1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team

The 1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team represented the University of Michigan in intercollegiate college basketball during the 1988–89 season. The head coach was Bill Frieder, who was dismissed before the 1989 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament and replaced by assistant Steve Fisher.[1] They played their home games at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan as members of the Big Ten Conference. They finished the season 30–7, 12–6 in Big Ten play to finish in third place.[2] 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 to advance to the Sweet Sixteen. In the Sweet Sixteen, they defeated No. 5-ranked North Carolina and Virginia to advance to the Final Four. In the Final Four, they defeated fellow Big Ten member and No. 3-ranked Illinois to advance to the National Championship game. There they defeated No. 11 Seton Hall in overtime to win the school's first and, to date, only National Championship.[3]

1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball
NCAA Tournament National Champions Maui Classic champions
Conference	Big Ten Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 10
AP	No. 10
1988–89 record	30–7 (12–6 Big Ten)
Head coach	Bill Frieder / Steve Fisher
Assistant coaches	Mike Boyd Steve Fisher Brian Dutcher
MVP	Glen Rice
Captains	Glen Rice Mark Hughes
Home arena	Crisler Arena

1988–89 Big Ten Conference men's basketball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 8 Indiana	15	–	3		.833			27	–	8		.771
No. 3 Illinois	14	–	4		.778			31	–	5		.861
No. 10 Michigan	12	–	6		.667			30	–	7		.811
No. 14 Iowa	10	–	8		.556			23	–	10		.697
Minnesota	9	–	9		.500			19	–	12		.613
Wisconsin	8	–	10		.444			18	–	12		.600
Purdue	8	–	10		.444			15	–	16		.484
Ohio State	6	–	12		.333			19	–	15		.559
Michigan State	6	–	12		.333			18	–	15		.545
Northwestern	2	–	16		.111			9	–	19		.321
Rankings from AP Poll

Previous season

The Wolverines 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 and Florida 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.[4] and it also ended the season ranked tenth in the final UPI Coaches' Poll.[5]

The team repeated as the national statistical champion in team field goal percentage (56.6%, 1325 of 2341).[6] During the season the team set numerous national and conference records. Glen Rice set the current Big Ten single-game three-point field goals percentage record against Wisconsin on February 25, 1989 (100% most made, 7 of 7).[7] He also broke Mike McGee's Big Ten career points record with 2442, but that was eclipsed in 1993,[7] although it remains the school record.[8] 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 field goal percentage (.566), single-season field goals percentage (conference games only, .561, 606 of 1,080), and single-season assists (745).[9][10][11] Rice and Mark Hughes served as team co-captains and Rice earned team MVP.[12] Rice was also recognized as a consensus All-American.[13] Dave Balza was student manager.[14]

Rice's 949 points established the current school single-season record, surpassing Cazzie Russell's 1966 record of 800.[8] He also set the current school single-season field goals record of 363, surpassing Mike McGee.[15] 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.[16] He also set the current single-game field goal percentage record of 100% (7-for-7) against Wisconsin on February 25, 1989, surpassing Garde Thompson's 8-for-9 1986 performance.[16] Loy Vaught also broke the Michigan single field goal percentage record of 62.18% that he set the prior year by reaching a 66.12%, which would stand as the record until 1995.[15] For the third year in a row, the team established a new Michigan single-season scoring record with 3393 points.[8] For the last of five consecutive seasons, the team set the school record for single-season field goal percentage on with a 56.6% (1325-for-2341) performance. This continues to be the school record.[15] 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.[16] The team set the current school single-season free throws made record of 547, which surpassed the 1977 mark of 510.[17]> 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.[18] 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.[19]

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.[20][21] Vaught won the field goal percentage title with a 67.7% mark.[20] Terry Mills won the blocked shots championship with a 1.22 average in conference games.[22] In addition, the team won scoring offense (87.8),[23] scoring margin (10.3),[23] field goal percentage (56.1%)[24] and three-point field goals made (103).[24]

