Michigan
Rayah Marshall helps ignite No. 4 USC's second-half surge in win over No. 23 Michigan
Except for JuJu Watkins, USC’s players were struggling to find their shot.
A 10-point USC lead turned into a deficit during the third quarter. With Kiki Iriafen stuck on the bench in foul trouble, the Trojans needed someone to spark a rally.
Enter the all-too-reliable Rayah Marshall, the longest-tenured starter on the team.
She isn’t the flashiest player and she’ll rarely be the leading scorer with Watkins on the floor, but when USC needed a bruising option to force into the paint for second-chance looks, the senior got the job done against Michigan on Sunday night.
“Welcome to Big Ten basketball,” Marshall said.
Stripping the ball from Michigan guard Jordan Hobbs with 5:05 remaining in the third quarter, the 6-foot-4 forward forced a shot up while barreling toward the basket. She got smacked, but the ball went in. The converted three-point play was one of many Marshall made on her way to tying a season-high with 15 points in No. 4 USC’s 78-58 victory over No. 23 Michigan at Galen Center.
“The difference in Rayah’s leadership, just the growth she’s had from freshman year on, she can really listen, understand what I’m asking and then get other players to go along too,” coach Lindsay Gottlieb said. “And everyone just was along for that. … Ray is the catalyst for [the third-quarter run].”
Marshall’s seven third-quarter points and two assists drove the Trojans (12-1, 2-0) to a 10-point lead, helping facilitate for Watkins, who led the game with 31 points (including 13 on free throws). Iriafen scored 12 of her 18 points in a dominating fourth-quarter effort before fouling out with under two minutes left.
USC guard JuJu Watkins (12) collides with Michigan Wolverines guard Greta Kampschroeder (11) while driving to the basket Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
“Being the competitor that I am, I just took [Gottlieb’s halftime message] to heart, and just tried to get my teammates to go out there with the same hunger and compete,” Marshall said.
Michigan was without star freshman and leading scorer Syla Swords because of injury. The Trojans’ guards held the Wolverines’ second-leading scorer, freshman Olivia Olson, scoreless in the first half and to just 11 points. Hobbs led her team in scoring, with 14 of her 19 points coming in the Wolverines’ second-quarter surge.
Freshman guard Kennedy Smith, in her second game back from an undisclosed operation, was key to holding Michigan’s guards at bay. The former Gatorade California girl’s basketball player of the year co-led the team with three steals and played lockdown defense in front of players from the Etiwanda High girl’s basketball team — her alma mater — attending the game.
“She’s an incredible defender,” Gottlieb said of Smith. “I don’t know if I’ve ever had a better defender coming in as a freshman. Just her mind, her understanding of defensive schemes and her physical ability. How quickly she’s come back from this injury is really special.”
USC held Michigan (10-3, 1-1 Big Ten) to its lowest scoring total of the season, with the Wolverines averaging 83.7 points a game entering the contest.
USC guard Kennedy Smith steals the ball from Michigan guard Mila Holloway during the first half Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Michigan coach Kim Barnes Arico credited the Wolverines’ offensive struggles to USC’s relentless press, with the Trojans using Marshall to defend guards, creating confusion on inbound plays. The Wolverines didn’t score once off a fast break.
“Who wouldn’t want to see Rayah at the front of a press,” Gottlieb said about the 8,043 fans in attendance, “or the way that we play with one another? We’re trying to put a good product on the floor that people want to come see.”
With another Big Ten contest on the horizon, Gottlieb said she was grateful for the substantial holiday season crowd on a Sunday night.
“It’s just not lost on me ever,” she said. “To walk out there and see people in that upper row — Rayah and I were here when it was my family and hers. That’s it.”
USC finishes its homestand with a New Year’s Day contest against Nebraska. No. 1 UCLA handily defeated the Cornhuskers 91-54 on Sunday.
In a game Michigan had to have by any means, it found a way. The Wolverines trailed for over 36 minutes at home on Tuesday night, gave up 50 points in the first half, and made just one of their final 15 3-point attempts. Somehow, Michigan won anyway, knocking off No. 5 Nebraska to keep its Big Ten title hopes healthy.
The Wolverines survived the barrage of early threes and outlasted the undermanned Huskers, recording stops on eight of the final nine possessions of the game to pull away with a game-winning 6-0 run down the stretch.
Writing this recap, I can’t help but feel like I’m on the other side of a script that I’ve written routinely on this site over the years. We’ve all seen this story before: a five-out team spreads out a bigger, more talented team and makes them look like they’ve never played basketball before with a barrage of threes and cutting layups.
In the end, the threes go cold, and the bigger team wins the game by overwhelming its opponent in areas that are impossible to outscheme: offensive rebounds, defense, and free throws.
When John Beilein’s teams lost, this is usually what it looked like. Tonight, Michigan wore the other shoe.
