Manny Harris Leads Michigan to Overtime Victory at Northwestern

By Sean · Monday, February 16, 2009 · 2:30 AM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

Michigan absolutely had to win on Sunday if it wanted to keep its NCAA tournament hopes alive. Knowing that, Manny Harris put Michigan on his back and led the Wolverines to a 70-67 win over Northwestern in overtime. Harris scored 26 points during Sunday’s game, and all but 1 of them came in the second half and overtime. Despite Harris sitting for around eleven minutes of the first half due to foul trouble, Michigan kept the game close, setting up Harris to go off in the second half and overtime.

Trailing by 4 early on in the second half, Harris went on a 9-0 run in only three possessions. He nailed a three and followed that up with back-to-back three-point plays to give Michigan a 5-point lead. Northwestern didn’t let Michigan storm away, however, and actually regained the lead a few minutes later. The Wildcats led for the next ten or so minutes, but that lead was never more than a few points. Because of that, when Michigan went on a 9-0 run late in the second half, the lead shifted to 5 points in the Wolverines’ favor.

With less than two minutes remaining in the second half, Michigan had a few opportunities to close the door on Northwestern but couldn’t because of a few crucial mistakes. First, following a Northwestern basket, Stu Douglass failed to get the ball over half court before the referee counted to 10 seconds, meaning it was the Wildcats’ ball. NU’s Michael Thompson missed a three-pointer, but a C.J. Lee turnover with the shot clock running down on the following possession allowed Kevin Coble to tie the game on an awkward-looking three with 21 seconds left. Lee turned the ball over again as the clock ticked down, sending the game to OT.

In overtime, following an emphatic DeShawn Sims dunk and a couple Kevin Coble free throws, Manny Harris took over the game first by nailing a shot from just inside the arc. He followed with a layup on the next possession and then made a pair of free throws to give Michigan a 6-point advantage. Coble wasn’t about to let Northwestern go down without a fight, though, and scored 5 straight points. Coble first hit a pull up jumper to cut the lead down to one possession. After Stu Douglass turned the ball over, Coble was fouled by Sims on a three-point attempt. The foul was complete BS, as replays showed that Sims made no contact with Coble that affected his shot. Regardless, Sims fouled out and Coble made all of his free throw attempts, making this a 1-point game.

Harris returned to the free throw line on Michigan’s next possession and nailed both attempts to increase the lead to 3. Northwestern got a layup with 15 seconds left to again make this a 1-point game. C.J. Lee was fouled immediately on the inbounds pass, sending him to the line for a couple of critical free throws. Lee nailed both of them, putting the Wildcats down by 3 yet again. Northwestern didn’t make any circus threes this time around, and Zack Gibson came down with a rebound on the miss. He was quickly fouled and only made a single free throw, but this was no longer a one-possession game.

Northwestern made a layup with around a second left in the game, and before Michigan could even inbound the ball Zack Novak was fouled. Novak, like Gibson, made only 1 free throw. That meant that the lead was 3 points with only a second left, giving the Wildcats a chance to tie the game on a miracle three-pointer. Coble fittingly took the shot from three-quarters court, but unlike his shot to tie the game near the end of regulation, this heave did not go in. I don’t think he got it off in time, so it likely wouldn’t have counted anyways. Regardless, Michigan’s mostly clutch free throw shooting at the end of the game allowed them to hang on to a 70-67 victory, keeping their slim hopes of going to the Big Dance alive.

Some notes on this game:

• The referees were downright awful. Ed Hightower and company were whistle happy and called a whopping 45 fouls in this game. In total, Michigan and Northwestern shot 50 free throws. One team didn’t have a big advantage over the other in fouls or free throws, so that was good. But still, swallow your whistles once in a while.
• Because of foul trouble, DeShawn Sims only played in 26 minutes of this game. He ended up finishing with 8 points and 6 rebounds, which was a little disappointing. Michigan should have gone to Sims more in the post, as Northwestern is a team that can be taken advantage of in the paint. Being in foul trouble probably hindered that a bit, and his teammates didn’t do a very good job of getting the ball to him inside.
• Zack Novak had a solid game with 7 points and 7 rebounds.
• The same can’t be said for Stu Douglass offensively since he didn’t score at all, but he did a great job defensively.
• C.J. Lee also played another great game defensively. He also made 4 free throws and hit a three-pointer for a total of 7 points.
• Kelvin Grady played for about a minute in the later stages of this game in order to break the full-court press. Beilein went back to Lee shortly after, though, as his defense was simply too valuable to not have on the court.
• Laval Lucas-Perry had his best game in quite some time. In eight minutes on the floor, LLP scored 10 points on 5 free throws, a three-pointer, and an awesome fast-break layup that he made despite being fouled.
• Zack Gibson scored 6 points and had 4 rebounds in another solid performance.
• David Merritt and Anthony Wright each made a three-pointer in this game.

Michigan’s next game is on Thursday at home against Minnesota. This is the first of two meetings with the Golden Gophers in a two week or so span. Since Michigan’s chances of winning at Minnesota aren’t all that good, Michigan has to get a win on Thursday. Plus, this is the second contest in a huge four-game stretch that very well could determine whether or not Michigan makes the NCAA tournament. I would say Thursday’s game is another must-win for the Wolverines. Tip off is set for 7 p.m. on the BTN.