During the six-game championship tournament run, Rice set the current NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament 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).[25] In addition, Rumeal Robinson set the current championship game assists record (11 on April 3, 1989, vs. Seton Hall in overtime)[26] as well as the current final four two-game assist record of 23.[27] The team also set the final four two-game assist record of 42, which would be broken the following year.[27]

In the 64-team NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament, number three seeded Michigan won the tournament by defeating the fourteen-seeded Xavier Musketeers 92–87, the six-seeded South Alabama 91–82, the two-seeded North Carolina, who had ousted them the prior two years, 92–87, the five-seeded Virginia 102–65,[28] the one-seeded Illinois 83–81[29] and three-seeded Seton Hall 80–79 in overtime.[3] Against North Carolina, the team set the school record of 13 three-point field goals made, which would last until February 22, 1998.[16]

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 field goal percentage: 56.6% (1325 of 2341).[30]

Roster

1988–89 Michigan Wolverines men's basketball team
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Previous school Hometown G 13 Demetrius Calip 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 165 lb (75 kg) So Flint Northern Flint, MI G 21 Rumeal Robinson 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 195 lb (88 kg) Jr Cambridge Rindge and Latin Cambridge, MA F 24 Sean Higgins 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 195 lb (88 kg) So Fairfax Los Angeles, CA G 25 Rob Pelinka 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 200 lb (91 kg) Fr Lake Forest Lake Bluff, IL F 35 Loy Vaught 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 225 lb (102 kg) RS Jr East Kentwood Grand Rapids, MI F 41 Glen Rice 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m) 215 lb (98 kg) Sr Flint Northwestern Flint, MI F 52 Terry Mills 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Jr Romulus Romulus, MI C 55 Mark Hughes 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 235 lb (107 kg) Sr Muskegon Reeths-Puffer Muskegon, MI	Head coach Steve Fisher Assistant coach(es) Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible (W) Walk-on Injured Current redshirt