Nebraska played the better game, but Michigan was the bigger, deeper, and more talented team. The Wolverines went to the free-throw line 23 times, knocking down 14 of 17 in the second half, and scored 14 of their 27 second-half points on second-chance opportunities to escape with the crucial home win.
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Michigan
Michigan football releases 2026 schedule for first season under head coach Kyle Whittingham
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – The University of Michigan Athletic Department and the Big Ten Conference announced the 2026 football schedule for the first season under new head coach Kyle Whittingham and his Michigan Wolverines.
The schedule, which features eight home games, including all four in September, was announced on Tuesday (Jan. 27).
Michigan will kick off its 147th football season with three non-conference home games: Western Michigan on Sept. 5, Oklahoma on Sept. 12, and UTEP on Sept. 19.
Following these, the Wolverines will begin their nine-game Big Ten schedule.
The conference opener will be at home against Iowa on Sept. 26, marking Michigan’s 120th Big Ten conference opener at Michigan Stadium.
Michigan’s first road game of the season will be Oct. 3 at Minnesota’s Huntington Bank Stadium.
The Wolverines and Golden Gophers will compete for the Little Brown Jug, college football’s oldest trophy, in the 100th meeting of this historic rivalry.
Michigan holds a commanding 74-23-2 record in the previous 99 contests.
After a bye week, Michigan returns home for back-to-back games against Penn State on Oct. 17 and defending national champion Indiana on Oct. 24.
The Wolverines will then travel to Rutgers for an Oct. 31 game.
The annual rivalry game against Michigan State has been pushed back a week and will take place Nov. 7 at Michigan Stadium.
The two teams will battle for the Paul Bunyan Trophy in the 74th meeting of this series.
Michigan leads the series 42-29-2 and holds a 75-38-5 advantage overall in the rivalry, which dates back to 1898.
The Wolverines will then travel to Eugene, Oregon, for their first matchup against the Ducks as conference opponents on Nov. 14 at Autzen Stadium.
A week later, the Wolverines will host new Big Ten opponent UCLA at Michigan Stadium on Nov. 21.
The regular season will conclude with the 122nd meeting of “The Game” against Ohio State on Nov. 28 at Ohio Stadium.
Michigan has won its last two trips to Columbus, 45-23 in 2022 and 13-10 in 2024, and holds a 62-53-6 advantage in the all-time series.
| Date | Opponent |
|---|---|
| Sept. 5 | Western Michigan |
| Sept. 12 | Oklahoma Sooners |
| Sept. 19 | UTEP |
| Sept 26 | Iowa Hawkeyes |
| Oct. 3 | at Minnesota Golden Gophers |
| Oct. 10 | BYE |
| Oct. 17 | Penn State Nitanny Lions |
| Oct. 24 | Indiana Hoosiers |
| Oct. 31 | at Rutgers Scarlett Knights |
| Nov. 7 | Michigan State |
| Nov. 14 | at Oregon Ducks |
| Nov. 21 | UCLA Bruins |
| Nov. 28 | at Ohio State Buckeyes |
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
Michigan
Michigan student who left frat party in just T-shirt and jeans found dead in ‘extreme cold’
A missing University of Michigan student has been found dead more than a day after he was last seen leaving a fraternity party in just a T-shirt and jeans in bone-chilling storm temperatures, according to police.
Engineering student Lucas Mattson, 19, was last seen walking without a jacket at around 1 a.m. Friday, as temperatures plummeted as low as 0 degrees, WILX reported.
His body was found Saturday night following a 20-hour search in “extreme cold conditions,” police said.
Mattson is one of at least 34 to die from Winter Storm Fern, which impacted more than two-thirds of all Americans.
“At this time, we can share that prior to disappearing, Lucas was attending a party at a fraternity house as a guest; he was neither a member nor a pledge,” University of Michigan interim president Domenico Grasso said in a statement, warning against “misinformation” spreading about his death around the school community.
“We must let the investigators complete their work and refrain from speculation until the facts are known.”
Mattson was reported missing at 4:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Ann Arbor Police Department. Officers spent the whole night searching but were unable to find him.
His body was later located Saturday night on Cambridge Road, cops said.
“The nearly 20-hour search effort to locate him took place in extreme cold conditions and included officers from AAPD and University of Michigan Division of Public Safety and Security, as well as the University of Michigan Police Department Drone Unit,” police said in a press release.
There were no signs of trauma and foul play is not suspected at this time, cops said.
The Washtenaw County Medical Examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the cause of death, police said.
Grasso said he’s asked school officials to retrace the events of the night Mattson disappeared “to better understand what transpired and identify possible steps to help prevent similar tragedies in the future.”
“I am grateful for the outpouring of support from so many people worried about Lucas’s welfare, including those who searched for him in extremely difficult weather conditions,” the university president said.
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