The team earned the last of four consecutive NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament invitations. Steve Grote and John Robinson served as team captains, while Phil Hubbard earned team MVP. As a team, they led the conference in scoring offense with an 83.2 average in conference games as well as scoring margin with a 9.4 average. The team began and ended the season ranked number one in the Associated Press Top Twenty Poll and was ranked all seventeen weeks, including eight at number one. The team also ended the season ranked atop the final UPI Coaches' Poll. On December 29, 1976, Hubbard became the first Wolverine to play 50 minutes in a game against. In 1980, Mike McGee would play 54 minutes in a game. The team's 21 for 22 performance on February 17 against Indiana was the school free throw percentage record until February 21, 1987. The team totaled 17 steals on February 26, 1977, as both Green and Hubbard had 6 against Michigan State, which lasted as a school record until December 3, 1994. Green had 7 steals on November 27, 1976, against, which remains unsurpassed in school history.
The team was led by Consensus second team All-AmericansRicky Green and Phil Hubbard. That season, Hubbard set the current school single-season total rebound record of 389, surpassing M. C. Burton, Jr.'s 1959 total of 379. He also surpassed Bill Buntin's 1963 single-season total of 23 point-rebound double doubles with 24. Grote's career assist total of 358 would stand as a school record for 7 seasons until eclipsed by Eric Turner, while Ricky Green's career assist average of 4.05 per game would also be a record until eclipsed by Turner. For the season Green totaled 61 steals for a 2.18 average, which stood as school records until Gary Grant totaled 84 and averaged 2.55 in 1986. Grote's 116 career games played lasted as a Michigan record until 1986 when Richard Rellford totaled 124, while his 108 career starts stood as a record until Mike McGee totaled 112 in 1981. The team set the school single-season free throws made record of 510, which surpassed the 1965 mark of 494 and would last until 1989. The team set the school single-season total steals record of 263 that stood until 1986. Green ended his career with an average of 32.7 minutes per game, which was a school record tied by Phil Hubbard two years later and surpassed by Mike McGee.
Statistics
The team posted the following statistics:
Name
GP
GS
Min
Avg
FG
FGA
FG%
3FG
3FGA
3FG%
FT
FTA
FT%
OR
DR
RB
Avg
Ast
Avg
PF
DQ
TO
Stl
Blk
Pts
Avg
Phil Hubbard
30
30
228
410
0.556
--
--
132
195
0.677
0
389
389
13.0
44
1.5
109
4
83
588
19.6
Rickey Green
28
27
224
464
0.483
--
--
98
128
0.766
0
81
81
2.9
120
4.3
59
3
66
546
19.5
John Robinson
30
29
124
246
0.504
--
--
78
104
0.750
2
154
156
5.2
40
1.3
68
1
73
326
10.9
Steve Grote
30
30
118
262
0.450
--
--
65
90
0.722
1
88
89
3.0
99
3.3
95
3
83
301
10.0
Dave Baxter
29
3
94
186
0.505
--
--
41
57
0.719
0
46
46
1.6
63
2.2
54
2
54
229
7.9
Joel Thompson
30
11
87
164
0.530
--
--
36
51
0.706
1
103
104
3.5
23
0.8
63
2
26
210
7.0
Tom Staton
30
20
75
173
0.434
--
--
31
47
0.660
4
89
93
3.1
76
2.5
83
4
53
181
6.0
Alan Hardy
29
0
47
104
0.452
--
--
15
25
0.600
0
65
65
2.2
8
0.3
32
0
27
109
3.8
Tom Bergen
23
0
12
30
0.400
--
--
7
14
0.500
0
35
35
1.5
5
0.2
27
0
9
31
1.4
Len Lillard
11
0
8
12
0.667
--
--
2
2
1.000
1
10
11
1.0
0
0.0
3
0
3
18
1.6
Mark Lozier
17
0
5
16
0.313
--
--
4
5
0.800
0
13
13
0.8
5
0.3
9
0
7
14
0.8
Bobby Jones
9
0
0
8
0.000
--
--
1
4
0.250
0
6
6
0.7
0
0.0
2
0
1
1
0.1
Dave Stavale
1
0
2
2.0
0
0
--
--
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
0
0.0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0.0
Bill Lelich
1
0
2
2.0
0
1
0.000
--
--
0
0
0
7
7
7.0
0
0.0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0.0
TEAM
30
96
96
3.2
Season Total
30
1022
2076
0.492
510
722
0.706
9
1182
1191
39.7
483
16.1
604
19
486
2554
85.1
Opponents
30
921
1899
0.485
--
--
377
543
0.694
7
1086
1093
36.4
429
14.3
642
43
605
2219
74.0
Rankings
Team players drafted into the NBA
Six players from this team were selected in the NBA Draft.