Schedule and results

Date time, TV	Rank^#	Opponent^#	Result	Record	Site city, state
Non-conference regular season
November 25*	No. 3	vs. Vanderbilt Maui Classic quarterfinals	W 91–66	1–0	Lahaina Civic Center  Lahaina, HI
November 26*	No. 3	vs. Memphis State Maui Classic semifinals	W 79–75	2–0	Lahaina Civic Center  Lahaina, HI
November 27*	No. 3	vs. No. 4 Oklahoma Maui Classic championship	W 91–80	3–0	Lahaina Civic Center  Lahaina, HI
December 2*	No. 2	Grambling State	W 102–62	4–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 3*	No. 2	South Dakota State	W 104–66	5–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 5*	No. 2	Tampa	W 98–65	6–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 7*	No. 2	Central Michigan	W 108–62	7–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 10*	No. 2	at Western Michigan	W 107–60	8–0	University Arena  Kalamazoo, MI
December 12*	No. 2	Eastern Michigan	W 80–57	9–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 20*	No. 2	Northern Michigan	W 125–75	10–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 21*	No. 2	Youngstown State	W 121–72	11–0	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
December 28*	No. 2	vs. Alaska-Anchorage Utah Basketball Classic	L 66–70	11–1	Jon M. Huntsman Center  Salt Lake City, UT
December 29*	No. 2	vs. Holy Cross Utah Basketball Classic	W 100–63	12–1	Jon M. Huntsman Center  Salt Lake City, UT
Big Ten regular season
January 7	No. 7	Northwestern	W 94–66	13–1 (1–0)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
January 12	No. 6	Minnesota	W 98–83	14–1 (2–0)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
January 14	No. 6	at No. 2 Illinois	L 84–96	14–2 (2–1)	Assembly Hall  Champaign, IL
January 16	No. 6	No. 18 Ohio State	W 99–73	15–2 (3–1)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
January 21	No. 6	at Wisconsin	L 68–71	15–3 (3–2)	UW Fieldhouse  Madison, WI
January 23	No. 6	No. 19 Indiana	L 70–71	15–4 (3–3)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
January 29	No. 10	at Purdue	W 99–88	16–4 (4–3)	Mackey Arena  West Lafayette, IN
February 4	No. 11	Michigan State Rivalry	W 82–66	17–4 (5–3)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
February 9	No. 10	at No. 8 Iowa	W 108–107 ^2OT	18–4 (6–3)	Carver-Hawkeye Arena  Iowa City, IA
February 11	No. 10	at Minnesota	L 80–88	18–5 (6–4)	Williams Arena  Minneapolis, MN
February 16	No. 13	Purdue	W 84–70	19–5 (7–4)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
February 19	No. 13	at No. 9 Indiana	L 75–76	19–6 (7–5)	Assembly Hall  Bloomington, IN
February 23	No. 13	at Ohio State	W 89–72	20–6 (8–5)	St. John's Arena  Columbus, OH
February 25	No. 13	Wisconsin	W 92–70	21–6 (9–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
February 27	No. 13	at Michigan State Rivalry	W 79–52	22–6 (10–5)	Jenison Fieldhouse  East Lansing, MI
March 4	No. 10	No. 11 Iowa	W 119–96	23–6 (11–5)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
March 9	No. 8	at Northwestern	W 88–79	24–6 (12–5)	Welsh-Ryan Arena  Evanston, IL
March 11	No. 8	No. 4 Illinois	L 73–89	24–7 (12–6)	Crisler Arena  Ann Arbor, MI
NCAA Tournament
March 17*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (14 SE) Xavier First Round	W 92–87	25–7	The Omni  Atlanta, GA
March 19*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (11 SE) South Alabama Second Round	W 91–82	26–7	The Omni  Atlanta, GA
March 23*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (2 SE) No. 5 North Carolina Sweet Sixteen	W 92–87	27–7	Rupp Arena  Lexington, KY
March 25*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (5 SE) Virginia Elite Eight	W 102–65	28–7	Rupp Arena  Lexington, KY
April 1*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (1 MW) No. 3 Illinois Final Four	W 83–81	29–7	Kingdome  Seattle, WA
April 3*	(3 SE) No. 10	vs. (3 W) No. 11 Seton Hall NCAA Championship	W 80–79 ^OT	30–7	Kingdome  Seattle, WA
*Non-conference game. ^#Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses. SE=Southeast.

[31]

Rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	Final
AP Poll[4]	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	7	6	6	10	11	10	13	13	10	8	10

Statistics

The team posted the following statistics:[32]

Name	GP	GS	Min	Avg	FG	FGA	FG%	3FG	3FGA	3FG%	FT	FTA	FT%	OR	DR	RB	Avg	Ast	Avg	PF	DQ	TO	Stl	Blk	Pts	Avg
Glen Rice	37	37			363	629	0.577	99	192	0.516	124	149	0.832	77	155	232	6.3	85	2.3	75	1	81	39	11	949	25.6
Rumeal Robinson	37	36			199	357	0.557	30	64	0.469	122	186	0.656	31	94	125	3.4	233	6.3	105	5	131	70	4	550	14.9
Loy Vaught	37	21			201	304	0.661	2	5	0.400	63	81	0.778	94	202	296	8.0	36	1.0	94	3	50	19	11	467	12.6
Terry Mills	37	37			180	319	0.564	0	2	0.000	70	91	0.769	75	144	219	5.9	104	2.8	95	3	77	20	49	430	11.6
Sean Higgins	34	16			158	312	0.506	51	110	0.464	54	70	0.771	31	76	107	3.1	51	1.5	76	2	60	10	11	421	12.4
Mark Hughes	35	4			104	171	0.608	1	2	0.500	29	48	0.604	41	101	142	4.1	40	1.1	60	0	26	11	7	238	6.8
Michael Griffin	37	31			33	63	0.524	0	2	0.000	33	43	0.767	24	65	89	2.4	103	2.8	104	3	56	23	9	99	2.7
Kirk Taylor	21	2			33	69	0.478	7	18	0.389	21	36	0.583	12	34	46	2.2	46	2.2	30	1	23	20	6	94	4.5
Demetrius Calip	30	0	229	7.6	22	50	0.440	2	9	0.222	14	17	0.824	5	14	19	0.6	25	0.8	20	0	23	7	0	60	2.0
J.P. Oosterbaan	23	0			22	39	0.564	0	1	0.000	9	13	0.692	9	18	27	1.2	11	0.5	15	0	9	0	3	53	2.3
Rob Pelinka	24	1	108	4.5	9	25	0.360	4	14	0.286	7	10	0.700	5	10	15	0.6	10	0.4	7	0	12	3	2	29	1.2
Marc Koenig	6	0	9	1.5	1	1	1.000	0	0		0	0		0	1	1	0.2	1	0.2	1	0	3	2	0	2	0.3
TEAM	37													20	63	83	2.2					6
Season Total	37				1325	2339	0.566	196	419	0.468	546	744	0.734	424	977	1401	37.9	745	20.1	682	18	557	224	113	3392	91.7
Opponents	37				1055	2322	0.454	164	466	0.352	493	710	0.694	411	699	1110	30.0	514	13.9	705	17	568	227	36	2767	74.8

