The head coach was Bill Frieder, who was dismissed before the 1989 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament and replaced by assistant Steve Fisher.

[1] They played their home games at Crisler Arena in Ann Arbor, Michigan as members of the Big Ten Conference.

There they defeated Boise State and Florida to advance to the Sweet Sixteen before losing to North Carolina.

Glen Rice set the current Big Ten single-game three-point field goals percentage record against Wisconsin on February 25, 1989 (100% most made, 7 of 7).

[8] He also set the current school single-season field goals record of 363, surpassing Mike McGee.

[15] He set the current single-season three-point field goal percentage record of 51.56%, surpassing Gary Grant's previous season mark of 48.53%.

[16] He also set the current single-game field goal percentage record of 100% (7-for-7) against Wisconsin on February 25, 1989, surpassing Garde Thompson's 8-for-9 1986 performance.

[8] For the last of five consecutive seasons, the team set the school record for single-season field goal percentage on with a 56.6% (1325-for-2341) performance.

[16] The team set the current school single-season free throws made record of 547, which surpassed the 1977 mark of 510.

[27] In the 64-team NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, number three seeded Michigan won the tournament by defeating the fourteen-seeded Xavier Musketeers 92–87, the six-seeded South Alabama 91–82, the two-seeded North Carolina, who had ousted them the prior two years, 92–87, the five-seeded Virginia 102–65,[28] the one-seeded Illinois 83–81[29] and three-seeded Seton Hall 80–79 in overtime.

[3] Against North Carolina, the team set the school record of 13 three-point field goals made, which would last until February 22, 1998.