on may 22, 2019, former fab five member juwan howard was named the head coach of the wolverines, agreeing on a five-year contract. despite losing three leading scorers from the 2018 team to nba draft, howard led the unranked wolverines to a strong 7–0 start including back-to-back wins over then #6 ranked unc (73–64) and #8 ranked gonzaga (82–64) to capture the battle 4 atlantis tournament title on november 29, 2019. following the strong performance, michigan jumped from unranked to #4 in the ap top 25 on december 2, 2019, becoming only the second team after the 1989–90 kansas jayhawks to achieve the feat in the history of the poll that dates back 70 years to 1949. in their first big ten opener under howard on december 6, 2019, the wolverines defeated iowa 103–91 and scored the most points in a big ten game since 1998 (112 against indiana).