Awards and honors

• Glen Rice, NCAA Men's MOP Award[33]

Team players drafted into the NBA

Five players from this team were selected in the NBA Draft.[34][35]

Year	Round	Pick	Overall	Player	NBA Club
1989	1	4	4	Glen Rice	Miami Heat
1990	1	10	10	Rumeal Robinson	Atlanta Hawks
1990	1	13	13	Loy Vaught	Los Angeles Clippers
1990	1	16	16	Terry Mills	Milwaukee Bucks
1990	2	27	54	Sean Higgins	San Antonio Spurs

References

1. "Frieder Is Dropped For Taking A New Job". New York Times. Associated Press. March 16, 1989. Retrieved December 12, 2015.
2. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 68. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
3. "NCAA Tournament History". University of Michigan. 2010. p. 3. Archived from the original on 2010-10-01. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
4. "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. pp. 68–83. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
5. "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 87. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
6. "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 49. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
7. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 26. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
8. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
9. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 28. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
10. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 29. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
11. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 31. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
12. "All-Time Accolades". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. pp. 9–10. Archived from the original on 2010-09-01. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
13. "All-Time Accolades". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. pp. 4–7. Archived from the original on 2010-09-01. Retrieved 9 September 2010.
14. "No. 24 Michigan 76, Florida Gulf Coast 59". ESPN. 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2012-11-30.
15. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 10. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
16. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 12. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
17. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
18. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 16. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
19. "All-Time Records". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. p. 20. Archived from the original on 2011-04-01. Retrieved 2010-09-09.
20. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 33. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
21. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 34. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
22. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 35. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
23. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 36. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
24. "Big Ten Basketball 2009–10 Media Guide". CBS Interactive. p. 37. Archived from the original on 2010-07-03. Retrieved 2010-09-03.
25. "Division I Championship" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 4. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
26. "The Final Four" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 12. Retrieved 2010-08-29.
27. "The Final Four" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 17. Retrieved 2010-08-30.
28. "Michigan Routs Virginia, 102–65". The New York Times. March 26, 1989. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
29. "Michigan Beats Illinois, 83–81 on Higgins' Shot". Los Angeles Times. April 2, 1989. Retrieved March 17, 2018.
30. "Division I Records" (PDF). National Collegiate Athletic Association. p. 43. Retrieved 2010-09-18.
31. Michigan Men's Basketball – Through the Years. Retrieved 2015-Aug-09.
32. "Men's Basketball Statistic Archive Query Page". CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on 18 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-28.
33. "Final Four Most Outstanding Players". cbs.sportsline.com. Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 31 March 2008.
34. "1989 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved 2014-04-25.
35. "1990 NBA Draft". Basketball-reference.com. Retrieved 2014-04-25.