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For the second time in as many years, coach Dusty May has added a home-and-home series to Michigan basketball’s nonconference schedule.
The program announced Wednesday it will play Villanova this season and next, with the Wolverines hosting the Wildcats at Crisler Center on Dec. 9.
Tip time and TV designation is to be determined, as is the date for the return game at Villanova in 2026.
This season’s matchup will mark the seventh meeting in the all-time series and fourth encounter since 2018. Two of the most recent clashes came in the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio — the 2018 national championship game and a Sweet 16 in 2022 — and both were won by Villanova.
Michigan’s last win over Villanova came in the national title game rematch on Nov. 14, 2018, when the Wolverines ran the Wildcats out of their newly renovated Finneran Pavilion, 73-46, in the Gavitt Tipoff Games.
Villanova has had two coaching changes since the last time it faced Michigan. Following Hall of Famer Jay Wright’s sudden retirement in April 2022, Kyle Neptune was fired last season after three NCAA Tournament-less seasons and was replaced by Kevin Willard, the former Maryland coach who’s entering his first year at the helm.
Michigan will wrap up its other home-and-home series with TCU and travel to Fort Worth, Texas for the return game on Nov. 14. The Wolverines beat the Horned Frogs in Ann Arbor, 76-64, last season.
Michigan is also completing a neutral-site series with Wake Forest this season, with a Nov. 11 contest at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. The Wolverines lost last year’s meeting, 72-70, at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In addition to the Villanova, TCU and Wake Forest contests, Michigan’s strong nonconference slate includes games against Auburn and San Diego State in the Players Era Festival on Nov. 24-25 in Las Vegas and against Duke on Feb. 21 in Washington, D.C.
jhawkins@detroitnews.com
@jamesbhawkins