Michigan Gets Team-Wide Effort in 68-63 Upset of UConn

By Sean · Monday, January 18, 2010 · 3:13 PM |  Share | Leave a Comment 

All season long Michigan had been waiting for a signature non-conference win, and it finally got one yesterday against Connecticut.  In an unbelievable atmosphere that was similar to the Duke game from last season, Michigan put up a fight from start to finish and edged out the Huskies for a 68-63 victory.

Early on things were relatively even, though UConn did jump out to a 12-6 lead.  That didn’t hold up for long, though, as Michigan heated up from three-point land.  Stu Douglass made threes on back-to-back trips down the floor to tie things back up, and the score remained even at 14 after each team made a two-pointer.  Michigan then really went off from behind the arc, hitting a three-pointer on three straight possessions.  Laval Lucas-Perry got the run started with a three after Darius Morris missed one and DeShawn Sims came down with the rebound.  After UConn’s Stanley Robinson missed a three, Michigan repeated its previous possession.  Morris missed a shot, there was an offensive rebound, and then there was a three-pointer, this time from Anthony Wright.  Capping off the run was LLP, who came down the floor after a UConn turnover and made a pull-up three that gave Michigan a 9-point lead and sent Crisler into a frenzy.

As the first half winded down, UConn tried to chip away at the lead but could only get within 5.  Michigan kept fighting back and even went up by 10 points after Anthony Wright nailed another three and Manny Harris blew by UConn defenders for a dunk.  In the final two minutes or so of the half there was only one point scored, a UConn free throw, meaning Michigan was up by 9 at halftime.

Michigan opened up the second half with a layup to go up by 11, but things started to go a little downhill after that.  UConn started playing tougher defense and began to slowly but surely even things up.  Anthony Wright made his third three-pointer of the game to put Michigan up 7 after the Huskies got within 4, but UConn wasn’t deterred.  Thanks to a boatload of offensive rebounds, providing second and even some third chances for UConn, what once was an 11-point lead was gone and the game was tied at 39 less than 7 minutes into the half.  UConn went ahead by 1 point shortly after, but Stu Douglass gave the lead back to Michigan on a three.  Continuing the back and forth nature of this game, UConn made a couple baskets and went up by 2.

Unlike last week against Northwestern, Michigan didn’t lose its composure after blowing a lead and decided to fight back instead of fold under pressure.  Zack Novak was a big reason why Michigan kept fighting, which was evident when he somehow came away with an offensive rebound and a layup to break a 47-47 tie.  Michigan never trailed again in this game, though Novak did have another huge play to break a tied score once again.

With around a minute and a half left in the game, following what had been nothing but back and forth basketball, Zack Novak nailed a three to give Michigan a 61-58 lead.  Stu Douglass then stole the ball and gave it to Manny Harris, who went down the court and finished with a nice layup.  Suddenly Michigan led by 5, and after Jerome Dyson missed a pair of free throws, it looked like the game was as good as over.  It was a little early to have that feeling, though, because Laval Lucas-Perry turned the ball over and fouled Kemba Walker, who made both free throws to cut the lead down to 3 points.

Once again Zack Novak came up big under pressure, making both free throws on what was a 1-and-1.  Jerome Dyson missed a layup, but another offensive rebound ended up leading to a foul by LLP, putting Stanley Robinson at the line.  Unbelievably, he air-balled the first free throw before making the second, meaning Michigan’s lead was 4 points.  Stu Douglass, like Novak, delivered under pressure and made both of his free throws on a 1-and-1 trip to the line.  UConn had one last glimmer of hope when Kemba Walker was fouled on a three-pointer after another offensive rebound.  He only managed to make 2 of the 3 free throw attempts, though, and Manny Harris made 1 of 2 to ice away the game.  Michigan won 68-63 as a UConn three bounced off the rim as time expired.  Just like the Duke game last season, the crowd stormed the floor and celebrated the win in style.

Unlike most Michigan victories, this was a team-wide effort instead of a Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims show.  Manny did lead Michigan in scoring with 18 points, but there was a healthy contribution from the rest of the team.  Stu Douglass, thanks in part to 3 threes, ended up with 13 points.  Zack Novak, who only had 1 three, scored 10 points.  Anthony Wright played his best game since scoring 14 against Oklahoma in the NCAA tournament, putting up 9 points on 3 three-pointers.  Sims had the next-most points with 8, and he was followed by Laval Lucas-Perry, who had 6 on 2 threes, and Zack Gibson, who had 4 points in 13 minutes of action.  Darius Morris went 0-4 during 17 minutes of action, though he did have a steal and an assist.  Finally, Matt Vogrich played only 2 minutes and didn’t record any stats.

Although this win was definitely awesome, Michigan has to quickly forget about it and get ready for the next three games in this tough four-game stretch.  Michigan plays at Wisconsin on Wednesday (8:30 p.m. on the BTN) and then heads to Purdue on Saturday.  Finishing up this stretch of games against ranked teams, Michigan will host Michigan State a week from Tuesday.

There is still a lot of work that has to be done before even thinking about the NCAA tournament as a realistic possibility, but like I said last week, although these games are tough, they give Michigan a great opportunity to get back in the picture for the Big Dance.  For the sake of discussion, I think Michigan has to get at least one upset in these next three games.  Anything more would go a long, long way to helping Michigan simply get back on the bubble, but I think the Wolverines need to get at least one to even have a chance at being a bubble team.  If Michigan plays great down the stretch, an added upset in these next three games could very well be the difference between being on the good or bad side of the fence come Selection Sunday, whereas only one upset could be the difference between a guaranteed trip to the NIT and simply being a bubble team.  Again, there’s a lot of work to be done, but Michigan can start to work its way back into the NCAA tournament discussion with an upset or two in the next few games.