Michigan Basketball: 3 takeaways from beat down of Maryland

3. Juwan Howard notches his 50th win at his alma mater

Coach Howard got his landmark 50th win in his 74th try by tying his ex-boss Steve Fisher to do it the quickest in Ann Arbor.

Most would have thought that this occasion would have happened much earlier in the season, but things have gone off the rails this year and Howard will have to settle for a tie with Fisher instead of being the fastest to 50 wins.

This is a feat that coach Howard can be proud of, but getting his team to where they were 365 days ago has to be the main goal entering crunch time in the college basketball world.

With the rest of the docket only going to get tougher from here on out, Howard and his young men have to hunker down for what is gonna ultimately kill or awaken them.

Michigan’s showing in the Illinois loss carried over to last night and this time the Wolverines arose victoriously. It might have been the slap in the face that this group so sorely needed to fully realize their potential and threaten to jump back into the March Madness conversation.

Winning on Sunday in Bloomington will only help that narrative continue to gain steam.