A look back at Michigan's 1989 NCAA national championship run

As the Michigan men's basketball team prepares to face UConn in the 2026 NCAA tournament final, the Wolverines are eyeing their second national championship and first since winning it all in 1989. 

Ahead of Monday's game, let's take a look back at Michigan's 1988-89 season and the team's improbable run to its first national title. 

Michigan opened its ninth season under coach Bill Frieder with a 12-1 mark in non-conference play before embarking on Big Ten action in the new year. 

The Wolverines finished third in league play behind conference champion Indiana and second-place Illinois, both of which swept the Wolverines and accounted for four of Michigan's six conference losses en route to a 24-7 regular season mark. 

Just before the NCAA tournament tipped off, Frieder said that he was accepting the head coaching job at Arizona State at the end of the season.

Michigan athletic director and football coach Bo Schembechler fired Frieder and promoted assistant coach Steve Fisher to guide the Wolverines in their tournament run, saying, "A Michigan man will coach Michigan."

A Saginaw, Michigan, native and Michigan graduate, Frieder spent eight seasons with the Sun Devils before resigning in 1997. In a 2013 interview with CBS Sports, Frieder said he was upset with the direction of the program under Schembechler. In that same interview, Frieder said that he had no regrets, but that if he had to do it over again, "I would have handled it differently."

Michigan opened the 1989 NCAA tournament as the No. 3 seed in the Southeast Region, recording wins over Xavier, South Alabama, North Carolina and Virginia before getting revenge over conference foe Illinois in the Final Four. 

In the championship game against Seton Hall at the old Kingdome in Seattle, Michigan senior forward and Flint Northwestern product Glen Rice scored 31 points, including 15 from beyond the arc, and 11 rebounds in Michigan's 80-79 overtime win. Junior guard and 1990 NBA draft first-round pick Rumeal Robinson added 21 points and 11 assists to deliver Michigan its first national championship. 

Rice was named the tournament's most outstanding player after scoring an NCAA record 184 points. It's a record that has yet to be broken. 

After the 1989 championship run, Rice was taken by the Miami Heat with the fourth overall pick in the first round of the 1989 NBA draft. He spent 15 seasons in the NBA, winning the 2000 NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was a three-time NBA All-Star. 

Rice is still Michigan's all-time leader in career points (2,442), and holds the record for points scored in a single season (949 during the 1988-89 season), as well as field goals made, attempted and 3-point field goal percentage in a single season. 

The Wolverines would go on to reach the finals again under Fisher in 1992 and 1993, but were later forced to vacate their 1992 and 1993 Final Four runs because of an NCAA violations scandal involving booster Ed Martin. Michigan also vacated its 1997 NIT championship and ultimately fired Fisher in October 1997 as a result of the scandal. Fisher later coached at San Diego State, leading the Aztecs to eight NCAA tournament appearances. 

Michigan's 1989 NCAA tournament run 

First Round 
No. 14 Xavier - W, 92-87
Second Round
No. 11 South Alabama - W, 91-82
Sweet 16
No. 2 North Carolina - W, 92-87
Elite 8 
No. 5 Virginia - W, 102-65
Final Four 
No. 1 Illinois - W, 83-81
National Championship 
No. 3 Seton Hall - W, 80-79 OT