Michigan No. 2 in coaches poll rankings, Michigan State at No. 8

It's an important week for Michigan basketball, one which not only represents the halfway point of the Big Ten season, but is the two-thirds mark of the entire year − by week's end, U-M will have played 21 games with 10 to go.

Michigan (18-1, 8-1 Big Ten) finds itself in wonderful position, ranked No. 2 in the nation in the most recent USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll released Monday, Jan. 26.

There are four Big Ten teams ranked inside the top 10 including No. 5 Nebraska (20-0, 9-0), No. 8 Michigan State (18-2, 8-1) and No. 10 Illinois (17-3, 8-1).

Purdue (17-3, 7-2) dropped from No. 4 to No. 12 after losing twice last week.

Leading into two-game swing, Michigan coach Dusty May called it a "monster" week given the Wolverines have to play the two other highest rated teams in the league − undefeated Nebraska at home on Tuesday, Jan. 27 (7 p.m., Peacock), before traveling to East Lansing for a primetime game Friday (8 p.m., Fox).

"It's the biggest game of the year, because it's the next game," May said on a zoom call Monday, trying to downplay any added pressure. "But it's a team that's disciplined, as connected and as any team that we've seen all year, so we're excited to see how we stack up against an undefeated Nebraska team."

U-M ripped off a pair of home wins this past week defeating Indiana 86-72 before knocking off Ohio State 74-62 behind a game-closing 24-12 run. That makes four consecutive victories for the Wolverines by double figures after the two games prior to that were a three-point loss to Wisconsin and a two-point win over Penn State.

Slowly but surely, U-M seems to be inching closer toward that form it had over Thanksgiving when it ripped off three wins in three days over top-50 teams, each by 30 points or more.

"We have to avoid the urge to hunt anything individual, as far as accolades, stats," May said. "Just continue to share everything. And if we do that, we're a really, really good basketball team. If we're out there playing with any agendas at all, then we're just pretty good, and we'd have to rely on things going well for us.

"We know what we're doing when we're at our best, so it's getting back to that level of commitment."

Michigan is No. 1 on BartTorvik and EvanMiya as well as No. 2 on KenPom and NET rankings, which has U-M firmly settled as a one-seed in some of the early iterations of bracketology which are now less than 50 days away.

Michigan State, meanwhile, is surging. The Spartans are up to No. 4 in EvanMiya and Kenpom, No. 5 in BartTorvik and No. 9 in NET rankings. MSU is No. 1 in BartTorvik dating back to Dec. 30 and also has the No. 1 defense in KenPom this season.

It's coincided as point guard Jeremy Fears has taken his game to another level, playing like an All-American in recent weeks, which including the first Big Ten game with at least 17 points and 17 assists in a contest in league history.

Tom Izzo's team has now won six consecutive games by double figures after suffering its lone loss of Big Ten play in early December, 58-56 at Nebraska.

College basketball rankings for coaches poll

Here is the top 10 from the Jan. 26 edition:

1. Arizona
2. Michigan
3. UConn
4. Duke
5. Nebraska
6. Gonzaga
7. Houston
8. Michigan State
9. Iowa State
10. Illinois

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Tony Garcia is the Wolverines beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at [email protected] and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan, MSU basketball both top 10 in rankings ahead of rivalry game