Can 'battle-tested' Michigan emerge again in Big Ten tournament brawl?

Ann Arbor — Spending the last two months fighting through the Big Ten hellscape might be enough for some people.

Not Michigan coach Juwan Howard.

Howard wants more and is ready to jump back into the ring as the Big Ten brawl will rage on in Indianapolis for the conference tournament.

"Man, let's go to the playground and play,” Howard said Tuesday. “We can go play anywhere, man. Somebody's backyard, it doesn't matter. Just give us a basketball. We're going to show up.”

The Wolverines have done more than just show up in the Big Ten tournament in recent years. They have thrived. They ripped off four wins in four days in 2017 and 2018 to become the third conference team to win back-to-back titles.

Last season, they once again reached the championship game and joined another exclusive group. They became the fourth Big Ten program to appear in the tournament final three years in a row throughout the event’s 22-year history.

And it didn’t matter what seed Michigan was. It took home the title as a No. 8 seed in 2017 and became the lowest-seeded team to win it all. It repeated as the No. 5 seed in 2018. It played for the championship again as the No. 3 seed last year. During the three-year run, Michigan went 10-1 with six victories coming by double digits.

But the Wolverines aren’t about to rest on their laurels. Not after limping to the finish line and placing ninth in the conference standings with a 10-10 mark.

"We want to make a run,” senior center Jon Teske said. “We know we're capable of doing that. We want to go out and prove that we're able to do that.

“We'll be battle-tested, and we'll be ready to go.”

For ninth-seeded Michigan (19-12), the journey to a fourth straight tournament title game begins at noon Thursday against No. 8 seed Rutgers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

But there’s a different feeling surrounding the Wolverines. They’re not peaking at the right time or entering the postseason on a roll like they did each of the past three seasons. They closed out the regular season in 2016-17 with six wins in their final eight games. They won seven of eight and five straight two seasons ago. And last year they won four of six and played for a share of the regular-season crown in the finale.

This time around, Michigan was left licking its wounds as it dropped three of its last four games, with two of those beatings coming on the road by at least 13 points.

“I feel like there's ups and downs, but at the same time one thing I can say is we're a connected unit who has shown glimpses of us being a great team,” senior guard Zavier Simpson said. “We can get back to it, but it's going to take a lot of hard work.”

On the flip side, Rutgers (20-11) is heading into postseason playing some of its best basketball. The Scarlet Knights thumped Maryland at home and pulled out an overtime win at Purdue that Rutgers coach Steve Pikiell described as “a real confidence booster.”

However, Pikiell knows his team is going to need to sustain that same level of play against Michigan, which swept the regular-season series.

The Wolverines prevailed in the first meeting against the Scarlet Knights, 69-63, on Feb. 1 at Madison Square Garden. Michigan followed that up by winning the Feb. 19 rematch in Piscataway, 60-52, and handing Rutgers its only home loss on the year.

In both those meetings, the Scarlet Knights missed a bunch of shots around the rim and turned in two of their worst offensive performances of the season by shooting below 35 percent each time.

Rutgers also struggled to contain Simpson, who Pikiell called a “surgeon” and wished he "had the formula" to stop. Even with their defensive game plan centered around him, Simpson picked apart the Scarlet Knights with his passing.

Adding to Rutgers' defensive challenges in the third clash will be junior forward Isaiah Livers, Michigan's top outside shooter who missed the first two matchups due to injury.

“They pose many problems for us,” Pikiell said during a Big Ten conference call on Monday. “You've got problems on the wing. You've got problems at the point guard and around the post. We have to play really well. We can't reinvent the wheel here.

“We've got to play great defense and you've got to do a lot of things right. You've got to be perfect on your coverages against these guys.”

Especially when it comes to playing Michigan on a neutral court. The Wolverines are 4-0 at neutral sites this season and 30-5 over the past four years. They also haven’t lost their opening game in the Big Ten tournament since 2006 and are 13-0 against Rutgers.

Coupled with their three straight trips to the tournament final, the Wolverines will look to add to it all as they start their postseason march against the Scarlet Knights.

“We can't go anywhere if we don't win Thursday,” Teske said. “We're focused and locked in on that. After that, anything can happen."

Big Ten tournament

Here is the schedule for the 2020 Big Ten men's basketball tournament at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. All games on BTN unless noted.

Wednesday

►No. 12 Minnesota vs. No. 13 Northwestern, 6

►No. 11 Indiana vs. No. 14 Nebraska, 8:30

Thursday

►No. 8 Rutgers vs. No. 9 Michigan, noon

►No. 5 Iowa vs. Minnesota, 2:30

►No. 7 Ohio State vs. No. 10 Purdue, 6:30

►No. 6 Penn State vs. Indiana, 9

Friday

►No. 1 Wisconsin vs. Rutgers-Michigan winner, noon

►No. 4 Illinois vs. Iowa-Minnesota winner, 2:30

►No. 2 Michigan State vs. Ohio State-Purdue winner, 6:30

►No. 3 Maryland vs. Penn State-Indiana winner, 9

Saturday

►Semifinals, 1 and 3:30 (CBS)

Sunday

►Final, 3:30 (CBS)

jhawkins@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @jamesbhawkins