elimination tournament played each spring in the United States, currently featuring 68 college basketball teams from ...

single-tournament records for points (184), field goals made (75), and three-point field goals made (27) as well as the career record for three-point field goal percentage (minimum 30 made, 56.5%, 35–62). In addition,

Rumeal Robinson Rumeal James Robinson (born November 13, 1966) is a Jamaican-American former professional basketball player. Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Robinson graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and went on to play point guard for the ...

set the current championship game assists record (11 on April 3, 1989, vs. Seton Hall in

overtime Overtime is the amount of time someone works beyond normal working hours. The term is also used for the pay received for this time. Normal hours may be determined in several ways: *by custom (what is considered healthy or reasonable by society), ...

) as well as the current final four two-game assist record of 23. The team also set the final four two-game assist record of 42, which would be broken the following year. In the 64-team

, number three seeded Michigan won the tournament by defeating the fourteen-seeded

Xavier Musketeers The Xavier Musketeers are the 16 teams representing Xavier University in intercollegiate athletics, including men's and women's basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, tennis, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field. The Musk ...

92–87, the six-seeded 91–82, the two-seeded

, who had ousted them the prior two years, 92–87, the five-seeded

102–65, the one-seeded

83–81 and three-seeded Seton Hall 80–79 in overtime. Against North Carolina, the team set the school record of 13 three-point field goals made, which would last until February 22, 1998. They became the first team in school history to win 30 games. They held the wins record until the 2018 team won 32 games making it to the Final Four. The team continues to rank second in NCAA history in single-season team

: 56.6% (1325 of 2341).

Roster

Schedule and results

, - !colspan=9 style=, Non-conference regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, Big Ten regular season , - !colspan=9 style=, NCAA tournament

Rankings

Statistics

The team posted the following statistics:

Awards and honors

, NCAA Men's MOP Award

Team players drafted into the NBA

Five players from this team were selected in the NBA draft.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:1988-89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Michigan Wolverines men's basketball seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament championship seasons NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Final Four seasons

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