As Michigan basketball rips through its 2025-26 season, the Wolverines are chasing history, too.
The achievement immediately in front of Dusty May’s group when it takes on Iowa (20-9, 10-8 Big Ten) at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on Thursday, March 5 (8 p.m., NBC Sports/Peacock) hasn’t been accomplished in 50 years. The No. 3 Wolverines (27-2, 17-1) are 9-0 in in Big Ten road games.
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Should U-M come out on top − KenPom projects the Wolverines to win by eight points − it will be the first Big Ten team to go undefeated on the road in league play since Bob Knight’s Indiana squad did it during its 32-0 national championship campaign in 1975-76.
Michigan players pose around head coach Dusty May during a postgame interview with Fox to celebrate the 83-71 win over Michigan State at Breslin Center in East Lansing on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026.
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“When we’re on the road and it’s just us, staff, players, I feel like we just all come together,” U-M guard Roddy Gayle Jr. said earlier this season. “There’s no extra support. We lean on each other a little more than we would at home. We know that we don’t have the crowd for Maize Rage, so we gotta lean on each other.
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“That’s when we kind of enhance our talk, our leadership, our voices and stuff like that.”
Michigan’s road wins have included trips to Michigan State, Purdue and Illinois – arguably the three most-talented teams in the league outside of Ann Arbor − and now the road slate ends in Iowa City.
Piloting the Hawkeyes
The Hawkeyes are projected to make the NCAA Tournament, likely on the 8-seed or 9-seed line, which would earn them the unfortunate assignment of a 1-seed in the second round, should they win their opener.
Bennett Stirtz, Iowa’s 6-foot-4, 190-pound senior who spent last season at Drake, will play a big part in their tourney hopes. His scoring is third in the conference, at 20.5 points per game, while he adds 4.5 assists per game – more than the two players ahead of him in scoring (Nick Martinelli and Lamar Wilkerson) combined. He’s also shooting 39.3% from 3 on more than six attempts per night.
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“He’s fun to watch,” May said of Stirtz. “[He] can manipulate the game, can manipulate defense. He’s special. We’ve had our guards the last couple years watching certain things that he does and we’ve taken a few things that he does as an individual that we can learn from.”
Jan 17, 2026; Bloomington, Indiana, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes guard Bennett Stirtz (14) greets Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Ben McCollum during the second half at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. Mandatory Credit: Robert Goddin-Imagn Images
He leads an Iowa attack that, at No. 23 overall in KenPom, has been quietly good this season. The Hawkeyes are top-35 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, No. 13 on 2-point shooting (59.4%), No. 16 in effective field goal percentage (56.8) and play one of the slowest tempos in the nation, at No. 358 out of 360 teams.
On defense, Ben McCollum’s undersized team fouls a ton (allowing a Big Ten-leading 22.3 free throws per game), is too small to hang with most on the inside (No. 17 in the Big Ten in 2-point defense at 56.3%) and alters few shots (blocking just 6.6% of attempts).
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Tavion Banks is second among Hawkeyes in scoring at 10.6 points and leads the team at 4.7 rebounds a game. The Hawkeyes are decent on the defensive glass (No. 6 in the Big Ten, allowing just 28.8% of misses to turn into offensive rebounds) but it’s largely a group effort, with all eight rotational players averaging 2-5 boards per night.
McCollum was putting his roster together on the fly in Year 1 and although he and May have a relationship that dates back to May’s Final Four run with Florida Atlantic in 2023, don’t expect them to spend late nights chit-chatting this week.
“All communication has ceased for obvious reasons,” May joked earlier in the week. “We’re excited to compete with him because we’re going to be better. We’re going to learn a few things from competing against his teams.”
Michigan forward Yaxel Lendeborg (23) celebrates a play against Middle Tennessee with center Aday Mara (15) during the second half at Crisler Center in Ann Arbor on Wednesday, November 19, 2025.
Michigan vs Iowa prediction
Iowa plays a bit of a different game than many in the league, frequently using all 30 seconds of the shot clock to find an open look. When in doubt, though, it goes to Stirtz. Michigan will have to adjust a bit both to the style and its new-look rotation − L.J. Cason is out with an ACL tear − but Michigan should feast down low. The pick: U-M 79, Iowa 68
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Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Can Michigan complete ultra-rare perfect road season vs Iowa?
