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Michigan basketball score: The Wolverines' Big Three were simply dominant against No. 11 Illinois, combining for more than 50 points.

It’s almost fitting that, for a Michigan basketball team that relies so much on unselfishness, this season will be remembered for not sharing with anyone else.

The Wolverines are the 2025-26 Big Ten champions, all by themselves.

No. 3 U-M clinched an outright Big Ten regular-season title – their first since the 2020-21 season and the program’s 10^th overall – with an 84-70 victory over No. 11 Illinois on Friday, Feb. 27.

In a battle of big frontcourts – Illinois has the tallest roster in the nation this season – the Wolverines' Big Three came up huge at State Farm Center, as Morez Johnson Jr. (19 points), Aday Mara (19) and Yaxel Lendeborg (16) combined for more than 50 points. Johnson owned the first half, while Mara turned it on after the break with 15 points over the final 20 minutes.

Michigan Wolverines forward Morez Johnson Jr. (21) drives the ball to the basket as Illinois Fighting Illini forward David Mirkovic (0) defends during the first half at State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, on Friday, Feb. 27, 2026.

The Wolverines led by just seven points at halftime, but ignited in the second half, making nearly 60% of their shots and outrebounding the Illini by a sizable margin to built their lead to 20 points with just under five minutes left to play. In the end, Michigan snapped a nine-game losing streak against Illinois, with its first win against the Illini since Jan. 10, 2019.

Illinois star freshman, Keaton Wagler, led the Illini with 23 points, but needed 16 shots to get there; no Wolverine took more than 10 shots from the field.

2026 Big Ten Tournament picture

With the victory, the Wolverines also locked up the No. 1 seed in next month’s Big Ten Tournament at United Center in Chicago. That brings a triple-bye, meaning U-M won’t start its Big Ten tourney title defense until Friday, March 13 (noon, Big Ten Network), and will need just three wins in three days to earn the conference’s NCAA Tournament auto-bid for the second straight season.

Next up for Michigan basketball

But before then, U-M still has two more regular-season games to help its case for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA tourney. First up will be Iowa in U-M’s final road game, on Thursday (8 p.m., Peacock/NBC Sports) – the Hawkeyes sit eighth in the Big Ten standings at 10-7 in league play under first-year coach Ben McCollum. The Wolverines then finish the regular-season slate at home on March 8 (5:30 p.m. CBS), against rival Michigan State, which sits tied with Nebraska for second in the conference.

Mo’ points for Morez Johnson Jr. in first half

With the Wolverines declaring Friday’s game as a “get-back” game for Johnson, their teammate who transferred to Michigan after one season at Illinois, well, Johnson did most of the getting back himself in the first half. The sophomore put up 13 points on 4-for-8 shooting and added five rebounds. Fellow sophomore L.J. Cason chipped in seven points and Yaxel Lendeborg had five points to go with seven rebounds and three assists, both team highs.

U-M struggled from beyond the arc in the first half, with just three makes in 12 tries, but the Wolverines remained their usual efficient selves inside the arc, hitting 10 of 17 (58.8%) 2-point shots. U-M also made up for an even game in the paint by pushing the pace and outscoring Illinois on the fastbreak, 10-0.